Emperor Qin’s Terracotta Warriors and Horses are statues of the first Qin emperor, located 1500 meters away from the east side of the Qin tomb. There are three pits of the Terracotta Warriors and Horses. They were built facing west to east. The number one pit was the earliest to be found. The pit is like a rectangle, which is 230 meters long from east to west, 62 metres wide from south to north. The number one pit covers an area of 14,260 square metres, with sloped doorways on all four sides. There is another pit on the left and right side of this pit, called number two and number three. After being discovered the pits were named with a number. The pits are properly designed with extraordinary layout. Inside the pit, there are load-bearing walls built every 3 meters between which terracotta warriors and horses stand.
The terracotta warriors are strong and handsome. They are sculptured with different facial features, hair styles, body gestures and expressions because they stand for different ethnic groups. Also all the terracotta horses look unique. Some of them hold up their ears, some open their mouths ‘neighing’ and some just stand still. All these are very attractive. A lot of people thought that ancient sculptures were introduced to China following the Buddhism spread in the South and North Era（420—589）. However Terracotta Warriors and Horses proved they were wrong. Sculptural technologies were quite mature in the Qin Dynasty (221BC－206BC), which helped to develop the sculptural architecture.
The Terracotta Warriors and Horses provided plentiful precious materials for military, cultural and economic research of the Qin Dynasty. Its excavation is hailed as one of the biggest discoveries in archeological history. On December 1987, Terracotta Warriors and Horses were included in the world heritage list by the UNESCO (United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization).
Emperor Qin’s Terracotta Warriors and Horses Attractions
Qin Terracotta Warriors Museum
Emperor Qin’s Terracotta Warriors and Horses Story
1. Why did ancient Chinese people build the Terracotta Warriors and Horses?
When the first Qin emperor reunified China at the age of 22, he sent an order to build his tomb. He selected the location to the north of Lishan Mountain for the tomb because it had a beautiful landscape and good feng shui. The emperor got together over 700,000 criminals and a great amount of farmers from Shandong and Henan (central China) to build him the tomb. During the construction, the emperor ordered his prime minister Li Si to levy thousands of virgin boys and girls. These children would be buried alive with the emperor when he had his funeral. Li Si was astonished by this scary order. He couldn’t stop thinking about it and finally came up with a better idea. He recommended that the emperor used terracotta figurines instead of real boys and girls, for if that many children were buried alive, it would cause riots. The first Qin emperor thought it made sense, so he changed his idea. He then told Li Si to call up skillful craftsmen all around the country to start making terracotta figurines of honour guards which were the same size of real warriors and horses.
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