# A Deep Dive into the Terracotta Army

An episode of [Human History ASMR](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/6793196842), 2 Oct 2026, 1 h 14 min.

Audio: https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/api.spreaker.com/download/episode/75487035/a_deep_dive_into_the_terracotta_army_human_voiced_no_ads.mp3

Journey deep beneath the soil of ancient China and discover the extraordinary story of the Terracotta Army, one of the most remarkable archaeological discoveries ever made. Created to accompany Qin Shi Huang, the first emperor of a unified China, this vast underground army offers a rare glimpse into imperial power, warfare, craftsmanship, religion, and the world of the Qin dynasty. Explore how thousands of life-sized clay soldiers, horses, chariots, and other figures were produced on an enormous scale. Discover the workshops, craftsmen, molds, techniques, and organizational systems that made such a monumental project possible. Examine the remarkable individuality of many of the figures and what their clothing, armor, hairstyles, weapons, and ranks reveal about the Qin military. The episode also explores the emperor who commissioned this extraordinary underground army. Discover Qin Shi Huang's campaigns to unify the Chinese states, his centralization of government, massive construction projects, and intense concern with death and immortality. Explore why he believed an enormous army would be necessary in the afterlife and how the Terracotta Army formed part of a much larger funerary complex. Step inside the archaeological discoveries surrounding the famous warriors. Explore the underground pits, wooden structures, chariots, weapons, armor, burial practices, and evidence of the complex organization behind the mausoleum. Discover how archaeologists have reconstructed the site and what remains unknown about the enormous tomb of Qin Shi Huang itself. The story also reveals the destruction that affected the site shortly after the emperor's death. Examine evidence of fires, collapsed structures, damaged figures, looting, and the political upheaval that followed the collapse of the Qin dynasty. Discover how the Terracotta Army disappeared beneath the earth for more than two thousand years before its accidental discovery by farmers in 1974. Drawing on archaeological excavations, ancient Chinese historical records, inscriptions, scientific analysis, artifacts, and modern scholarship, this episode separates established discoveries from popular myths and unanswered questions. Explore what the Terracotta Army can tell us about Qin military organization, imperial authority, ancient technology, and beliefs about death. Narrated with a calm, human voice, this immersive journey is perfect for history enthusiasts, ancient China lovers, archaeology fans, military history listeners, documentary audiences, relaxation, or listening before sleep. Step beneath the ancient landscape and uncover the soldiers, secrets, and remarkable craftsmanship hidden within the Terracotta Army.

## Transcript

[0:01] Speaker 1: It is perhaps one of the most astonishing archaeological discoveries
[0:06] Speaker 1: of the 20th century, the terracotta army of Qin Shi Huang.
[0:12] Speaker 1: Discovered completely by chance in 1974, this underground legion of
[0:18] Speaker 1: clay warriors has stood in silent formation for over 2,000 years,
[0:23] Speaker 1: guarding the tomb of China's first emperor. The Terracotta Army, however,
[0:30] Speaker 1: is far more than an art exhibit of ancient sculpture.
[0:35] Speaker 1: In fact, if you look at the details, it's quite
[0:38] Speaker 1: the window into the historical, political and cultural world of
[0:43] Speaker 1: the 3rd century BCE in China. But it leaves us
[0:47] Speaker 1: with the question, why exactly would an emperor mobilize immense
[0:52] Speaker 1: resources to bury an entire army of life-sized soldiers and
[0:57] Speaker 1: horses underground? What exactly does that say about his beliefs,
[1:02] Speaker 1: his power, and the world that he shaped? Well, those
[1:07] Speaker 1: are questions that we will answer today. We'll go into
[1:12] Speaker 1: all the little details, and any little anecdotes we share
[1:16] Speaker 1: will be grounded in archaeological findings, whether in the last
[1:20] Speaker 1: couple of years or back in the 70s. The wheels
[1:25] Speaker 1: are always turning on this site, and things are always changing.
