Posted on 02/12/2023 10:44:41 AM PST by SunkenCiv
Discover the massive terracotta army, buried for centuries and revealing the grandeur of China's first emperor, Qin Shi Huang. Uncover the history, mythology, and mystery of the tomb complex and its impact on our understanding of ancient China
Discovering the Secrets of Emperor Qin's Mausoleum | Megaprojects | 918K subscribers | 161,749 views | Febuary 6, 2023
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Transcript 0:00 when President Richard Nixon arrived in 0:02 China in 1972 the world large new 0:04 practically nothing about the secretive 0:06 country his visit was intended to 0:08 normalize relations with the closed 0:10 Communist dictatorship helping the 0:12 country open up to the world two years 0:14 later an agricultural working party 0:16 tasked with digging worlds in Xi'an 0:18 Province uncovered a single life-sized 0:21 terracotta statue of warrior they 0:22 alerted the government's authorities and 0:24 archaeologists duly arrived to preserve 0:26 the artifact and determine if there were 0:28 more nobody could have been prepared for 0:30 what lay beneath the surface a massive 0:33 necropolis the size of a small City and 0:36 a mind-boggling collection of weapons 0:38 Vehicles statutory and other artifacts 0:41 including an estimated 8 000 more 0:44 terracotta warriors just like the one 0:46 those agricultural workers had found the 0:48 discovery of the Terracotta Army as it 0:50 came to be known and the massive 0:51 Mausoleum associated with it arguably 0:53 did more to bring China to the world's 0:55 attention than Nixon's visit the 0:57 mausoleum complex has been under 0:59 archaeological investigation ever since 1:01 and is a staggering piece of monumental 1:04 architecture rivaling any other funery 1:07 architecture known today and oh on which 1:09 Continues Season after season to vastly 1:12 enrich our knowledge of ancient China 1:15 [Music] 1:26 thank you 1:30 arguably as devastating as the fall of 1:32 the Roman Empire was the collapse of the 1:34 Eastern Joe Dynasty in the 5th Century 1:36 BCE unlike some later Chinese Empires 1:38 the Joe Dynasty owes a more feudal 1:41 affair with Myriad individual Warlords 1:43 and city-states Loosely bound to the 1:45 central Administration or when this 1:47 Administration sees to function each 1:49 Petty ruler established their own 1:51 hegemony and declared independence from 1:53 the Joe this left a catastrophic period 1:55 of warfare which lasted more than 200 1:58 years wreaking Untold havoc on the 2:01 people of China eventually these Petty 2:02 rulers had through war and Conquest 2:04 Consolidated into seven main kingdoms 2:06 who developed a habit of building long 2:08 defensive walls and practiced Universal 2:11 conscription sometimes Fielding armies 2:12 hundreds of thousands strong amidst 2:15 these long grinding Wars of attrition oh 2:17 where the primary aim became the 2:19 destruction of enemy military capacity a 2:21 kingdom called chin seems to have begun 2:23 outstripping its rivals in terms of 2:25 military Innovation racking up a string 2:27 of Victories over the neighboring 2:29 Kingdoms in 204 36 BCE a 13 year old boy 2:32 called Ying Zhong suddenly became king 2:35 of the chin the son of a lowly concubine 2:38 who had shrewdly maneuvered her son into 2:40 the first position through Machiavellian 2:42 Court intrigued he was a surprising heir 2:44 to the throne of the Warring States 2:46 periods most rapidly Rising Kingdom he 2:48 seemed to have been obsessed with the 2:50 idea of eternal life and had already 2:52 been commissioning searches for an 2:54 elixir of immortality a search which 2:56 would continue throughout his entire 2:58 life and ironically be the cause of his 3:00 premature death the moment he took the 3:02 throne the new king who eventually took 3:04 the name chin Shi Huang began planning 3:07 the construction of his Mausoleum this 3:09 isn't as crazy as it might sound prior 3:12 to this period it was customary for 3:13 Kings to be buried in elaborate 3:15 Monumental tombs furnished with lavish 3:17 grave goods and supplemented by 3:19 sacrificial victims usually their 3:21 favorite horses pets concubines and 3:23 servants this meant that like the 3:25 Egyptian pharaohs building work needed 3:27 to start