the Museum of the Terra-Cotta Warriors and Horses in the Mausoleum of the First Emperor of the Qin Dynasty

The Mausoleum of First Emperor of the Qin Dynasty (221-206BC) is located about 5km to the east of Lintong County in Shaanxi Province.

According to the record of Shi Ji (The Records of the Great Historian), soon after Ying Zheng ascent the throne to be the king of the Qin State in 246BC, he began to build his mausoleum along Lishan Mountain. In 221BC, the Qin Dynasty unified the six states in the northeast China, and established the Qin Dynasty. Then he drove over 70,000 criminal slaves from all places to continue the construction, and it took 36 years to complete the project. According to Shi Ji, the inner grave was very extravagant. In the grave there were crossbar arrows that would automatically shoot in case of robbery. In 209BC, when Emperor Shihuang was buried, his son ordered all his concubines without babies to be buried with the emperor in the mausoleum. In order to prevent the artisans from letting out the secret, they were all locked in the tomb.

According to the record, the earthen heap was 50 zhang (1 zhang = 3.3 meters) in height, and with a perimeter of over 30 li (15 km). The grave that is extant today is in the shape of a square taper, and its bottom is 515 meters long from the south to the north, 485 meters wide from the east to the west and 55 meters high. In the spring of 1974, three pits of terra-cotta warriors and horses of the Qin Dynasty were found here successively. From the east to the west, the No.1 Pit is 230 meters in length, 62 meters in width, 5 meters in depth. Taking up an area of 14,620 square meters, it consists of a corridor and 11 passage holes. In the excavated area of 96 square meters there are over 500 terra-cotta warriors, 4 chariots and 24 horses. It was estimated that over 6,000 terra-cotta warriors and horses were buried in the pit. The No.2 Pit, covering 6,000 square meters, is in the shape of try square, and has cavalries, chariots, infantries and archers. There are over 1,000 pieces of terra-cotta warriors and horses, and all kinds of arms. The No.3 Pit covers over 500 square meters with a concave plane, and there is a chariot inside it and 68 terra-cotta guards. The pit is like a captain organ in the army, and is also equipped with large numbers of arms.

The terra-cotta warriors and horses of the Qin Dynasty were all molded on real people and horses. The terra-cotta warriors are about 1.8m in height, with different appearance and stately expression, from whose fineries, armours and positions we can distinguish their different statuses. Among them, there were generals, military officers, archers, valiant generals and soldiers, etc. Most of the unearthed arms were bronze wares that were already treated by chrome. They are still shining and sharp-edged. Moreover, there are two groups of bronze gharry tomb figures, each vehicle being equipped with four horses and an archer.

The terra-cotta warriors and horses in the Mausoleum of First Emperor of the Qin Dynasty are called the Eighth Miracle in the World. In 1976, the Museum of the Terra-Cotta Warriors and Horses in the Mausoleum of the First Emperor of the Qin Dynasty was built at the site of the No.1 Pit, and the battle array of a large number of mounted and foot soldiers was restored in the museum, attracting large numbers of Chinese and foreign visitors.