[1:29] Speaker 1: so we're going to be using the most up-to-date information.
[1:33] Speaker 1: By the end, you'll not only understand the terracotta's army's features,
[1:39] Speaker 1: but also what it symbolizes about ancient China's values, and ultimately,
[1:44] Speaker 1: Qin Shi Huang's vision for power and immortality. But let
[1:50] Speaker 1: me welcome you to the channel first. If you are
[1:53] Speaker 1: new here, and you do appreciate this kind of thing,
[1:56] Speaker 1: I invite you to click that subscribe button and leave
[2:02] Speaker 1: a little comment and a like button being clicked for
[2:05] Speaker 1: the engagement you know how it is and thank you
[2:08] Speaker 1: very much for those on the patreon and those who
[2:10] Speaker 1: check out the merch store that is the reason why
[2:13] Speaker 1: you don't have any ads in this video so thank
[2:17] Speaker 1: you very much now let's get nice and comfortable and
[2:21] Speaker 1: we can set the scene and of course a scene
[2:27] Speaker 1: cannot be set Without us understanding the main character of
[2:32] Speaker 1: the story, at least the head of the army, that
[2:37] Speaker 1: is the first emperor, Qin Shi Huang. Now those characters,
[2:41] Speaker 1: first of all we have Qin, which is the dynasty
[2:44] Speaker 1: he ruled, Shi, which is first, and Huang, which is
[2:49] Speaker 1: kind of like emperor, the large word being Huang Di, emperor.
[2:54] Speaker 1: So effectively his name is just the first emperor of
[2:59] Speaker 1: the Qin. Of course, his real name was Yin Zheng.
[3:04] Speaker 1: He was the king of the Qin state and became
[3:06] Speaker 1: China's first emperor in 221 BCE after unifying the warring states.
[3:13] Speaker 1: This was a tumultuous era. You see, for centuries, that
[3:17] Speaker 1: being from 475 to 221 of the warring states period,
[3:22] Speaker 1: regional kings fought brutal wars. Qin a western frontier state,
[3:30] Speaker 1: eventually emerged victorious and conquered all rivaled kingdoms through disciplined
[3:35] Speaker 1: military might and ruthless governance. In 221 BC, at the
[3:41] Speaker 1: age of 38, King Zheng declared himself Shi Huangdi, that is,
[3:47] Speaker 1: the first emperor, signifying a new era of imperial rule
[3:52] Speaker 1: over a unified land. and so his reign was quite revolutionary. Politically,
[4:00] Speaker 1: he centralized power under the philosophy of legalism, enforcing strict
[4:05] Speaker 1: laws and harsh punishments across his new empire. He dismantled
[4:10] Speaker 1: the old feudal order of inherited nobility, replacing it with
[4:15] Speaker 1: an administrative system where officials were appointed by merit and
[4:20] Speaker 1: loyalty to the emperor. Culturally, He standardized writing, currency, weights
[4:28] Speaker 1: and measures, and even the width of cart axles across
[4:33] Speaker 1: the empire, unifying disparate regions, finally into one nation. And
[4:41] Speaker 1: then there were the infrastructure projects, and that includes the
[4:45] Speaker 1: first version of the Great Wall, to guard against the
[4:49] Speaker 1: northern nomads. Of course, the Great Wall of the first
[4:53] Speaker 1: version was quite different to the one we are familiar
[4:56] Speaker 1: with now, more of a rammed earth structure. Perhaps that's
[5:02] Speaker 1: a topic for a full video on the Great Wall. However,
[5:09] Speaker 1: all of these accomplishments certainly have a price tag. Qin
[5:13] Speaker 1: Shi Huang's rule was authoritarian and often cruel. He was
[5:19] Speaker 1: known to have burned books that contradicted the legalist doctrine
[5:23] Speaker 1: And according to some historical accounts, he burned alive 460
