The First Emperor and the Terracotta Army
January 29th 2008 12:44
The British Museum
Ying Zheng was born in 259 BC in Qin, one of the seven main states of ancient China. At the age of 13 he became King and immediately set about building his tomb complex, with a central burial mound which would become an eternal part of the landscape. He also began establishing a large and powerful army to crush the other states. Between 230 and 221BC Han, Wei, Zhao, Van, Qi and Chu fell one by one before Qin’s vast numbers, superior weaponry and brilliant military strategy. The first Empire was born and the King of Qin became Qin Shihuangdi: First August Divine Emperor of the Qin
Terracotta figures in the great hall of the British Museum
The new Empire was strictly governed. The Emperor kept his old enemies close in the new capital Xiangyang where he housed them in 270 grand palaces built in the styles of their conquered states. There were sweeping reforms and new laws which were tightly enforced. Weights and measures were standardized. A single currency and a universal script were introduced. Roads and canals were built and a Great wall, joining all the walls of the former states, was planned. Despite many years dedicated to finding a potion that might prolong his life and enable him to rule forever in this world, Qin Shihuandi died at the age of 49 and descended into his tomb complex to rule forever in the afterlife.
In 1974, a farmer digging in his fields unearthed a terracotta head – the head of a terracotta warrior. Since then the area, which covers 56 square kilometers, has become one of the world’s most important archaeological sites. Three pits have been found, containing 7000 terracotta soldiers standing guard, around the central tomb mound. There are also ceramic performers, musicians, courtiers and officials, bronze birds and chariots and skeletons of real animals. But the Emperor’s tomb, which according to ancient poetry, contains rivers of mercury and stars of pearls, has never been disturbed. The treasures within remain the First Emperor’s secret.
The First Empire; China’s Terracotta Army exhibition, is showing at the British Museum until April 6. It tells the story of Qin Shihuangdi; his military strategies, campaigns and conquests; the building of the Empire (the architecture, the engineering and the innovations) and the construction of the tomb complex. It does it brilliantly. But by far the most impressive part of the exhibition (and the one that has brought so many visitors that the museum has had to remain open until midnight three days a week) is the collection of terracotta characters; the court officials with their hands folded in their gowns or clutching documents, the performers - the strongman with his bulging muscles, the smiling musician, the team of horses and the soldiers on guard and alert. Each figure is unique and individual, created in the most careful detail, even down to the links in their armour and strands of their hair. There is something disturbingly real and eloquent about these figures resurrected from the tomb. They say so much about the might of the First August Divine Emperor of the Qin, one of the world's greatest rulers and the man who over 2000 years ago founded what was to become the nation of China.
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