The Terracotta Army Research Paper Sample

The Terracotta Army, which is also called The Army of the First Emperor or The Terra-cotta Warriors and Horses, was built during the Qin Dynasty (221-201 BCE) in China. The local farmers in Lintong District, Xi'an, Shanxi province, discovered The Terracotta Army in 1974 while digging a well. This immediately caught the attention of historians because it was important historical material for them to study regarding the Qin Dynasty. Today, there are more than 8,000 sculptures discovered in Xi’an. They were in three main pits covering a total area of about 19,120 square meters. The Army was buried underground since all of the sculptures were the grave goods of Qin Emperor. (Function). Each of the terracotta warriors has different appearances, poses, and armor. The incredible vividness of the figures makes this a worldwide legend and one of “the eight miracles”.
The Terracotta Army is as much an artistic statement as a bureaucratic one. It is incredible to think about the vast size of the undertaking and how many man hours it must have consumed apart from the vast amount of materials that had to be used to produce clay in such large quantities.
Essentially, The Terracotta Army is a representative of ancient Chinese sculpture. It realistically presented the combat scenario of the Qin army (how?). The facial expressions of the warriors are lifelike, and the expressions of them are respectively different. “A thousand people, a thousand faces and expressions” is a precise (word choice) description of the Army. While standing in the centre of the army of sculptures, visitors are able to feel the vitality of this army; all the vivid warriors with different expressions, holding different weapons from a sense of intensity, a scene of preparation for war.
In order to understand the origin and value of the pits of the Terracotta Army, we have to understand its owner and his mausoleum. The Army was built as a sacrificial offering principally for the First Emperor of China, Emperor Qin Shihuang. Emperor Qin Shihuang had Ying as his surname and Zheng as his given name. He was born during the”Warring States Period”, when seven separate feudal kingdoms were constantly at war with each other, contending for supremacy. Emperor Qin Shihuang came to the throne as the King of the State of Qin at the age of 13, and took the helm when he was only 22. When he began to reign the State of Qin, he kept fought for ten years in order to unify the other six kingdoms and form what became China. Eventually, his rare gifts, the skills as a leader and bold strategy helped him achieve such a great feat, and become the founder of China’s first multi-national and centralized feudal empire – “Qin” .
Before Emperor Qin Shihuang established the “ Qin Dynasty”, China had never been unified for over 5000 years, and the inconvenience caused by the diversity of states had never been solved either. During his reign, Emperor Qin Shihuang standardized codes, currencies, written languages and brought law and order to his kingdom. He proclaimed himself the “First Emperor”. The Terracotta Army was meant to symbolize the greatness of Emperor Qin Shihuang and strengthen his authority. Besides, he enacted unreasonable tax laws and built luxury palaces. The Army is one of these “palaces”, and it is the most famous and epic one of them all. It bears the burden to protect Emperor Qin Shihuang’s tomb, and his hope that his descendants would carry on his line and rule the world forever.
When the Army was first discovered, it was an enigma. It was not mentioned in any historical document. Its origins in both conception and execution are a mystery. It seems that this army of terracotta warriors was never meant to be seen, read about, or heard of by anyone. Lined up in rows, with various expressions, the warriors seem, at first sight, enigmatic as the pyramid. Why is it so realistic? Why so many? Why life-size? Why out of clay? After three decades and exhaustive research, we finally have some answers.
In Chinese, 10,000 is a special number, any description that contains the letter “wan”, that is the letter for “ten thousand” in Chinese, is meant to symbolise “infinity”. The Great Wall is “the wall of ten thousand kilometres”, and accordingly, Emperor Qin Shihuang’s ambition would not be completed unless there was a “wan” of warriors that was fighting for him, and protecting him in the afterlife. This, explains why the warriors are so realistic and life-size. So far, counting all pits discovered to date, there are about 8000 soldiers, which may have been close enough to count as a wan.
Among these 8,000, the diversity of the different types of soldier is what makes the army: there are more realistic officers that hold spears, halberd, and dagger-axe; archers and kneeling archers with eyes that are fierily looking into the distance. Some have cold expressions on their faces and bows on their hands, showing the heroic spirit of the royal warriors and the exquisite archery during the Qin dynasty. The common warriors are the most numerous in the whole phalanx, they shuttle back and forth in the battle ground when archers stay unmoved; knights on horsebacks were discovered in two pits, mostly used for assault. They hold horses with one hand and hold bows with the other, showing the importance of agility for knights.
The execution of the Army must be based on the principle of keeping them balance, because making a life-size warrior requires 1.8 meters of clay. Most of the soldiers are made in one of the three ways: One is to make a base, which is some of the standing warriors have. Another is to make them kneeling, like the kneeling archers. The third way is to make sure the legs are heavy and the rest of the body is light, which is how most of them are made.
No emperor in the Chinese history had ever created something that can compare to The Terracotta Army. Its greatness symbolizes the beginning of centralized feudal empire for China. But ironically, the Qin dynasty is the shortest dynasty in the Chinese history. Maybe Emperor Qin Shihuang forgot the original intention of a reign, to serve people instead of himself. If he ever did so, Qin might have lasted. Fourteen years after Emperor Qin Shihuang established the Qin dynasty, in 207 BCE, farmers leaded by Chen Sheng and Wu Guang revolted, soon afterwards people from all over the kingdom responded, overturned the Qin Dynasty rapidly.