Sunday, July 22, 2007

Week 29 - Old Terracotta Warrior Statue (July 22)


Another picture from my trip to China. One of our stops was in Xi'an at the Terracotta Warrior Museum. An amazing site and well worth the visit. The site houses some 8,100 life-size Chinese warriors in various states of repair and at several different locations on the grounds. These warriors were created around 247 BC - 210 BC and remained undiscovered until 1974 when a local farmer found pieces of terracotta while trying to dig a well.

You can see how they once stood guard of their Emperor's burial tomb and also how many were destroyed by fire when the tomb was raided a few years after his death. It is believed the army was created to help Emperor Qun rule another empire in the afterlife. This particular guy was found totally unscathed and is currently displayed in a glass case next to several other cases displaying the different ranking soldiers.