To build the underground palaces, the workers had to dig through three layers of groundwater ("穿三泉") and to fill the cracks with liquid copper to prevent the underground water from interfering with the works. They then constructed the underground palaces, filling them with all kinds of treasures and utensils, food, and life size domestic staffs, soldiers and officials, houses, palaces, courtyards, etc as if the emperor were still alive as it was then believed that the world of the dead was more or less like that of the living. To help illuminate the underground palaces, there were lamps made from fish oil from the salamanders and to simulate the night sky and its stars, the roof of the underground vaults was covered with lapis azuli and pearls. There was also a river of mercury in the garden to simulate a real river. The upper walls of the tomb were also decorated with astronomical images and below them maps. To prevent the workers and craftsmen from taking away the secrets, they were all killed after the Emperor Qin was buried, they being buried between the inner and outer palaces. Thus a lot of skeletons had been found west of the mausoleum. To prevent tomb robbers, all kinds of mechanisms and traps for killing or maiming were built at strategic locations. According to archaeological explorations employing sophisticated metal and other material detectors, there was an unusually high concentration of mercury at the tomb and there appeared to be a good underground water drainage system. The scientists found no solid evidence for the legend that the palaces were accidentally burnt down as a result of a shepherd or cowherd looking for his lost animals amongst them. Many scholars think that the mausoleum did not suffer any large-scale destruction despite the ravages of war. In 1987, the Mausoleum and Terra Cotta Warriors were listed as part of the World Heritage. A number of in situ museums have now been built over the tombs but the greater part of the vast underground tombs remain undug as scientists have not yet thought out a good plan on how to properly preserve what may be found because once exposed to air, some of the relics may quickly lose their original color owing to corrosion by water vapor and oxidixation, as have already happened to the color of some of the terra cotta warriors.
The huge square in front of Emperor Qin's Mausoleum
To the left of the photo is Pit No. 1 and to the right Pit No 2 and 3.
One of the entrances to the museum built over the relevant tomb sites.
The entrance to another site of the Mausoleum
Still another entrance to the Mausoleum
A poem written by the famous poet 王維 about the Emperor's Tomb.
A bronze plague of the first Emperor of China at the Mausoleum museum
A model of the Emperor on a chariot drawn by four horses
A closer view of the four horses.
A closer view of the cabriolet
The Qin Mausoleum is now declared by UNESCO as part of World Heritage.
The entrance to the exhibit room for some of the relics unearthed at the Qin tombs at LiShan county, Xian.
Outside of the Mausoleum, there's a really huge open air space planted with plenty of trees.
A plan of the pits we were going to see.
Part of the No. 3 pits. We can see that most of it are still undug
The pits are dug one by one, their roofs look like so many tile-groove roofs.
A closer view of the pit
Another part of the pit
We can see that a lot of work still remains to be done.
The broken remains of the soldiers can be seen lying about
We were taken to Pit 2 of the Mausoleum built over the actual archaeological site, discovered in 1976. Pit 2 , in the form of an L-shape of about 6000 square meters, 124m long, (W-E) 98m wide (N-S) and 5m deep, contains terra cotta archers, calvalry, infantry and horse chariots. Archaeological digging is still continuing. In this photo, we see some of the terra cotta soldiers with chain mails. Some of their heads have come off perhaps as a result of careless digging. According to the archaeological scientists, the way the pits were built was that they would dig furrows about 5 meters below ground, ram hard the earth walls and shore them up with timbers and bricks, then put some rafters and beams across the top to form a roof covered by fibre mats which were then covered over by earth rammed hard to conceal what were beneath such roofs. The entrances and exits were sealed the same way. The terra cotta soldiers etc were placed along the corridors/furrow under such roofing to form a concealed underground army .
Who moved these terra cotta soldiers to where they are now? By the archaelogical workers or people from past ages?
The interior of these terra cotta soldiers were hollow and they appeared to be built in sections and later joined together.
We can see that all the soldiers were support at the bottom on a square plate
A closer view of some of the soldiers found
Each one has a different facial expression
This is a terra cotta general. He has two coats of armor of leather which cover both his front and back, the part around his stomache having an additional fish-scale mail in colored metal and wears square-toe shoes. His rank is indicated by the 9 ribbons, three in front, three at the back, one on each shoulder and one on his head.
