Terracotta Warriors Research Paper

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The terracotta warriors from the mausoleum of the first Qin emperor of China Qin Shih Huang (221-206 BC) of the Qin Dynasty are a marvel to behold. This massive monument to man’s desire to have a place in eternity[footnoteRef:2] is measured by the lifelike, life-size replications of Chinese soldiers, horses, chariots, musicians, officials, acrobats and warriors in three pits at the gravesite of the Qin Emperor. The Terracotta Army as it is known consists of some 8000 painted terracotta warriors along with hundreds of horses and chariots.[footnoteRef:3] It is the duplication of a real life-size army discovered and now stored in the Museum, Shaanxi, China, as a UNESCO World Heritage site. The Terracotta Warriors symbolize the first Qin Emperor’s desire to be as great and fortified in the afterlife as he was in this world. However, the fact that they were submerged in wet soil for two thousand years, unknown to history shows the extent to which Shih Huang was successful in establishing an historical legacy. This paper will show how in spite of their disappearance from history, the terracotta warriors at the burial place of Shih Huang, first emperor of the Qin Dynasty, are a fitting remembrance of the one who unified China and began the era of empire in China. [2: Khan Academy, Terracotta Warriors from the mausoleum of the first Qin emperor of China. https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/ap-art-history/south-east-se-asia/china-art/a/terracotta-warriors-from-the-mausoleum-of-the-first-qin-emperor-of-china] [3: Jane Portal, The First Emperor: China’s Terracotta Army (Harvard University Press, 2007).]

The first point to make about the terracotta warriors is that these life-size replicas of human beings was not just about making soldiers—it was about constructing a city: a legacy in death for the one who had done so much in life. Shih Huang wanted a necropolis—a city of the dead—a city for his afterlife, where his soul could find repose. The terracotta warriors are just one aspect of this. As A. R. Williams writing for the National Geographic has shown, the true grandeur of the city of the terracotta warriors has only recently begun to be realized: nearly 40 miles of ground were covered below ground level in this city of the dead with parks, gardens, stables, offices, gold, silver, jewelry, halls and walls—all of it surrounding the vast tomb of the late emperor.[footnoteRef:4] On the eastern edge of the tomb are the thousands of terracotta warriors in rows after rows, hundreds upon hundreds of them, buried beneath 16 feet of soil—these giants of imperial grandeur have their own unique facial features, indicating that each one at least from the neck up was given a personality.[footnoteRef:5] [4: A. R. Williams, Discoveries May Rewrite History of China's Terra-Cotta Warriors, National Geographic, 2016. https://news.nationalgeographic.com/2016/10/china-first-emperor-terra-cotta-warriors-tomb/?sf38672445=1] [5: Jonathan Clements, The First Emperor of China (Sutton, 2007).]

While the tomb of the emperor remains sealed, the site has been excavated in four main pits, and these pits reveal the nature of the achievements of the emperor in his lifetime. The first pit was discovered in 1974 and contains the majority of the soldiers, with some 6,000 numbered there. The pit itself is about 150,000 sq ft. Most of them are officers, some are generals, and rows of archers can also be seen. The second pit was discovered two years later and is 65,000 sq. ft.

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This pit contained chariots, horses, cavalrymen and officers, over a hundred archers kneeling, and 170 crossbowmen. The warriors in Pit 2 are some of the most exquisite in the lot. Pit 3 was discovered the same year and is much smaller at 5,500 sq. ft. In this pit can be found the high commanders of the terracotta warriors—all 68 of them face one another. A fourth pit was excavated but was found to be empty. While many weapons were stolen from the gravesite in the wake of the emperor’s death, many other weapons and artifacts remained that even after 2000 years still retain some of…

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…remained. Stripped of their weapons though they were in many cases (though not all), they stayed in place, preserved by the soil that encased them within the earth. While Shih Huang was remembered for thousands of years as only a tyrant,[footnoteRef:13] his work on his necropolis remained a secret, largely of his own doing—as he had the architects and craftsmen of the burial site executed that its secrets would not be disturbed.[footnoteRef:14] This was to ensure that his burial site remained undisturbed. The terracotta soldiers were there to guard his tomb and turn back those who sought access to his remains. As fearful and paranoid as the emperor was in life regarding assassinations, with his tomb he wished to take no chances. He wanted it to be completely protected. From men’s eyes for thousands of years it would be so, following the fall of his dynasty. [13: Tom Ambrose, (2010). The Nature of Despotism: From Caligula to Mugabe, the Making of Tyrants. New Holland.] [14: Jane Portal, The First Emperor: China’s Terracotta Army (Harvard University Press, 2007).]

In conclusion, Shih Huang could not protect his legacy on earth, but at least his 8000 terracotta soldiers could protect his sleeping ground in the afterlife. As of now, only four of the pits have been excavated, but there are a hundred more, indicating that this sprawling city of the dead was as impressive as any city Shih Huang oversaw in his life.[footnoteRef:15] Shih Huang spared no expense in the erecting of his final resting place: it truly is a monument to his power and his accomplishment. And yet, with the slaughter of its engineers that it might remain a secret, and with the pillaging of its contents, the final burial place and its disappearance serves more as an accusation of the first emperor’s inhuman aims than a signal of his grand achievements in the name of humanity and the Confucian ideals. [15: Agnew, Neville (3 August 2010). Conservation of….....

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