The Terra-Cotta Warriors

The Terra-Cotta Warriors, namely the Terra-Cotta Warriors and Horses of Qin Shi Huang (the first Emperor of Qin Dynasty), also referred to as Qin Terra-Cotta Warriors and Horses and Qin Warriors for short. The first batch of the national key cultural relics protection units and the first batch of the World Heritage in China, is located in the Terra-Cotta Warriors’ pits, 1.5 km east of the Qin Shi Huang Mausoleum in Lintong District, Xi’an City, Shaanxi Province.

The Terra-Cotta Warriors is one of the categories of the ancient tomb sculptures. In ancient times, human beings were buried alive with the dead. Since slaves were the possessions of the slave masters when the latter were alive, after they died, the slaves were supposed to be buried as sacrificial objects. The Terra-Cotta Warriors are made into sacrificial objects in the shape of the soldiers and horses (chariots, war horses and soldiers).

On March 4th, 1961, the Qin Shi Huang Mausoleum was announced by the State Council of China as the first batch of the national key cultural relics protection units. In March 1974, the Terra-Cotta Warriors were discovered; in 1987, the Qin Shi Huang Mausoleum and the Terra-Cotta Warriors’ pits were approved by UNESCO to be included in the World Heritage List and were hailed as the “Eighth Wonder of the World”. More than 200 foreign heads of state and or government have visited here so far. The Terra-Cotta Warriors, as a golden card of the splendid civilization of ancient China, is regarded as one of the world’s top ten ancient tomb treasures.