[5:29] Speaker 1: Confucian scholars who spoke out against him, an event that
[5:33] Speaker 1: became infamous as a symbol of his tyranny. He also
[5:38] Speaker 1: imposed heavy taxes and conscripted countless laborers for his grand projects,
[5:44] Speaker 1: breeding resentment even as he forged unity. And so it
[5:51] Speaker 1: is important to understand Qin Shi Huang's mindset during his rule,
[5:55] Speaker 1: especially this obsession with immortality in the afterlife, despite, or
[6:02] Speaker 1: perhaps because of, multiple assassination attempts on his life. At
[6:07] Speaker 1: least three serious attempts are recorded by historians. The first
[6:11] Speaker 1: emperor was determined to treat death. He sent envoys, such
[6:17] Speaker 1: as the alchemist Xu Fo, to search for magical elixirs
[6:21] Speaker 1: of life. and he consumed exotic potions containing mercury, ironically,
[6:29] Speaker 1: attempting to prolong his youth. In fact, mercury is not
[6:33] Speaker 1: well known for its life-sustaining properties when taken internally. It's
[6:38] Speaker 1: generally advised against. That being said, you're welcome to get
[6:42] Speaker 1: a second opinion. And so his fear of death and
[6:47] Speaker 1: desire for eternal rule pushed him to plan not only
[6:51] Speaker 1: for life everlasting, but also for domination of the realm
[6:56] Speaker 1: beyond mortal existence. After all, what good is the afterlife
[7:01] Speaker 1: if you were a king in the life before and
[7:04] Speaker 1: now you're just like the rest of them? It's better
[7:07] Speaker 1: to go in with your hands full. Well, this psychological
[7:14] Speaker 1: background is pretty critical. It's so the scenes for the
[7:18] Speaker 1: massive tomb complex that he started to build for himself
[7:22] Speaker 1: He was not just content to rule China in life,
[7:25] Speaker 1: he wanted it in death, too. And so, that is
[7:31] Speaker 1: the scene promised to be set. Around 246 BC, the
[7:36] Speaker 1: thirteen-year-old boy-king, newly ascended to the throne of Qin, orders
[7:41] Speaker 1: work to commence on his burial site at the foot
[7:44] Speaker 1: of Mount Li. Over the next few decades, as he
[7:48] Speaker 1: transforms from king to Emperor of All Under Heaven. That
[7:54] Speaker 1: burial project grows into an underground empire, encapsulating his worldly power.
[8:02] Speaker 1: The Terracotta Army stands as the most iconic part of
[8:05] Speaker 1: this project, but as we shall see, it is just
[8:09] Speaker 1: one element of a far larger mausoleum complex meant to
[8:14] Speaker 1: secure Qin Shi Huang's legacy, and of course, protect him
[8:19] Speaker 1: in the afterlife. From the moment that he took power,
[8:25] Speaker 1: preparations for his tomb were beginning. According to the ancient
[8:30] Speaker 1: historian Sima Qian, writing in the records of the grand
[8:33] Speaker 1: historian around 94 BCE, the digging at Mount Li, called
[8:38] Speaker 1: Li Shan in Chinese, was initiated when the young king
[8:43] Speaker 1: first ascended the throne, and that means by the age
[8:46] Speaker 1: of 13 he had effectively started planning for the final
[8:49] Speaker 1: resting place. And that's a testament to how Early and
[8:53] Speaker 1: seriously ancient rulers took their afterlife preparations. However, the mausoleum
[9:01] Speaker 1: truly became monumental in scope after 221 BCE, once he
[9:07] Speaker 1: had unified China. At that point, the project swelled to
[9:12] Speaker 1: imperial scale. Sima Qian tells us that 700,000 men from
[9:17] Speaker 1: across the empire were conscripted to labor on the emperor's tomb.
