<A>AN EMPEROR'S ARMY - NOW A WORLD HERITAGE

<A> AN EMPEROR'S ARMY - NOW A WORLD HERITAGE

Brij Kapoor


Contrary to the general perception, China is not all about Beijing and Shanghai, I have found.

Who could imagine that what was once a piece of a quiet rural countryside in China, open fields with small hillocks around and shrubs and trees spread all over, would turn out to be the site of 'the Eighth Wonder of the World'. Xian, the capital of Shaanxi province has this distinction as it has what is called Emperor Qin's Terra-cotta Army. A small village, it came into prominence in 1974 when some villagers discovered some artifacts like pottery and bronze weapons while digging for wells. Once they started digging, the archaeologists found a virtual treasure at this site. 31 years later, when visiting this 'Wonder', I met one of those villagers, who now sits at the Reception and autographs your Travel Guide at the site of the Terra-cotta Warriors.

The transformation of Xian
Flying into the ultra-modern airport of Xian, I found it was indeed a very busy airport with many flights from all over the world. I could see tourists both domestic and international milling around. To cater for this large influx, I found that the city now has an excellent infrastructure, with a superb expressway form the airport, fine large hotels and shopping malls. In a period of about 30 years, the little-known village has been transformed to a well-known place on the world map.

We were visiting this place in a group. The general appearance is very pleasing and different from the usual 'digs'. The whole area is landscaped beautifully, with adequate parking for the large number of vehicles coming in daily. Known as Emperor Qin's Terra-cotta Museum, or simply the Terra-cotta Warriors, this is the biggest on-site museum in China, and the pride of China's history. This is located East of Emperor Qin's Mausoleum.

The Qin Dynasty ruled China from 221BC to 206BC. Qin was the First Emperor in Chinese history. He is also credited with building the defences of Beijing with its Great Wall of China. Emperor Qin believed that life after death was a continuation of being in this world. So he had his tomb designed and built well before his death. Of course his tomb actually took 40 years to be completed. A terra-cotta military force in the three pits about 1.5 km evidently guards it away. This tomb has not been opened yet.

Approaching the site, I found it hard to believe that this well-maintained place has become a realty in just a few years. At the Terra-cotta Warriors Museum, we were first greeted at the Reception where we could see a few real-life samples of the warriors. We also purchased some mementos with different combinations of the warriors for around 50 to 100 yuan. It was later while leaving the Museum that we found some vendors chasing us and offering similar mementos for 50 yuan, which we eagerly grabbed. Soon after another 100 metres, we found someone selling the same for 20 yuan! That is when we learnt that these hawkers had hoodwinked us.

We entered the Circle Vision Hall first. This gives a very good idea of the history of Emperor Qin and his Terra-cotta Army over 2,000 years ago. The story is told through a short movie on a 360 degrees circular screen. This relates how this clay army was built. Qin had got built an underground palace near his future tomb. This was to be guarded by an army of 8,000 life sized Terra-cotta warriors, consisting of infantry soldiers, archers, horses, chariots and so on. This is the veritable treasure, which we were going to see.

The seat of the warriors
There are three pits that have been dug up. These are now all covered beautifully with appropriate construction over these. The area all round is aesthetically landscaped. Pit 1 with an area of 16,000 sq metres, was the first to be dug up in 1974 and opened to public in 1979. Pit 2 and Pit 3 were opened in 1994 and 1989 respectively.

Pit 1 is the largest pit, being 230m x 62m and 5 m deep. This houses the main army in battle formation. It seems that Qin's palace and his mausoleum were burnt down in 206BC. Thus the pits and their figures were badly damaged. The figures that were dug up were in a severely damaged state and broken into many fragments. This required intricate restoration efforts over many years. The photographs in the museum show the state of these figures. It is a story of diligent hard work over years by the archeological experts that they have re-assembled these into their original shapes.

Pit 2 is in an L-shape and shows a battle formation of nearly 1300 infantry soldiers, archers, charioteers, and cavalry. These appear to be supporting the main force. Pit 3 is the smallest of all pits and has only 68 figures. This appears to be the headquarters of the force in a typical battle-order positions. The attention to detail is indeed amazing.

It was very interesting to learn of how the terra-cotta figures were constructed. These were made of the locally available clay. Each of these figures is about 1.8 meters high
and weighs anything from 110 to 300 kilos! The soldiers have very individualized facial features, with a lot of detail in their shoes, belts and dresses. The figures also have distinguishing features to differentiate the soldiers, the officers, and generals. The painstaking detail is also evident in the case of the horses as also the weaponry or for that matter the chariots. It is amazing how a project of this nature was conceptualized and then executed over a long period of many years.

We also saw two sets of full-size bronze chariots and horses displayed in the Exhibit Hall. These had been discovered in a pit close to Qin's tomb. These were found broken into thousands of pieces but have been wonderfully restored over eight years. These chariots are indeed a showpiece.

We came away from this masterly display of art and skills of a bygone era.