The Terracotta Warriors As An Important Artefact In China
The understanding of the Terracotta Warriors progressed over the research made from all five sources. The sources demonstrated worth as they exceedingly aided in finding most of the answers to the inquiry and sub-questions. This ancient artefact may just be interpreted as the Emperor Qin Shi Huang’s decoration for the afterlife, however, there are still many variations and backstories of the original reason. The Terracotta Warriors were proved to be a highly significant artefact as it leaved a great impact, revealing huge amounts of information about the Ancient Chinese Civilization. The verification bestowed from the five sources helped find the backstory to the part they played in the ethnic importance of to be in service of protecting Emperor Qin Shi Huang in his belief of immortality and the afterlife.
The terracotta warriors were discovered in the north-western Chinese village of Xinyang, March 19, 1974, by farmers who were in search of water.
The army was made of terracotta, a clay-based unglazed or glazed ceramic. They were moulded together by Chinese artisans. The Terracotta Warriors were originally painted colourfully. Because they were placed underground for over 2000 years, they faded with time and are now a grey colour. The terracotta warriors were detailed in physical features including the face, hair and the body. It is said that none of them look the same. As explored in the source interrogation, it is claimed that the “ordered life-sized warriors to be made by copying his real 8, 000 palace guards”. However, other source claimed that “The life-size soldiers are made of terracotta, each one an individual portrait reflecting the diversity of men drawn from all across the Qin empire”. None of the other sources supported either of the claims, so for that reason, it is unspecified about which source was correct.
The tomb itself of the Terracotta Warriors was made by forced labourers.
“30,000 families forcibly were relocated there and given the task of building the biggest tomb ever seen in China’s history or anyone else's. Eventually, no doubt as Huangdi realised time was running short, hundreds of thousands of forced labourers were sent to push the project to completion.”
The Terracotta Army was constructed by families that were forced to move close to the place of the tomb to build it.
“He built up his army through conscription, or forced enrolment, and divided it into specialized units, which was a strategic innovation for that time”.
The artefact was constructed to protect the emperor Qin Shi Huang in the afterlife. He initially planned to have wanted to have thousands of young boys and girls be buried alive with him when he passed away, but his advisor Li Si was terrified with the idea and knew it would cause a civil revolt, so he suggested to make 8000 live-sized statues instead. The emperor accepted his advice and thus the terracotta army was born.
“The emperor Qin Shi Huang was obsessed with immortality. Driven to conquer death itself, the eventual First Emperor ascended to the throne of the Qin state at age of 13 and immediately began to plan his burial, and more importantly, his underground palace, a mausoleum attended by an army including over 7,000 terracotta warriors’ horses, chariots and weaponry intended to protect him in the afterlife.”
The artefact is still useful today as it allows archaeologists and historians to uncover the history of ancient Chinese civilisation.
“Of course, not everyone readily succumbed to Emperor Qin's iron fist. He escaped three assassination attempts, which bred his intense fear of death. Above all, Qin yearned for immortality. He sent out convoys in search of a mythical island of everlasting youth and reportedly commissioned alchemists to concoct pills and potions to sustain his life. In case those tactics failed, Emperor Qin enlisted his subjects to build a dazzling burial complex with an impenetrable army to protect him in the afterlife.”
Therefore, even though there are many variations to the story, the most common one is that Emperor Qin Shi Huang was obsessed with immortality and that is why he decided to build a great tomb of Terracotta Warriors so that he would be remembered after his death and protected in the afterlife.
As the Terracotta Warriors were created in the Qin Dynasty, in Ancient China, the artefact was greatly important as it revealed many significant insights on what the ancient Chinese civilisation was like many years ago. With the help of the terracotta warriors, much history was able to be recovered from the Qin Dynasty and the past emperor, Emperor Qin Shi Huang. After the tomb of the Terracotta Warriors was completed, the artisans that made it were sealed inside. According to historian Sima Qian, the emperor so feared that his artisans “might disclose all the treasure that was in the tomb,.. [that] after the burial and sealing up of the treasures, the middle gate was shut and the outer gate closed to imprison all the artisans and laborers, so that no one came out.” The tomb was not just home for the Terracotta warriors, there were many other treasures buried inside with the Emperor including “horses, chariots, bronze ritual vessels, jade jewellery, and gold and silver ornaments”.
“He built up his army through conscription, or forced enrolment, and divided it into specialized units, which was a strategic innovation for that time”.
The terracotta army was constructed by forced enrolments. However, “this was a strategic innovation for that time”. This states that forced enrolments were normal at that time. This gave me and empathetical understanding, as back then, this was what it was like in Ancient Chinese Civilization and the events must have occurred for a reason. The terracotta warriors left quite an impact on the world. This is because the Terracotta warriors were a discovery of a precious ancient artefact that dates over 2000 years ago. It greatly affected the way people remember Emperor Qin Shi Huang today.
Thence, the Terracotta Warriors are still a wide-known extraordinary artefact in China, the clues relating to the unknown secrets of the ancient Chinese civilization, particularly the Qin Dynasty. Though, not all questions were answered the sources did proficiently when answering the three sub-questions and the inquiry question. It helped give a reason to comprehend the fact that the terracotta warriors were most commonly referred to as a belief of the after world, alike to other religions with their individual beliefs in death and the afterlife.