[9:22] Speaker 1: This is a pretty astonishing figure. And if we take
[9:25] Speaker 1: it at face value, it would represent a workforce larger
[9:29] Speaker 1: than the population of any city at the time. Of course,
[9:34] Speaker 1: modern historians consider this a little bit exaggerated, likely a
[9:39] Speaker 1: way to convey an innumerable multitude, kind of like saying
[9:43] Speaker 1: millions and millions. But there is no doubt that the
[9:48] Speaker 1: undertaking was enormous. And even if the true workforce was
[9:51] Speaker 1: a fraction of the 700,000 quoted, it would have still
[9:55] Speaker 1: been the largest labour project of its era. Some scholars
[10:00] Speaker 1: have estimated a more practical labour force, perhaps 16,000 workers
[10:05] Speaker 1: at the time, of course working for many years. But
[10:10] Speaker 1: either way, no matter what the number was, the Chin
[10:13] Speaker 1: State poured unparalleled manpower and resources into it. But why
[10:18] Speaker 1: Mount Lee? near the city of Xian and Xianxi province,
[10:23] Speaker 1: as the tomb site. What was so special about that? Well,
[10:29] Speaker 1: the ancient sources hinted both symbolic and also practical reasons.
[10:35] Speaker 1: Mount Li was strategically located near Qin's capital, Xianyang, and
[10:40] Speaker 1: had long been considered an auspicious place for burial. A
[10:44] Speaker 1: geographer named Li Daoyuan, writing in the 6th century CE,
[10:50] Speaker 1: noted local lore that Mount Glee's northern slopes contained rich
[10:54] Speaker 1: deposits of gold, and its southern slopes rich deposits of jade,
[11:01] Speaker 1: making it a site associated, of course, with wealth and immortality.
[11:07] Speaker 1: Qin Shi Huang, covetous of its fine reputation, chose Mount
[11:11] Speaker 1: Glee to capitalize on these favorable omens. Indeed, modern geology
[11:17] Speaker 1: confirms deposits of precious metals in the area, But beyond superstition,
[11:22] Speaker 1: there might have been a more political message. By resting
[11:26] Speaker 1: at Mount Lee, reputedly the residence of a mythical immortality deity,
[11:33] Speaker 1: the first emperor signalled his divine right and eternal presence.
[11:38] Speaker 1: The mausoleum, according to archaeological surveys, was laid out as
[11:42] Speaker 1: a microcosm of the emperor's first realm. Imagine a vast
[11:46] Speaker 1: walled necropolis. mirroring the plan of his capital city. There
[11:52] Speaker 1: were inner and outer walls, enclosing an area of roughly
[11:56] Speaker 1: fifty-six square kilometres. Truly, a great necropolis, the city of
[12:02] Speaker 1: the dead. And at the heart of it, beneath a
[12:05] Speaker 1: giant earth mound, seventy-six metres tall, lay the yet unexcavated
[12:11] Speaker 1: imperial tomb chamber. This earthen pyramid was designed to look
[12:16] Speaker 1: like a natural hill, Ancient accounts say trees and vegetation
[12:21] Speaker 1: were planted on it after construction to conceal it. Radiating
[12:25] Speaker 1: around this core were pits and caverns containing everything the
[12:29] Speaker 1: Emperor might require in the afterlife. Not only an army
[12:32] Speaker 1: of soldiers, but also administrative officers. Stables, gardens, entertainers, treasures.
