TERRA COTTA WARRIORS OF XIAN

Just a bit about Xian before we start on the warriors. Xian is fairly small by Chinese standards – about 3 million people! It is in northwest China so is pretty cold. Took a couple of pics from the bus showing the old city walls and moat completely surrounding the old city center. And typical apartment housing – highrise.

The warriors were a surprise to us – simply by the size of the area covered. The troops are arranged to the east of the emperors tomb. The emperor war the first to unite China which was formerly run by warlords. The emperors son spent 30-40 years build his own tomb – enlisting the help (not volunteers) of some 75,000 people. The tomb has never been opened although some excavations have taken place around it perimeter. It is the world's largest tomb and may never be opened because of the Chinese reverence for ancestors..

The warriors were first discovered by a farmer digging an irrigation well in the 1970s. when he discovered pieces of terra cotta. Since then an enormous effort has been undertaken to unearth, piece together and preserve the warriors, their horses, and their weapons, This has been designated a UNESCO world heritage cite and is considered by some to be the 8^th wonder of the world. The army was placed underground and when the emperor died the people rioted (they resented to many hours they had to work and the many people who died in doing this work) and they broke into the pits where the warriors were located, smashed many of the warriors, burned the wooden supports for the roofs and the roof caved in. The work is ongoing and will take a long time to complete. In fact no one knows for sure what else in buried nearby.

The work is primarily in 3 pits. Imagine Clyde's surprise at the view. The first pit is where the main formation of 8000 full sized warriors
stands with their weapons.
.   The second pic shows where the well discovered the
army.

Pit number 2 is only partially excavated and contains a battle formation.

Pit number 3 is completely excavated and shows the command section of the army, In this one we can see some soldiers close up. Some of the color pictures show the color of the warrior when dug up. The colors faded fast when exposed to the air. The Chinese are preserving some the  colored warriors.

Of course Clyde had to dicker with the friendly shop owner