The visit to the fabulous and magical warriors of Xian, fueling the legend of the fearsome Emperor Qin Shi Huang, gives you a unique opportunity to travel to the legendary heart of China and the deeper history of this country.
Inside China, some 30 kilometers east of Xi’an, which was the capital of twelve dynasties during 3000 years of history, lies a strange wonder: the 8,000 terracotta soldiers of Qin Shi Huang, the first emperor of the newly unified country, built and arrange in battle formation near future grave.
The contemplation of the whole of the third century C., overwhelmed not only by its beauty and artistic quality of the figures, but also by the great mystery of an emperor who wanted to protect its passage to another world with a magical army now seems to load on their armor with the weight History and human fears.
Qin Shi Huang managed to unify all the kingdoms of China, not yet named so, in 221 BC Fully aware of the greatness of his achievement, created a new title to distinguish himself from his predecessors: huangdi, sum of di huang and, title-the mythical rulers of the origin of Chinese history, virtuous and perfect. At the same time, I was also a name of divinity.
This extreme desire to posterity obsessed the emperor, and led him to project at the beginning of his reign the mausoleum, which remained out of service until after his death, and steadily employed 700,000 people.
The soldiers, actual size, are divided into three graves. The first is the most impressive contains 6,000 warriors with their horses, ready for combat. All are modeled with extreme detail, and his face reflected in racial differences and uniform and rank. Originally carrying guns, but some of them were looted by peasants to the Qin dynasty fell. The second, with 1,300 troops, is still under excavation. The third, smallest, it is thought that it was the commander of the Terracotta Army, the high number of high-ranking officers in it.
At first it was thought that the terracotta army was part of the burial of the emperor, because of the great distance that separates him from the grave. We only know its contents by writings of the time, who speak of a dazzling treasury, and the emperor lying in a coffin of gold floating on a river of mercury, under a canopy of stars with precious stones. An image at the height of his ambition. His reign, iron, won him fame and cruel despot, but was not without grandeur gave political unification, that of writing, abolished feudalism, built a comprehensive communications system, was brief but his dynasty, his two great architectural works fulfilled their dream to last: the soldiers of his mausoleum and the Great Wall of China.
The death stunned the emperor at age 49, ironically during a trip through eastern China in search of the garden of the immortals and the secret of eternal life. His prime minister, fearing that the news trigger a coup or uprising, concealed the death of Emperor everyone. The secrecy that surrounded the emperor always made it possible for anyone suspected, and two wagons with fish strategically located next to his diligence disguised their decay. Back from the party, her youngest son conspired against the firstborn, the heir, and took the inheritance and, incidentally, life.
Those who have written on this clay army say they modeled on the belief that the emperor would go on having troops under their command. But judging from its authoritarian reputation and the bloody scene of betrayal that erupted after his death, can not believe anyone wanted that. And if the soldiers were designed to battle in the afterlife, then a sample was almost naive pragmatic and cautious character of the emperor. Maybe she was afraid of the wrath of many who had been killed, and I needed to feel protected by some magic of clay soldiers. Or maybe just those figures expressed their desire to enter another world as he had always walked by it: backed by the sound of guns.