The Terracotta Soldiers - Guardians of the First Emperor of China

Some are worse for wear - others are looking magnificent!

The terracotta warriors are known by many different names such as the terra cotta army, the terra cotta warriors of xian or simply the terracotta warriors.

The role of the terra cotta warrior was simple - to guard the the Emperor in his after life after his death on earth. Qin Shihuang was the Emperor of China from 221 Bc to 206 BC.

I have visited the terra cotta warriors of Xian twice - in 2007 and 2009.

The first time I went not knowing about the history behind the terracotta warriors - just that it was one of the remarkable discoveries of the 20th century. I certainly enjoyed it the first time viewing it as an important archeological and historical find.

I returned in 2009 to take some friends there.

By this time, I had learnt some of the history behind it.

Also, I had the services of a wonderful Xian tourist guide who explained it all.

It made the visit so much more worthwhile!


I strongly recommend you take in some of the history behind the terracotta warriors and not treat it just as an interesting find of old statues.

You don't have to be a history buff (I'm not) to do this. But in many ways I found the story behind the terra cotta army more interesting than the statues themselves (interesting as they are!).

The story then - briefly.

Before 221 BC, China was not a country but a region of autonomous states with different tribes jealously guarding their patch and often at war with each other.

In fact, the 250 years before Qin was known as the Warring States Period. Being a strong and aggressive character, Qin was able to conquer the others states and bring together into one country - China.

Emperor Qin did several significant things for a new country.

He started work on the Great Wall of China which still attracts visitors from all over the world. Emperor Qin introduced a single currency and standardised Chinese writing.

But he also was a cruel man and made many enemies.

Emperor Qin's tomb is on a hill near Xian.

Qin (as many did) believed in the after life and spent much of time as Emperor preparing for it.

Emperor Qin's preparation was to build a terra cotta army and the Terracotta Soldiers were placed in strategic positions around his burial place to guard and protect him from grave robbers and other attackers.

The tomb itself is not open to the public although archeologists are working to open the tomb sometime in the future.


There is a long set of steps up to the top of the hill and many people make this journey.


The Terracotta Army was buried in the countryside near that hill and were only recently discovered in 1974.

The Terra cotta army consists of foot soldiers, horsemen, archers, horses and carts. The face of each figure is different which leads people to think the terracotta warrior is a replica of a real person.

Each terra cotta warrior (except for one) was found broken into many pieces. Chinese archeologists have painstakingly restored these Chinese statues.

Why were these Chinese statues broken?

This is partly due to natural decay but the main reason was Terracotta Warriors were destroyed by people soon after Qin's death.

Remember he had many enemies and they came looking for him even after his death.

However, they ran into the terracotta army of xian.

They smashed, pillored and burnt the statues but apparently they never got to Emperor Qin's tomb - so it remains undisturbed to this day.


There is much more to see and know about the Terracotta Soldiers. See them at the Terracotta warriors museum.