Terracotta Warriors “visit” over 50 countries to attract swarms of fans
Being the most precious cultural relic to be excavated in Xi’an, the Terracotta Warriors have been exhibited in many countries overseas to display the Chinese history. Earlier this year, it drew the worldwide attention as a terracotta warrior was deliberately damaged in the exhibition in the Franklin Institute Science Museum of America. As people from across the world all condemned the culprit, it was obvious that the Terracotta Army was enormously popular overseas.
It attracted the highest number of visitors in every place that the exhibition was held
It was learnt from the Shaanxi Cultural Heritage Promotion Center (SCHPC) on April 20th that in recent years, more than 260 exhibitions covering the cultural relics in Shaanxi have been held in over 50 countries and regions around the world, over half of which the Terracotta Warriors have been included in. Terracotta Warriors are deemed as a symbol of China in the international society, and it can attract the highest amount of visitors in every place that the exhibitions were held.
According to Wu Haiyun from SCHPC, who is in charge of the project, the number of first grade cultural relics for the exhibitions overseas shall not be more than 20% of the total amount in accordance with the relevant regulation. As a first grade cultural relic, the Terracotta Warriors are allowed to be on the overseas exhibitions with the number of about ten pieces. Nevertheless, these statues can always attract a huge number of visitors, and even outnumber a city’s population.
In 2015, the exhibition “China’s First Emperor and His Terracotta Warriors” was held in Aarhus, Denmark, with the Danish Queen attending the opening ceremony. Upon seeing the Terracotta Warriors, she was very excited to communicate with the Chinese Ambassador and with the experts and personnel from Shaanxi for over an hour. She told them that she had ever visited the Terracotta Warriors in China and it was a “reunion” with them after 30 years. Similar stories are abundant. The Terracotta Warriors serve as the magnets that keep drawing foreigners’ curiosity about China.
The overseas exhibitions have been scheduled to 2025
According to the statistics in the SCHPC, the overseas exhibitions of Terracotta Warriors over 15 years ago were named to highlight China, labelling them as “Chinese Qin Terracotta Warriors”, “Chinese Terracotta Warriors of the Qin Dynasty” and “Chinese Emperor Qinshihuang’s Terracotta Warriors”. However, in the past decade, Shaanxi and Xi’an have been highlighted in the names of these exhibitions, such as the “Terracotta Warriors of Xi’an, Shaanxi”, as well as “Terracotta Warriors of Shaanxi, China”, which are used to emphasize the home of the Terracotta Warriors.
Mr. Wu said that the advertising videos of Xi’an and Shaanxi were played in the overseas exhibitions in the past few years. Many foreigners have become curious about the home of Terracotta Warriors after the exhibitions and were eager to know more about Xi’an and Shaanxi. It was also a chance to advertise and promote the Terracotta Warriors "home" overseas. According to the statistics, the Emperor Qin Shihuang’s Mausoleum Site Museum attracted the highest amount of foreign heads of state. Many foreign visitors deem it not a true trip to China unless they visit the Terracotta Warriors.
Now the invitation for the Terracotta Warriors exhibition in Paris has already been scheduled to 2025. Mr. Wu said that numerous directors of Asian or Eastern departments of powerful foreign museums were proud to host the Terracotta Warriors internationally after years of overseas exhibitions.
In recent years, with the increase of the national strength, apart from Terracotta Warriors, many of the representative cultural relics of the Qin (221 – 207 BC), Han (202 BC– AD 220) and Tang (618 – 907) dynasties of Xi’an, Shaanxi, are popular in world exhibitions, demonstrating the glamourous culture of Xi’an and China.