[12:40] Speaker 1: Sacrificial victims. All carefully positioned in the complex. everything in
[12:46] Speaker 1: its nice, neat little package. The construction timeline of this
[12:53] Speaker 1: huge project is still hotly debated. Sir Ma Chen's chronicle,
[12:58] Speaker 1: remember that ancient historian from Records of the Grand Historian
[13:02] Speaker 1: we mentioned earlier, suggests the work continued unceasingly from 246
[13:09] Speaker 1: until after the Emperor's death in 210. That's a span
[13:11] Speaker 1: of 36 plus years. In fact, one later source claims
[13:16] Speaker 1: it took 38, finally ceasing in 208 BCE, which indicates
[13:23] Speaker 1: that work might have continued briefly under his successors. There
[13:28] Speaker 1: was evidence that the project was unfinished at the time
[13:31] Speaker 1: that the Qin dynasty fell in 206 BCE. Notably, one
[13:36] Speaker 1: of the four main pits for the terracotta army was
[13:39] Speaker 1: found empty, as if the deployment was... never completed. That's
[13:46] Speaker 1: a strong indication that work had halted abruptly, most likely
[13:51] Speaker 1: due to the empire's collapse. In 209 BC, just a
[13:58] Speaker 1: year after the first emperor's death, a massive peasant rebellion erupted.
[14:03] Speaker 1: A general named Zheng Han reportedly pulled away the labor
[14:08] Speaker 1: force of 700,000 from the tomb to suppress the uprising.
[14:14] Speaker 1: Soon after, the Qin government imploded, and civil war broke out.
[14:20] Speaker 1: Rebels marched on the capital city, and by 206 BC,
[14:24] Speaker 1: the nascent Qin dynasty gave way to the Han dynasty.
[14:29] Speaker 1: One legend recorded in the Book of Han, and echoed
[14:32] Speaker 1: by Sima Qian, relates that the rebel leader, Shang Yu,
[14:36] Speaker 1: raided the tomb complex in the chaos. It is said
[14:40] Speaker 1: that Shang Yu's troops looted what treasures they could, and
[14:43] Speaker 1: that a great fire was accidentally, perhaps, ignited by a
[14:50] Speaker 1: shepherd searching the tunnels with a torch. What an idiot. Well,
[14:56] Speaker 1: supposedly that set ablaze the palace within the tomb. The
[15:01] Speaker 1: fire purportedly burned for days, perhaps destroying wooden structures and
[15:06] Speaker 1: treasures inside. However, Modern archaeology has found no conclusive evidence
[15:14] Speaker 1: that the main tomb itself was sacked or burned on
[15:17] Speaker 1: a large scale. Some charred remains and scorched earth may
[15:22] Speaker 1: have been detected in the pits of the terracotta army,
[15:25] Speaker 1: indicating there were indeed fires, but these might have been
[15:28] Speaker 1: localized to the wooden roof structures over the army pits,
[15:32] Speaker 1: rather than the central tomb chamber. It remains possible the
[15:36] Speaker 1: core of the tomb, the underground palace, survived intact, sealed
[15:41] Speaker 1: off before the rebels could arrive. The truth may only
[15:45] Speaker 1: be known when, or perhaps if, archaeologists one day open
[15:52] Speaker 1: the Emperor's burial mound. Well, now let's turn to an eyewitness,
[15:59] Speaker 1: as in words, Sima Qian's description to truly envision what
[16:03] Speaker 1: the tomb was meant to be. He provides a pretty
[16:07] Speaker 1: stunning record Almost cinematic account of the mausoleum's interior provides
[16:13] Speaker 1: most of our modern imagination and archaeological expectations for the
[16:18] Speaker 1: sealed chambers. Writing a century after the emperor's death, Samartian
[16:27] Speaker 1: left us with the earliest and most detailed account of
[16:30] Speaker 1: the emperor's tomb. Although he never saw it himself, he
[16:34] Speaker 1: certainly gathered stories, possibly from workers or court records passed down,
[16:40] Speaker 1: and the description reads like something out of a legend. But, compellingly,
[16:46] Speaker 1: it's actually been confirmed by archaeological details in the modern times.
