Terracotta Warriors, China

What puts the Chinese city of Xi'an on the tourist map is the world-famous terracotta army which is, in fact, located some 18 miles (30 km) north-east of the city. My wife Vee & I saw the warriors as part of a two-week tour of China in September 2000. The army was constructed on the orders of Qin Shi Huangdi who reigned as emperor from 221-210 BC. They were discovered accidently by three farmers digging wells in March 1974.

The main hall (No 1) is over three acres (1.26 hectares) in area and houses some 6,000 larger than life-sized terracotta warriors each with different facial features . As we walked into the hall – the first people there in early morning observing the serried ranks of statues some 2,000 years old – it was an awe-inspiring moment.

After visiting the smaller No 3 and No 2 halls respectively, we went into small museum housing two magnificent less than life-sized bronze chariots, unearthed in 1980, and finally watched a 360 degree film on the origin of the terracotta army. What many of us had not realised and what the film made very clear was that most of the statues were smashed by rebels immediately following the death of the emperor, so what we see in the halls today is the result of painstaking reconstruction, a process which is far from complete.

While we were at the museum complex, we met one of the farmers who discovered the army in 1974 and he signed a souvenir picture book for us. After two and a half hours at the museum, we drove off, past the mausoleum of Qin Shi Huangdi. The construction of the mausoleum involved a conscript workforce of 600,000 men. The grave has still not been opened, so new treasures may still be waiting to be uncovered.