One of the Eight Wonders: Terra Cotta Warriors and Horses

The Terra Cotta Warriors  and Horses are the most significant and fabulous archaeological excavations of the 20th century, which is around 30 kilometers east of Xi’ancity, Shaanxi province. It has been named one of the eight wonders of the world. It is a sight not to be missed by any visitors to China.

photo by sicoactiva on Flickr

The Terra Cotta Warriors is a huge mausoleum of the first emperor, Chin Shi Huang, of Qin dynasty. He started the building of the mausoleum when he was 13 years old. Close to 4% of the total 200 million population was put on the construction. It took almost 38 years to build and complete. Based on different historical documents, the amount of the years might differ, but I believe it was 38 years because there were tons of stories which described how hard it was to build the mausoleum.  It reflected how Chin Shi Huang was kind of merciles, but he didn't care about people, his mausoleum led to a lot of labors' deaths.  That's why most people evaluated him as a tyrant.

Photo by Shirley Zhang

The mausoleum takes an area more than 20,000 square meters. The archaeologist have discovered three sections so far: No. 1 Pit, No. 2 Pit, and No. 3 Pit. They were numbered in the order of their discoveries. No. 1 Pit is the largest, which covered 12,000 square meters and was discovered by local villagers in 1974. They found fragments of warriors and many bronze weapons. It has over 6000 warriors in horses. It was first opened to the public on October 1^st, the national day of China, in the year of 1979. There are columns of soldiers at the front, followed by war chariots at the back. No.2 Pit was discovered in 1976. It was half the size of the No.1 Pit but it contains over a thousand warriors and 90 chariots. It was displayed to visitors in 1989.  No.3 Pit only took  around 600 square meters, but it was the command center or headquarters for all the groups in No.1 Pit and No.2 Pit. Built in the shape of the Chinese character "凹", Pit 3measures 19.2 yards long from east to west, 23.4 yards wide from north to southand 15.7 feet deep.


However, the amazing part is that it's the 3rd time to dig out the colourful warriors in No.1 Pit. Here is the picture I took when I went there in 2008. The colorful worriors contain 8 different colors, such as red, green, blue, yellow, purple,brown,white and black. According to the scientists, it was mineral substances.

Photo By Shirley Zhang

According to Travel China Guide, "Altogether over 7,000 pottery soldiers, horses, chariots, and even weapons have been unearthed from these pits. Most of them have been restored to their former grandeur." I have to say that the Terra Cotta Warriors and Horses is a sensational design. It promoted Xi'an city turns to a great place of interest. I feel really proud and excited about my hometown,Xi'an.