Terracotta Warriors, Xi'an

copies of the warriors

So we visited the terracotta warriors! We went in a tour group with two other guys, George and Cory. If you're interested in how they came about, look at wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terracotta_Army). It's not the full

story that we got, but it's enough to understand. Because the Emperor was crazy with power, he made exact replicas of all his bodyguards to be buried with him to protect him in the afterlife. These warriors are only a few of the sacrifices made, along with pots, precious stones and concubines who were buried alive. Each of the faces of the warriors is unique, as it is an exact copy. They haven't excavated the entire tomb yet, as the design is very complex, and there is mercury buried in it, which is poisonous. The chinese government a\have put a 100 year ban on anyone excavating the tomb, in the hope that technology will be advanced enough to preserve whatevers inside. Similarly, not all of the terracotta warriors have been uncovered, as they were painted in a special dye, which fades on contact with air, and they haven't yet developed a way to preserve the colours.