as early as possible as time 3:29 went on human sacrifices became less 3:31 usual and Kings would be buried with 3:33 bronze ritual vessels and their favorite 3:35 horses chinchi Huang appears to have 3:38 commissioned the creation of clay 3:39 figures to act as substitutes for 3:42 sacrificial victims though bodies of 3:44 both humans and animals have also been 3:45 found in the Tomb by 221 BCE the chin 3:48 Kingdom had defeated or forced into 3:50 submission all the other states of China 3:52 the direct dominance of most what we 3:54 call China today is what earns chinchi 3:57 Huang the title of first emperor as he 3:59 was the first direct ruler of a unified 4:02 China in its history during his Reign he 4:05 standardized currency weights and 4:07 measures commissioned the creation of 4:08 China's incredibly clever written 4:10 language which is universally 4:11 comprehensible across the dialect began 4:14 construction on the mother of all 4:15 defensive walls the great wall and 4:17 ordered the building of a network of 4:19 roads and canals to connect his empire 4:21 together along with developing his 4:22 country however he also developed a 4:25 serious case of paranoia now this wasn't 4:26 entirely unjustified as there were 4:29 multiple and continuous attempts on his 4:31 life it did lead him to become one of 4:33 the more murderous Emperors in Chinese 4:34 history however a tendency which was 4:37 probably exacerbated by mercury 4:38 poisoning in his quest for an elixir of 4:41 immortality he had become persuaded that 4:43 taking Mercury pills would preserve his 4:45 life of course rather than granting him 4:48 everlasting life ingesting Mercury 4:50 caused him debilitating pain and Sanity 4:52 and ultimately death chin Shi Huang He 4:54 died at the age of 49 and his dynasty 4:57 collapsed a few short years afterwards 5:05 one of the most important documentary 5:07 sources for the Qin Dynasty is the court 5:09 historian Shima chiung writing about a 5:12 hundred years after the emperor's death 5:13 care must be taken with his count 5:15 however as he was working for the 5:17 dynasty which defeated the chin and it 5:20 was in his interest to portray chin Shi 5:23 Huang as an inhuman monster it's 5:25 therefore likely that some details have 5:27 been exaggerated to serve this agenda 5:29 having said that the 40-year long 5:31 archaeological dig has confirmed much of 5:33 chiang's account and the extent and 5:36 magnificence of what's been uncovered in 5:38 some cases exceeds his descriptions in 5:40 fact the early discovery of the 5:41 underground complex is rehabilitated 5:43 Chang's history somewhat as did the 2017 5:46 discovery of a chin Court archive which 5:49 seems to confirm much of his assessment 5:51 of The Emperor's character plans for the 5:53 mausoleum were originally smaller in 5:55 scope with a tumulus and relatively 5:57 modest Acropolis to be filled this was 5:59 the custom at the time with bronze 6:01 vessels everyday objects and sacrificial 6:03 victims as the chin bar collapsed 6:05 however the plan became more and more 6:07 grandiose until at the peak of 6:09 construction more than 700 000 workers 6:13 were toiling at the site many of whom 6:14 had never done anything else in their 6:17 entire lives according to SEMA Chiang 6:19 the central Mausoleum aligned precisely 6:21 to the cardinal points and nearly 350 6:23 square meters is surrounded by a 6:25 rectangular tamped Earth wall 10 meters 6:28 thick inside this is an inner wall of 6:30 the same thickness and both walls are 6:32 equipped with Monumental Gates now lost 6:35 the configuration is reminiscent of the 6:37 outer and inner walls of the city of 6:39 Shion young the Gin Capital at the time 6:41 in the outer Court there are buildings 6:43 for the conduct of ritual sacrifices 6:45 some structures we still don't know the 6:47 purpose of and a set of stables 6:49 containing the remains of sacrificial 6:50 animals within the Southeastern portion 6:52 of the outer wall there's a cache of 6:54 armor pieces made in stone bronze Birds 6:56 terracotta figures and musicians and 6:57 acrobats and the remains more 6:59 sacrificial animals Shima Chien writes 7:02 of thousands of Craftsmen and Artisans 7:04 being drafted in many against their will 7:06 which makes sense given the