The terracotta

worries
The terracotta worries were discovered on the 24 of
march 1974 by farmers digging a water well near the
emperors (Qin Shi Huang) tomb mound at mount li
(lishen) a place riddled with underground springs and
watercourses. In the 4 next paragraphs this essay will
be talking about the weapons and warfare, art and
craftsmen, funerary customs/beliefs and the power of
Qin. These four paragraphs will reveal Qin was
powerful, ruthless, strong and obsessed with
immortality.

The weapons and warfare

The terracotta soldiers were buried with real iron
weapons on their right hand and they used iron to
overcome the bronze weapons of their enemies. the
army would lead the enemy into a trap to attack from
behind so they can overcome them easily. The weapon
they would use are swords, arrows, spears, crossbows
because Qin thought that it will pierce right through the
enemys armour. The army had more than 8,000 well
trained soldiers in the terracotta army so they had a lot
of power and Qin had to always have a sword because
assassins would come in to give gifts to the emperor
but would end up trying to kill him, Qin would always
end up winning. Qins army was the most powerful
army in the whole of china because their fighting
equipment was so advanced e.g. People had coated
swords in chromium oxide to prevent it from rusting
and they have proof because this technique was used
in Europe and America only in the last 300 years. In the
terracotta army not all soldiers are in the same passion,
some are kneeling down and most often they have
more armour because there more likely to get hit.
Standing crossbowmen always have no armour on
because they can hind behind something to protect
them. This shows how everyone obeyed Qin Shi Huang
and how people were terrified of him.
Art and craftsmen

The creation of the terracotta army was the largest

ceramics project ever known. Even though the figures
in every type are similar but no statue is identical, their
real life scale and real life detailing shown in Chinese
art. the detail reveals a lot of information about the
military hierarchy and the battle dress in the time. they
were made with mud and made rough cast starting
from feet and up in sections. In order to make the
muscles and bones look lifelike they did a detail repair
and before firing they joined all the parts together also
each part was moulded, slab or coiled segments. Each
figure, human and horse were coated in a layer of clay
to make it easier to be carved by hand, any pigment
left after firing that meant that they would have painted
them. They ordered workshop experts at making
ceramic buildings, in the workshops teams made up of
talented craftsmen spread out the process in sections
using moulds to help them start the statues. Qin was
the obsessed with immortality this is why he built the
soldiers because he thought that his enemies would
come after him in the after life, now the king he wanted
something special so no one can reach him so he made
his craftsmen make him a tomb that took 20 years to
build so he can put his dead body in the tomb and the
tomb surrounded by mercury and the place they put
tomb in was full with traps. This shows how rich Qin
was.

Funerary customs/beliefs

There was a strong belief in immortality in Chinese

culture, funerals had been held to ensure welfare of the
dead body in the next world.
Chinese people believed that if the person had
comforts and was protected on earth that they would
be immortal. They also believed
To influence the affairs of the alive and have a fear to
continue honouring the deceased. The first emperor
was known for being obsessed with his after life,
believing himself the umpire of heaven and earth, he
took herbs and elixirs of immortality. He journeyed the
mountains to find the perfect place for his tomb to go.
Speaking of the tomb it still remains hidden till this day
under lishen mountain, the tomb is in a underground
palace because the king still wanted to be emperor in
the after life and still wanted to be obeyed. in the
underground palace people think that there is the
capital city, xianyang it also mirrors celestial realm , it
also has offices, reception halls, stables, sacrificial pits,
an armoury and even a zoo. There are life size figure of
acrobats, musicians, animals, bird which display in his
room.

The power of the first emperor