THE SWAGGY GROUP 1 FAMILY: Chinese History: Terracotta Warriors ~Jeanette~

The terracotta army was discovered by accident in 1974 at Xi'an, in China, when local farmers digging a well broke into a pit containing 6000 life-size terracotta figures. Excavation in 1976 revealed two further pits both filled with terracotta warriors. On the eastern side of the tomb a number of small pits have been found containing the bones of horses and smaller size terracotta figures of grooms. Since then discoveries have continued to be made at the site and to date the remains of nearly 8000 terracotta figures have been recovered.

There has been worldwide fascination in the discovery of the Terracotta Army and it is now regarded as the 8th Wonder of the Ancient World.

Emperor Qin wanted to live forever. He spent much of his life and resources searching for immortality and the "elixir of life". He also spent a huge amount of resources building for himself the largest single tomb built to a leader in the history of the world. He felt this huge army would protect him and help him to keep his power in the afterlife. He died and was buried in 210 BC, over 2000 years ago.

From this, I can see that the Chinese emperors were adventurous, yet still afraid at the same time. They were adventurous as Emperor Qin thought of this bold idea, was willing to spend a lot of resources and effort to build the majestic tomb. They were afraid, as seen from the reason why Emperor Qin build the tomb, to keep his power in the afterlife. All the emperors were afraid of death, of losing their power, and thus used many methods to retain their power and long assured life.