2010年8月5日星期四

The Terra Cotta Warriors and Houses




When local peasants were sinking wells in the neighborhood in 1974, the vaults containing the terra cotta warrios and horses were discovered , creating a worldwide stir. It further establishes that Qin mausoleum is a world-class wonder. The French President Jacques Chiras exclaimed in admiration after visiting the vaults with figures vividly shaped and aranged in mighty combat formations, “The world used to have seven wonders. The Qin terracotta figures must take an eighth… Now I’d say that no one who has not seen these terracotta figures can claim to hava visited China .” These terra cotta figures represent the epitome of the military prowess of Qin under the First Emperor and are an indication of its overall national strenth. The vaults excavated in which terra cotta figures were found are located some 1500 meters to the east of the Qin mausoleum. these life-size pottery figures were modeled the Emperor’s Guand of Honor.
No one ever expected that this accidental discovery would prove to be one of the most significant modern archaeological finds, adding greater understanding to China’s history and at the same time unfolding a unique and majestic spectacle before the world: the Terra-Cotta Warriors and Horses Museum, the underground army of terra cotta warriors.
Among the three pits, No.1 pit is the largest one, extanding 62 meters from north to sorth and 230 meters from east to west. It’s a pit of about five meters deep. More than 6,000 clay warriors and horses could be unearthed from No.1 pit. All of them are life-like. The terra-cotta warriors and horses are arrayed in an oblong battle formation of the Qin Dynasty, facing east, they look healthy and strong and have different facial expressions, showing Emperor Qingshihuang’s Strong determination of wiping out the other six states and unifying the whole country. It is the most magnificent archaeological discovery in this century. It is also a reflection of Chinese people’s wisdom and artful skill two thousand years ago. Thousands of real weapons were unearthed from these terra-cotta army pits. These weapons were exquisitely made. Some of them are still very sharp since their surface were treated with chromium. They are as bright as new, though buried underground for more than 2,000 years. This indicates that Qin Dynasty’s metallurgical technology and weapon-manufacturing technique already had reached quite a high level. In 1980, two teams of large painted bronze chariots and horses were unearthed 20 metres west of the mausoleum. Together with Terra cotta Warriors, they are called the eighth wonder of the world.

The discovery of a large number of Qin terra cotta figures is the evidence of Chinese high artistic level 2000 years ago. The Qin artists, who modelled the terra cotta figures,were masters at capturing instantaneous changes of facial expression to express the inner world or even personality of an individual . Using simple and hold techniques , the never black pupil in a man’s eyes. The horses are comparable in quality to the sculptures of the ancient Greeks. Being the most significat archaeological excavations of the 20th century. the extraordinary grandeur and transcendental artworks of the First Qin Emperor and the Museum of Terra-catta Warriors and Houses have been included in the list of the World Cultural Heritage by UNESCO.

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