sheer number 7:08 of statues figurines models Furniture 7:10 Vehicles weapons and other accoutrement 7:12 some historians have dismissed these 7:15 accounts as exaggerations designed to 7:17 paint the Emperor as they glorious 7:20 Tyrant but the workers Cemetery outside 7:22 the outer wall is crowded and the sheer 7:25 volume of fines seems to back up this 7:27 account an examination of the ears of 7:30 terracotta warriors has found that each 7:31 pair of ears in the sample group was 7:33 unique and that they contained a level 7:35 of variation matching a human population 7:37 on top of this each of the thousands of 7:39 terracotta warriors excavated so far 7:41 Bears a Hallmark indicating which of the 7:44 individual Craftsmen made it it's not 7:46 possible to extrapolate how many 7:47 Craftsmen there were from these marks 7:49 alone but they do support the idea that 7:51 the Terracotta Army was modeled from 7:53 life or were very least hand modeled 7:56 individually a process which would 7:58 require a great many Artisans and that's 8:01 for the Warriors alone there are many 8:03 tens of thousands of visually crafted 8:05 objects within the complex written 8:07 accounts also tell us that all of these 8:09 Artisans are was sealed inside the tomb 8:11 as well as the structures on the surface 8:13 a massive network of underground 8:15 Chambers and corridors has been revealed 8:17 by ground penetrating radar and 8:18 excavation there is surveys the size of 8:21 the Subterranean Acropolis at between 60 8:23 and 100 square kilometers its layout has 8:27 been variously interpreted as being 8:29 reminiscent of the capital XI and Yang 8:31 or of the geography of the Qin empire in 8:34 the northern part of the enclosure are 8:35 34 tombs for the emperor's Companions 8:37 and the rest of the complex houses pits 8:40 for animal sacrifices and the storage of 8:41 grave goods and according to chian's 8:43 account are replicas of towers temples 8:46 and palaces to create the emperor's 8:48 Central tomb quote the laborers dug 8:51 through three Subterranean streams which 8:53 they sealed off with bronze to construct 8:55 the burial chamber end quote from Jan by 8:58 the way magnetic anomaly scans of the 9:00 chamber have revealed that Tam Turf 9:02 retaining walls were constructed all 9:04 around it presumably to protect it from 9:06 being flooded as the water table in the 9:08 area is quite High directly above the 9:09 chamber is the tumulus which I was 9:11 recorded as being more than a hundred 9:13 meters high it currently stands at 54 9:15 meters and or we don't know if it's 9:17 eroded or if it was unfinished or if 9:19 Chan simply exaggerated or had the 9:21 figure wrong either way thousands of 9:23 tons of dirt over shoveled by hand 9:25 create the tumulus a Monumental feat in 9:27 itself once it was done an entire forest 9:30 was planted to disguise the location the 9:32 labor involved as with every other 9:34 aspect of this Mausoleum is 9:36 staggering 9:38 [Music] 9:42 it's possible that we'll never know 9:44 what's in the central Chambers at the 9:46 moment archaeologists don't have the 9:48 technology to excavate the tumulus 9:50 without destroying the Dooms and the 9:51 fines within Shima Chan's account 9:53 however provides a detailed description 9:55 of its contents he says that the 9:56 emperor's tomb is surrounded by rivers 9:58 of liquid mercury the emperor's 10:00 immortality elixir of choice fashioned 10:03 to simulate the hundreds of rivers as 10:04 well as the yellow and Yangtze rivers 10:06 and the Sea into which they flow the 10:08 Dome representing the firmament was 10:10 supposed to be high metal beams above 10:12 his resting place set with celestial 10:14 bodies made from pearls and precious 10:15 gems he also gives detailed descriptions 10:18 of booby traps made with crossbows 10:19 designed to shoot anyone who tries to 10:21 enter the tomb the floor of the chamber 10:23 was decorated with the map of the Empire 10:25 so that xinji Huang could continue his 10:27 rule in the afterlife much of this 10:29 especially the rivers of mercury was 10:30 viewed with suspicion by historians but 10:32 probes inserted into the burial chamber 10:34 of detected Mercury at more than a 10:36 hundred dimes the normal levels which 10:38 lend some Credence to