The museum of Terracotta Warriors and Horses
Ladies and gentlemen, good morning, Today, we are going to visit the Museum of Terracotta Warriors and Horses.This museum is located at the foot of mountain Li Shan, about 35 kilometers east of Xi’an.First, I will give you a brief introduction about the master of this underground army---the First Qin Emperor, Yingzheng.He came to the throne at the age of 13 and seized the power at the age of 22 .By 221BC, he had annexed all the six independent states and established the first centralized autocratic feudal empire in the long history of China.After the unification of the whole country, he styled himself the First Emperor and standardized the coinage, weights and measures, the legal codes, the written scripts and so on.He also ordered the linkage of the original Great Wall.All these exerted an everlasting influence on the long feudal history of China.But the First Qin Emperor was very ambitious.As soon as he came to the throne, he ordered that a magnificent mausoleum should be built for him.It took 37 years to complete this great project.Actually, the site of those terracotta warriors and horses we now see is just a small part of his mausoleum.Ok, everyone, now we are standing at the front gate of the Eighth Wonder of the world---the Museum of Terracotta Warriors and Horses.As one of the top ten places of historical interest in China, it was also listed as a world heritage site.So next, let’s go to uncover the veil of this miraculous work.
In March 1974,when several farmers were sinking a well about 1.5km east of the First Qin Emperor’s Maosolem, they came upon many fragments of the terracotta figures.The results of archaeological excavation showed that is two more pits were discovered respectively.They were then named pit1，pit2, and pit3 by the order of discovery.The new discovery stirred up a sensation all over the world.In order to provide the historical artifacts with adequate protection, a musem was set up on the site of Pit 1 in 1975 upon the approval of the state council.
Pit 1,covers an area of 16,300 square meters, is an earth-and-wood structure in the shape of a tunnel.The terra cotta armies in pit 1 were arranged in battle formation.In the front of this formation, there are 210warriors in 3 lines facing forward.Armed with bows and arrows, they constitute the so-called vanguard.Meanwhile, there is one row of warriors on each of the borders of this pit, facing outward---they are the flanks and the rear guard.Holding long-distance shooting weapons, they took up the job of defending the whole army.Then, this way please.We may find ten partition walls
which divided this pit into 11 corridors.The warriors standing inside them with horse-drawn chariots represent the principal military force of this battle formation.According to the density, there are over 6000 terracotta warriors and horses, and most of them are infantrymen.
Ok, Here now we arrived at Pit 2.we can see that Pit 2 is still under cover, that’s because we want to preserve them.Pit 2 consists of 4 different mixed military forces in four arrays, they are infantrymen, cavalrymen, archers and charioteers .And pit 2 also include many chariots and horses.They can be divided to act independently, capable of attacking, and defending with a quick response.As you see, those worriors, their feet, legs, bodies, necks, hands and heads, all with different faces, were all made separately and joined together.we may find they are all vivid and true to life.And also as we can see, here are some actual weapons unearthed in those pits.The most attractive one is a bronze sword.Although it was buried over thousands of years, it is still very sharp.It can cat through 20 pieces of paper put together.Now we come to pit 3.Pit 3 covers an area of about 520 square meters.There are only 68 warriors and 4 clay horses.The warriors were arranged opposite to each other in two rows, and only one kind of weapon called “SHU” had been discovered.This kind of weapon has no blade, and is believed to be used by the guards of honor.We have found many animal bones in the north side, and it is supposed to be “Prayer Hall”, and “Commander’s office” is on the south side.This suggests pit 3 is the headquarters directing the whole underground army. Then we have arrived at the exhibition hall of Bronze Chariots and Horses.In 1980, two sets of large painted bronze chariots and horses were found.They broke into thousands of pieces when we found them and after 8 years’ careful restoration; they were rebuilt and open to the public.The first one was named “High Chariot” and the second one was called “Security Chariot”.They were the eariliest and most exquisitely and intricately made bronze valuables,and also the largest bronze wares discovered in the history of world archaeology.It provides extremlyvaluable material and data for the research of the metallurgical technique and technological modeling og the Qin Dynasty.So now we will finish our journey in the museum today, I believe that you must be very astonished at this world wonder.So it’s your time,you can work around and take some pictures.thank you for listening~
