The Terracotta Army at Li Shan
We visited the Terracotta Army at Li Shan [Li Mountain]. The modelling of these soldiers is exquisite. It is quite astounding to see so many 2000 year old sculptures of such a high standard and in such good repair in one place. One of the most impressive things about these works is the fact that the museum is built around the archaeological dig, rather than the objects being shipped hundreds of miles away to some established museum in the capital. The dig is still active of course, and will be for many, many years. There are still many warriors that have not yet been unearthed and this raw element adds a real dynamic to the experience. We were shown around the site by Daoxuan’s daughter and Mr Zhang, one of the museum managers. The warriors are part of the army of Emperor Qin, the first emperor [259-210 BC]. His mausoleum is about a mile away from where the army was found. The mausoleum is dug into the ground with the soil forming a large mound above ground equal to the unearthed space below. Many such burial mounds pepper the landscape in this part of Shaanxi Province [Xi’an is the ancient capital of China, and is in fact the geographical centre of the Middle Kingdom]. These mounds reminded me of ancient long barrows/barrow mounds, the Neolithic tombs that are still evident across Britain [although these date from around 2000 BC].