this account and 10:40 if Mercury's in there then the traps 10:42 might be as well and archaeologists say 10:44 there's every reason to believe that 10:46 they'd be preserved in working order 10:47 which I would make any dig not just 10:49 dangerous to the monument but to the 10:51 diggers as well over the last 40 years a 10:53 great many test pit small scale 10:55 exploratory excavations have been dug 10:57 within one of these a 50 meter long pit 11:00 was discovered containing two chariots 11:02 correct in every detail but with all 11:04 parts and fittings including the 11:06 Chariots themselves made of bronze and 11:08 at half scale the leading Chariot is 11:10 canopied and manned by a crossbowman 11:12 whereas the rear vehicle is in enclosed 11:15 Carriage Man by a single driver this 11:16 Convoy matches textual descriptions of 11:19 The Emperor's travel Arrangements a 11:20 common funerary practice of the time was 11:22 to create objects called minchi which 11:25 were painstaking replicas of functional 11:27 objects but made with the wrong material 11:29 it's possible that these bronze chariots 11:31 were mingji but of the sets of stone 11:33 armor found in the pit the east of the 11:36 complex definitely were they are 11:37 full-size pieces each scale link and 11:40 plate made individually from Stone as if 11:42 designed to be worn but in reality far 11:44 too heavy to be used it's thought that 11:45 stone was considered to be effective 11:47 against evil spirits at the time and 11:49 this may explain why these sets of armor 11:51 were stored here the similar practice 11:52 prevails in some Taoist funerals with 11:55 elaborate grave goods made of paper 11:57 being burned so that their Essence joins 11:59 The Departed in heaven of course most 12:01 famously there are the numerous pits 12:03 containing the Terracotta Army 12:04 interestingly Shima Chan makes no 12:07 mention of this Warrior statues made 12:09 from separate pieces and brightly 12:10 colored with mineral paint are all 12:12 individualized in terms of their facial 12:14 features and hairstyle some scholars 12:15 believe that the realism of these 12:17 figures may be a sign of Greek 12:19 influences as this was also the period 12:21 of the seleucid the inheritors of 12:24 Alexander the Great's Empire who spread 12:25 Hellenistic art and culture throughout 12:28 Asia at the time the Warriors are 12:30 accompanied by horses and War chariots 12:32 more than 40 000 weapons and pieces of 12:34 equipment were found in the pits which 12:36 have been excavated some of the swords 12:38 were made from a rare 13 element alloy 12:40 which has kept the blades pristine and 12:42 sharp to this very day additionally a 12:45 perfectly preserved and elegantly simple 12:47 action for a repeating crossbow was 12:49 found in the pits which has led some 12:51 historians to hypothesize that Superior 12:52 military technology may have been a 12:54 factor in the rise of the Qing Kingdom 12:56 the soldiers stand in a variety of 12:58 battle orders which correspond to 13:00 traduses on Military science of The Day 13:02 The Chariot here Battalion for example 13:04 consists of about 1300 men and is formed 13:06 with archers and crossbowmen in the 13:08 Vanguard and planking files the center 13:10 is composed of infantry and War chariots 13:12 and armored vehicles make up the rear 13:14 guard this and other infantry and 13:16 Cavalry formations match Warfare manuals 13:19 preserved from the period one of the 13:20 pits contains only 68 figures as opposed 13:22 to the thousands in the others and these 13:25 are thought to represent the Central 13:26 Command Staff all military figures found 13:28 standing thus far are placed in 13:31 defensive trenches Facing East some 13:32 Scholars speculate that as this was the 13:35 direction where the Qin Empire's 13:37 greatest threats existed the Army was 13:39 made as a symbolic or spiritual defense 13:41 against these threats this is sort of 13:44 speculation however it's equally 13:45 possible that the Eastern alignment has 13:47 some religious significance the cardinal 13:49 points having ritual importance 13:51 throughout most of China's history a 13:53 large pit in the western part of the 13:55 enclosure containing the remains of 13:57 hundreds of horses as well as many 