How fine the workmanship and how alive he looks!
This is a middle ranking officer. He only has one leather mail over his robe for his front but his colored button mail (also colored) in front extends to his chest, presumably because he had to do some real fighting. He only has a scarf around his neck to indicate his rank. Some officers have armor both at the front and back whilst others only have a front armor.
A closer view of the medium ranked officer
This is a horse soldier. He also has front and back leather armor with a scarf around his neck to indicate his rank.
This calvalry soldier has a moustache and wears a small helmet. His horse looks like it's got a fiery temperament. Are the two crumpled cloth-like pads used for covering his ears to stop it from hearing battle noises so that it may stay calm during its master charges about on the battlefield?
The horses in those days do not appear to be very big. It does have a very long tail which is tied into a pig-tail. The harness appear relatively simple. There does not appear to be any stirrups.
In the pits, we can see the part of the body of a horse and the part of the upper body of a horse soldier.
This solider appears fully armored and even has separate shoulder pads, perhaps an officer of the archery calvalry or a crossbow archer?.
This is probably an ordinary soldier who has little to help him but his kung fu or alternatively another archer. How proudly he looks !
Some 40,000 bronze weapons were unearthed from the pits like Gé (戈), spears (矛), halberd (戟), Pi (鈸), , Shu (交), batte-axe (鉞) , sword (劍), hook (鉤), bow, crossbows (弩), arrow heads 箭頭 etc. Many swords and sabres were discovered using chromium-saline coating , a technology which insulated them from oxidization and other forms of corrosion, something not "re-invented" in the West until 20th century!
These are some of the metal tools discovered at the tombs.
The window of the museum
The exit of the museum
There were trees and lawn outside
The leaves of some of the trees were already changing color
It's nice and shady.
A cafe outside the museum
We also visited the number 1 pit. So many terra cotta soldiers. This pit contains a mixed batch of horse, foot soldiers with vanguards, main formation and rear guards. The pit is divided into 11 furrows and measures 230 meters long (E-W) and 62 meters wide (N-S). So far 2000 terra cotta soldiers, 20 wooden chariots had been unearthed but it's believed that in total there were about 6000 terra cotta soldiers and 50 chariots at the site.
Soldiers lined up for duty
A closer view
A close up of some of such soldiers
More soldiers being unearthed.
What a magnificent and overwhelming sight !
A corner view of the site
Another row of soldiers.
A view from the centre point
a closer view of two or three of the pits.
A front view of another corridor
Two rows of infantry soldiers
Three rows of soldiers.
A view of the front of all the pits.
Some horse soldiers with their war horses.
Each one is supposed to be carrying a spear.
According to this pit was discovered, others have already made use of it as a tomb
A photo of a wrecked chariot
Look how life like and fierce they all look !
Each one has a different expression and facial features. They were modeled after real people.
Soldiers with their horses.
Some of the soldiers had their hair tied into a bun, others not. These were archers. Their hair must be tied into a bun to one side so as not to interfere with the shooting of the arrow of those behind them.
The general had a head gear and scarf different from his soldiers
Some of the infantry soldiers
These soldiers haven't got any armors. They'd probably be the first to die.
These soldiers all got armor protection
Some soldiers appear to be holding two weapons.
They all look so grim faced ! Perhaps it's no fun being ordinary infantryman
Are these domestic servants?
A closer view of some of the horses.
More horses
A closer view of the horses
This horse trainer looks quite happy
More soldiers.
A closer view of the faces of some of the soldiers.
This one looks really worried.
Someone had his back against the wall
This one appear expressionless, perhaps thinking of home.
These look quite glum
During the visit, the archaeological workers are still working. I'm sure that they'll probably be there for the rest of their lives! The visit was a stunning experience. One could only stare in wide-mouth amazement at the scale and ingenuity of ancient Chinese technology. But somehow I could not help thinking how hard the workers had to work to build this historical "wonder" ! I shudder at the human costs involved.
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