Qin Terra-cotta Warriors and Horses

The museum is located in Lintong District in Xi’an City. It was built during 246 B.C. and 208 B.C. Nearly 8000 clay warriors and horses as big as the real ones have been unearthed so far. It was described as the one of the eight wonders in the world and one of the greatest archaeological discoveries in the twentieth centuries.

Chinese emperors usually began to built their tombs when he was alive. Qin Shi Huang began to build his tomb soon after he became an emperor. In ancient China, when a person died, especially someone of high status or with wealth, there would be someone or something to be buried with the dead. The Qin Terra-cotta Warriors and Horses were built to be buried with First Emperor of Qin when he died. It takes about 40 years to finish the whole project. Over 700 thousand labors took part in the construction of the Qin Terra-cotta Warriors and Horses.

Three pits of clay warriors and horses have been discovered for now. These three pits covers an area of over 20 thousand square kilometers. There are all kinds of warriors and horses. The weapons the warriors holding are all made of metal, which can be used in real wars. It indicates that Qin Dynasty’s metallurgical technology and weapon-manufacturing technique already had reached quite a high level. No wonder people say that it is an underground army. The warriors are all well-made and each of them looks different. It seems that each of the warriors are created with a prototype. They just look like real persons with different actions or expressions.

As a World Heritage, the UNESCO describes it “features a high level of integrity; the grave mound, mausoleum constructions, burial pits, sites of ritual construction and overall setting in the property area and the buffer zone are well preserved, and fully reflect the structure and ritual system of the whole mausoleum.”

Location: Qinling North Road, Lintong District, Xi’an.

Entrance fee: CNY150 (March 1st-November 30th)

CNY120 (December 1st-February 28th)

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Qin Terra-cotta Warriors and Horses