13:58 exotic species of deer and other animals 14:00 are thought to have been the emperor's 14:02 Zoo perhaps sacrificed and buried for 14:04 his Amusement in the afterlife as well 14:06 as this pit on the Eastern side yielded 14:08 a multitude of figures representing 14:10 entertain as such a strong and jugglers 14:11 and acrobats along with these were 14:13 spectacular heavy cauldrons thought to 14:15 be props for a strong man exhibition as 14:18 oh well there's a great many figures of 14:19 birds in both clay and bronze at the 14:21 time the ownership of private Parks 14:23 large enough to accommodate water Birds 14:25 was an important status symbol and it's 14:27 possible that these figures together 14:28 represent a pleasure Garden of this type 14:31 other figures found in different areas 14:33 of the compound are clearly scribes and 14:34 officials meaning that the bureaucracy 14:36 of the empire was also represented in 14:38 the necropolis all this put together 14:40 strongly suggests that similar to 14:42 Egyptian funery practices the chin 14:44 Mausoleum may have been designed as a 14:47 complete venue in which the emperor 14:49 could live out his afterlife this 14:50 brought into note though that we have no 14:52 textual evidence to help us understand 14:53 the mentality or religion of the emperor 14:56 and that any speculation that's took the 14:59 tomb's purpose must remain just that 15:01 speculation the laborers tombs outside 15:03 and at some distance to the West 15:05 revealed the brutality of the conditions 15:07 during the construction project there 15:09 are hundreds of graves many still marked 15:12 with fragmentary clay tablets which bear 15:14 the names of the dead and in the case of 15:15 the prisoners air offenses and 15:17 punishments the bones in these Graves 15:19 show deep lacerations indicating they 15:21 were either mutilated or executed the 15:23 presence of women and children in these 15:25 graveside similarly marked by violence 15:27 May indicate that the chin practice 15:28 punishing whole families for single 15:30 offenses might have been an operation 15:32 here 15:33 [Music] 15:37 a gray many bodies have been found over 15:40 the course of the excavation with most 15:42 of these being large groups of people 15:43 apparently buried alive in underground 15:45 Chambers these bodies match historical 15:47 accounts of The Emperor's sudden death 15:49 while traveling and the hurry closing 15:51 off and filling in of the various 15:52 underground Chambers sealing the workers 15:54 inside to preserve the secrets of the 15:56 Tomb more recently however human remains 15:58 have been found which might support more 16:00 of the historical accounts of the end of 16:02 the first Emperor's Reign according to 16:04 Shima Chan the Emperor died suddenly in 16:07 his Carriage the enclosed one which 16:09 seems to have been represented at half 16:10 scale in his tomb the chief minister 16:12 worried that an uprising might break out 16:15 in the two months that it would take to 16:16 get the body back to the capital and he 16:19 strove to hide the death he confided in 16:21 the emperor's youngest son ying huhai 16:23 and a few trusted eunuchs and together 16:25 They carried on a pretense of attending 16:28 on a still-living Emperor they brought 16:31 food and water to the sealed Carriage 16:33 pretended to Harry messages back and 16:35 forth and changed his clothes daily they 16:37 also purchased a massive quantity of 16:38 Abalone to be carried With A procession 16:40 in order to hide the smell with this 16:42 early notice of The Emperor's death who 16:44 I was able to execute a bloody coup 16:47 forging the emperor's signature on 16:49 orders for his eldest brother and a 16:50 senior military ally to commit suicide 16:53 after he reached the capital who High 16:54 sees control and ordered all of his 16:56 siblings to be executed dismembered and 16:58 buried in his father's tomb he also 17:00 ordered all childless concubines to be 17:02 executed to ensure that no rival 17:04 successes would emerge in the future 17:05 when these killings were done he 17:08 instructed his men to finish the 17:09 underground Chambers and tumulus and to 17:11 seal all of the Craftsmen and laborers 17:13 in his father's tomb while it's not 17:15 conclusive a