The Terracotta Army of Qin Shi Huang, located 40 km northeast of Xi’an, is an impressive armada consisting of eight thousand life-size statues of soldiers and horses. To protect the tomb of the emperor of Qin Shi Huang, the first emperor to unify imperial China, it is a form of funerary object in the shape of soldiers and horses (chariots, horses, and soldiers) buried with this illustrious personage and represented his Imperial Guard troops.

The discovery of the Terracotta Army is vital because of the information it gives historians about daily life in the Chinese Qin dynasty. The figures show armor and weapons, and the tomb contains many artifacts such as chariots, weapons, pottery, and the human remains of the workers who built it. They had sat untouched underground for more than 2,200 years. As part of the complex, more than 700,000 laborers constructed a life-size terra cotta army and tomb complex, which took them an estimated 40 years to finish.

Estimates were that the three pits containing the Terracotta Army held more than 8,000 soldiers, 130 chariots with 520 horses, and 150 cavalry horses, the major part of which remained buried in the pits near Qin Shi Huang’s mausoleum.

The statues of the infantry soldiers range in size between 1.7 m (5 ft 8 in) and 1.9 m (6 ft 2 in). The commanders are all 2 m (6.5 ft) tall. The lower halves of the kiln-fired ceramic bodies were made of solid terracotta clay, the upper halves were hollow, and human remains have never been found inside.

The terracotta officers wear distinctive headgear, dual or single-layer knee-length gowns, pants, a pair of shoes, and are covered with a piece of colorful armor, looking grand and awe-inspiring. Most terracotta soldiers also wear a knee-length gown, a piece of armor, a hat or hood, pants, and shoes or boots.

The Terracotta Army Used to Be Colorful. They suffered slow oxidation giving way to humid saturation due to groundwater seepage for over 2,100 years, followed by rapid oxidation and dehydration in 1974 when the vaults were opened and exposed to the atmosphere. The color epidermis of the warriors was severely damaged, then aged and peeled off.

All the pottery warriors are facing east. According to historical records, the original ruling area of Qin was in the west, and the other states were in the east. Qin Shi Huang always planned to unify all states, so the soldiers and horses facing east might confirm his determination for unification.

As a significant archaeological discovery of the 20th century, the Terracotta Army became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1987, and it is undoubtedly a must-see for all visitors to Xi’an.