When Qin Shi Huang (秦始皇) died he was buried with terra-cotta warriors to protect him in the afterlife because he believed the soul lives on after death. But that’s not all. Along with the warriors, Qin was buried with musicians and magicians, bronze wildfowl and horses. Some of these objects are currently on view at the National Museum of History (國立歷史博物館), offering a different perspective than the one usually associated with China’s first emperor.
After a four-month exhibit in Taichung, where 300,000 visitors viewed the 116 treasures, the National Museum of History is displaying the largest collection of such items ever to leave China until July 31.
Taiwan’s last exhibit of the Terra-cotta Army was held for five months between 2000 and 2001, drawing a record-breaking 1.65 million visitors.
Huang Yung-chuan (黃永川), director of the museum, described the discovery of the tomb as one of the greatest archaeological finds of the 20th century and shed’s light on the complexity of China’s first emperor and the dynasty he created. Drawing a parallel between the more militant figures sent over in 2000, the objects currently on display reveal an advanced society for the time.
“The last exhibit featured objects mainly from the first excavation site, whereas this exhibit displays pieces from the second site,” he said at the unveiling ceremony.
Whereas the first site is predominately made up of soldiers in military formation according to rank, the second excavation site features figures in different positions such as acrobats and musicians, he said.
The exhibition includes over a dozen life-size soldiers of various ranks together with recently excavated objects never seen before outside of China.
The exhibition examines not just the spectacular figures but the organization and administration of a society that could produce such objects on a vast industrial scale unparalleled in the West until the Industrial Revolution.
“This is about Chinese history,” said visitor Herry Wang (王家耀), as his son posed with one of the many life-size terra-cotta imitations placed out front of the museum.
“My children are too young to learn about the Qin Dynasty in school, but not too young to understand the importance of it to history,” he said.
The tomb was discovered in 1974 when peasants accidentally uncovered the head of a soldier while digging a well during a drought.
The soldier led archaeologists to a vast pit filled with a fully equipped army lined up according to rank, over 8,000 detailed figures each with their own unique facial expressions, hairstyles and weapons. Qin began work on his tomb when he became king at age 13. As his imperial ambitions grew so did the scope of the project while he set out to conquer and unify China, introduce a new system of coinage and standardize the written language, weights and measures.
The museum’s gift shop offers a wide variety of imitation warriors, some of which are as large as those on display in the exhibition hall.
“We sold over 10 of these in Taichung,” said Iris Zhen (鄭明楨), marketing manager for Art of Life Style, the company responsible for selling the figures. “And they were all bought by foreigners,” she added referring to the life-size terra-cotta warriors with a price tag of NT$120,000.
With this kind of enthusiasm from foreigners, one would expect the museum to provide information in English to accompany the explanations in Chinese. But aside from a few paragraphs at the beginning giving a brief overview of the objects on display, there is no English to compliment the exhibit.
“We just didn’t have the resources to translate all the materials into English,” said Pauline Kao (高玉珍), deputy director of the museum.
Still, anyone wanting a deeper understanding of the figures and the society that created them should not miss this opportunity to view objects from a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
“After leaving Taiwan, the exhibit will travel to London where it will be displayed for a few months and then it will return to China, never to leave again,” said Ting Wang (王婷), the museum’s coordinator for international affairs.
Ting said the Chinese government fears the object’s exposure to air will further fade or damage the delicate 2,000-year-old figures.
Exhibition notes:
What: Terracotta Army of Qin Shihuangdi
Where: National Museum of History, Taipei, 1st floor corridor
When: Now until July 31
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