group of skeletons mostly 17:18 male and all shot in the head at close 17:20 range with crossbows maybe who hires 17:22 unfortunate siblings they've been 17:24 tentatively identified as such as the 17:26 bodies were found with artifacts 17:27 belonging to the royal family quite 17:29 close to the central burial chamber 17:30 about a hundred Dooms have been 17:32 uncovered most of which appear to be 17:33 empty outside these however a scattered 17:36 body parts showing signs of fatal 17:37 violence and Scattered gold coins 17:39 gemstones and Pearls this is suggestive 17:42 of Shan's account of the killing of 17:44 concubines whom he said were driven deep 17:46 into the tomb before the soldiers lost 17:47 control of them and had to chase them 17:49 down and murder them where they stood 17:51 work continues but it seems like these 17:52 latest finds further bear out the 17:54 historical picture painted by Shima 17:57 Chiang 17:58 [Music] 18:03 after killing all of his rival claimants 18:06 it was not however capable of holding 18:08 onto power in the face of widespread 18:09 popular unrest and Rebellion chaos 18:11 spread through the land and within three 18:13 years of the first Emperor's death the 18:15 chin armies are decimated by Zhong new 18:17 Warriors from the Central Asian step 18:19 what followed was a period of warfare 18:22 known as the chuhan contention which 18:24 would eventually end in the 18:25 establishment of the famous Han Dynasty 18:27 the chin Emperor is Mausoleum though 18:28 still remembered a hundred years on in 18:30 the writings of Shima Chien Court 18:32 historian for the early hand dynasty was 18:34 eventually forgotten as thousands of 18:35 turbulent years of Chinese history 18:37 passed chinchi huang's arrogant bid for 18:39 eternal life and a reign of Ten Thousand 18:41 Years yielded him only an early grave 18:43 and an undying reputation for 18:45 megalomania and cruelty along with being 18:48 credited with the first and most lasting 18:51 unification of China regardless of 18:53 Chin's character and Legacy however his 18:54 tomb stands as a stunning Testament to 18:57 Chinese Imperial civilization still the 18:59 largest most intricate single tomb 19:01 complex in the world the mausoleum of 19:02 Jin Huang is also a treasure Trove of 19:05 information on a dynasty which 19:07 short-lived as it was laid down some of 19:10 the basic structures of pan-china stated 19:12 which is present to this day 19:16 [Music] 19:25 [Music]
What to do when your troops are bored because there is no war to fight.
Coming soon!!
Discovering the Secrets of Emperor Xi’s Mausoleum
Before Confucianism, apparently the Chinese were aware of Noah and the flood and the Patriarchs. That is what I’m told.
I wonder if there is any evidence of this in this grave?
Shi Huang Di has left an outsized legacy for a guy who ruled a short time and whose dynasty lasted barely 2 generations
Sounds like he should have used his power to build something other than that tomb.
Probably not, and Confucius wouldn't have any impact on it if it were true. If it happened at all, it was because of the ancient Diaspora.
An extant stone tablet dated 1512 and found in Kaifeng claims that Judaism entered China during the latter half of the Han dynasty (206 BCE–220 CE), but it is more likely that Jews entered Kaifeng sometime prior to 1127 from India or Persia (Iran). The oldest known synagogue in Kaifeng was built in 1163.Kaifeng Jew [Britannica]
'We have two lives, and the second begins when we realize we only have one.'— Confucius
The Chinese language hints at the knowledge of Noah and the Flood, so something happened to the ancestors of the Chinese people to make them forget.
It will be interesting to find out what happened.
THE LOST TRIBES OF ISRAEL IN THE PACIFIC AND ASIAN RIM
by david H H chen
Page 12
The shang premier visited confucius and asked him whether
the three kings and the five emperors of china were the
holies confucius answered that he knew not the shang
premier was very astonished and asked again then whom is
to be the holy one after a while with a very touching
expression on his face confucius said that there will be
one born in the west west to china the middle east he
would be the only one to be the holy one.
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