Posted on 06/30/2012 9:41:10 AM PDT by JoeProBono
Over 8,000 unearthed terracotta warriors stand in formation in a massive underground tomb (Pit 1) built for Emperor Qinshihuang's protection in his afterlife just 100 miles north-west of Xi'an, one of the oldest cities in China and the capital of Shaanxi Province on June 28, 2012. The Museum of the Terracotta Army has been listed by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site.
I saw “Tomb of the Dragon Emperor”. We need to smash these bastards before they come back to life!
Even more impressive with you notice that they are each unique - no struck from a mold mass production here.
I wonder if emperor obamao will have his own version of the terra-cotta army?
Ping
I visited the first dig in 1983 and was amazed by this ‘army’. Having grown up in CA, I had many Chinese friends. I recognized twins to some of them in these battalions.
The difference in uniforms is also striking. I’m sure that I recognized Indians and Turks amongst the Chinese. It is an amazing experience to visit the digs in Xian. It was my favorite part of China.
Just saw a commercial this morning for the local museum displaying them on their tour.
Very cool!
They do have a display of these warriors that makes the rounds of the US museums. They are well worth the trouble to view—all of them have different faces and different uniforms. I can only conclude that each one of them is patterned after a different soldier—it must have been a hoot for them to see themselves in Terra Cotta, to be buried within the tomb.
Much more of a hoot than the older tradition in China, which was to bury the soldiers themselves with the King, alive.
There is a distinct possibility that the actual tomb of the first emperor has not yet been found and has never been looted. What it might contain is literally staggering to consider.
I have a fear these dudes may vote for Obama in November.
I have a contact within the group involved in the continuing dig. He wrote the book, so to speak on the assembly line production of the tc warriors.
Don't feel bad, it took them 12 years to recognize the pattern. BTW, they estimate there are more buried tc warriors than those already unearthed to date.
They are also struggling with a contaminated dig site that is full of thousands of gallons of liquid mercury, which the builders apparently used to re-create a map of the world known to the Chinese including oceans filled with up mercury and precious gems representing the stars attached to the ceiling.
The most exciting news I've heard is about the extent of this Chinese map of their known world. They think it actually represents every continent including Antarctica as we know them today.
It will certainly pre-date Columbus by more than five hundred years and go along way to prove that Columbus had an old map of the New World in his possession long before he sailed west.
About 30 miles outside of Houston (and maybe Seattle?) a Chinese-American philanthropist has built a theme park of sorts about China to ‘improve US-China relations’.
It includes a section where 3/4 size terra cotta replicas of the famous Chinese warrior statues are on display. It is fascinating to see the detail of each statue as an individual.
I have no idea why the theme park was built outside of Houston and it gets very few visitors. The day I spent there I saw less than 20 people roaming the grounds. They were outnumbered by the employees.
One wag said the terra cotta statues, as part of a cultural display, would be ideal places to transship hidden narcotics.
This proves that there was a time when something made in China would last longer than six months without breaking.
Don't mess with Emperor Qinshihuang in the afterlife.
Leni
I’ve been there, and it is totally unreal and fantastic!!!
I have dreams of returning.
I loved it.
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