The Terra Cotta Warriors Offer Safety Anew

I visited the Terra Cotta Warriors, 20 miles east of Xi'an.

Funny, I felt a little safer in life.

I felt the anticipation build up in my chest as we entered the two-football-field-sized arch-roofed museum building. This structure housed the largest of four unearthed vaults of the Terra Cotta Warriors.

In the entry lobby, I lifted my chin, excited. I walked forward, stretched for my first glimpse of these ancient sculptures displayed in front of me, in a 50 foot deep pit, before a gallery of spectators.

But first, what happens? My digital camera got balky. It didn't wanna get into normal picture-taking mode. I punched buttons, I turned it off and on. It just stuck in its strange mode.

I got mad. Came half way around the world, told myself, and now my camera gets stubborn. Then I laughed. Relieved, I punched a few more buttons, it finally jumped into ordinary mode, and I stepped forward into the gallery of terra cotta gawkers.

Close, I looked down into this enormous pit. Dirt channels holding ancient clay figures, these life-sized statues standing on their feet or mounted on life-sized horses, like they have been for a couple millennia, just waiting for me to come by, scrutinize them, and click their picture.

Thousands of statues, made of Terra Cotta, were placed in pits, facing away from the Emperor's tomb, like to guard the Emperor in death. It did the trick. These warriors have been there two thousand years and the Emperor's tomb remains safe. These thousands of statues took other thousands of artisans to craft them.

I didn't exactly know what 'Terra Cotta' meant. For all I knew, when I first heard the term years ago, it meant these archaeological sculptures were located in Terra Cotta, China. Kinda like Terre Haute, Indiana.

Since, I learned the term is Latin for 'fired earth', and the statues are in Xi'an, China. I learned terra cotta is simply made from a clay, found here in China, like in lots of places on earth. Artisans washed the earth, extracted the clay, sculpted the clay into the warrior's visage, baked the sculpture.

Now hardened, they painted the sculpture using mineral dyes, and artistically placed the result in the pit, along with thousands of others. Some warriors stand alone, others kneel on one knee poised to shoot arrows, still others sit mounted on a horse.

They sculpted the horses also. Lots of horses. In a few cases, chariots were also cast from the terra cotta.

Many of the sculptures, in the early centuries, were broken up by war parties. Others were broken when a roof-like wooden covering collapsed, allowing tons of earth to fall on the ancient artwork. Somebody along the way, friend or foe, covered the pits with earth and the site became forgotten.

Then, in 1974, three farmers digging a well led to China's archaeological find-of-the-century. One of the discovering farmers, now a celebrity, sat at a table in the museum on the Saturday I visited. He offered a book of pictures for sale with his autograph. Darn, I shudda bought that. Sometimes I'm too cheap.

In a museum setting, where they placed a few of these sculptures, I saw vestiges of paint on their surfaces. I saw faces of these man-sized forms with different looks. Some were bearded, others clean-shaven. Still others had a mustache. Some had narrow noses, most broad. Some had long hair, others wore their hair in a top-knot. Facial features varied. Eyes ranged from small to large, mouths the same.

Amazingly, the warriors' faces present differing expressions, which demonstrates the ancient artisans' skill to represent real persons, real warriors of the era. Warriors' expressions spoke to me differently. Their looks ranged. One warrior's face held quiet purpose, another, defiant glaring. Another, a silent smile; another, surprise; still another presented a wondering side-way glance. One showed a steady confidence while another displayed a placid acceptance. One displayed peaceful assurance.

Seeing these warriors made me think that if I believed they actually could protect me after death, like men of old China believed, then I would feel doubly safe once I had seen these distinctive faces. These warriors looked capable of keeping me safe. Like, these guys were on my side. Sticking up for me.

The sculpted visage of the warriors' clothing also became different among the statues. Some wore a sweater with a turned up collar, generals wore plated armor. Others wore what, even though of terra cotta, appeared to resemble elegant leather-patch coats. The coats' detail included the well-known traditional Chinese loop-and-peg closure.

The more I studied these guys, the more they felt like my brothers. Big brothers. I kinda hated to leave these guys. Wait a minute. They had beautiful horses. The horses had ornate saddles, bridles, trim manes, sometimes coverings for protection in battle. These big horse statues must have been copied from the real thing, which just recently had traveled the Silk Road eastward from Arabia to upgrade China's equestrian capability.

I hung around the Museum a while, which contains lots of relics connected with the terra cotta pits. Mostly recovered weapons, they include knives, spears, cross-bows, arrows, and more. Some of these items were coated with oxidized chromium to retard oxidation. Pretty advanced, these Chinese.

At the time, seems like I got a thousand pictures. Actually it was only a couple hundred. Its nice my camera decided to work. On the way back to the parking lot a Chinese woman vendor, like others at other tourist sites, chased me and others in my party, selling a picture book of the site. There's gotta be a better way.

So, my day over, my feet pounded, I leaned back in my motor coach seat, took a swig of luke-warm water from my water bottle, thought about my experience.

Hungry, once again, I ask of this Terra Cotta Warriors site, where's the restaurant? I was famished.

So, I visited 10,000 warriors. They all spoke the same language to me. They were there to protect their Emperor-in-death. And, seems like they personally tipped their hats to me, extended that protection. Yes, visiting the Terra Cotta Warriors, I felt a little safer in life.

C2005 Paul L.Tripp