[16:52] Speaker 1: So let's examine what he wrote, and compare it with
[16:55] Speaker 1: modern findings. According to his records of the Grand Historian,
[17:01] Speaker 1: once the Emperor died and was placed in his The
[17:04] Speaker 1: tomb builders created an elaborate subterranean world. They dug through
[17:11] Speaker 1: three layers of groundwater to excavate deep into the earth,
[17:15] Speaker 1: an indication of how far down the chambers lay, although
[17:20] Speaker 1: some scholars think the phrasing is figurative. The coffin of
[17:24] Speaker 1: the emperor was protected by an outer casket of bronze,
[17:28] Speaker 1: for which molten copper or bronze was poured in to
[17:32] Speaker 1: encase it. Inside the burial chamber, craftsmen constructed grand palaces
[17:37] Speaker 1: and towers filled with treasures, so much hence as they
[17:40] Speaker 1: built palaces and scenic towers for a hundred officials, stocked
[17:45] Speaker 1: with rare artifacts and wonderful treasures to mimic the imperial court.
[17:51] Speaker 1: In effect, the emperor would continue to live in luxury
[17:55] Speaker 1: underground as he had above, surrounded by all the comforts
[17:59] Speaker 1: of his court. To guard these riches, Ingenious traps were installed.
[18:06] Speaker 1: The text specifies that craftsmen installed mechanically primed crossbows and arrows,
[18:12] Speaker 1: said to shoot any intruder who might break into the tomb.
[18:15] Speaker 1: It evokes the image of an ancient security system, and
[18:20] Speaker 1: a bloody good one, too. Here's a rhetorical question. Could
[18:26] Speaker 1: such traps still be functioning after twenty-two centuries underground? Maybe
[18:33] Speaker 1: you're brave enough to find out. Some archaeologists have indeed
[18:37] Speaker 1: worried that if the main chamber is opened, preserved crossbows
[18:43] Speaker 1: might still fire. Though most think corrosion would have disabled
[18:48] Speaker 1: them by now. Still, you first. Along with traps, there
[18:55] Speaker 1: was the sheer secrecy and sacrifice designed to keep the
[18:58] Speaker 1: Doom secrets hidden. After the burial, the inner passage was
[19:02] Speaker 1: sealed and the outer gate closed, entombing alive all craftsmen
[19:08] Speaker 1: and laborers who knew the design so that none could escape.
[19:13] Speaker 1: Now that's a gruesome measure, but it was ordered to
[19:16] Speaker 1: protect the tomb's mysteries. It echoes the human sacrifices of
[19:20] Speaker 1: earlier times. Sima Qian also notes that Qin Shi Huang's concubines,
[19:26] Speaker 1: who had no sons, were compelled to accompany him in death.
[19:31] Speaker 1: meaning they were killed and buried in the tomb as well,
[19:34] Speaker 1: by decree of the new emperor, that being Qin Shi
[19:38] Speaker 1: Huang's son. We will revisit the human sacrifice aspect later
[19:44] Speaker 1: with what archaeology has been found, but for now, suffice
[19:48] Speaker 1: to say the tomb was meant to be complete sealed
[19:50] Speaker 1: and inaccessible, with no living witnesses left to tell the tale.
[19:56] Speaker 1: The most famous part of Sima Qian's narrative describes an
[20:00] Speaker 1: astonishing vision of the cosmos recreated underground. He writes that
[20:05] Speaker 1: Mercury was used to simulate the hundred rivers of the land,
[20:09] Speaker 1: including the great Yangtze and Yellow Rivers, and even the ocean,
[20:14] Speaker 1: set to flow mechanically on the floor of the burial chamber.
[20:19] Speaker 1: The ceiling was decorated with constellations of pearl-like jewels, representing
[20:24] Speaker 1: the night sky, while the ground was shaped into the
[20:28] Speaker 1: features of the land, the mountains and the valleys, with
[20:31] Speaker 1: flowing mercury streams coursing throughout. In other words, He was
[20:37] Speaker 1: laid to rest in a microcosm of his empire, the
[20:40] Speaker 1: entire landscape of known China, heavens above, rivers below, all
[20:47] Speaker 1: contained in his private tomb. To light this eternal tableau,
[20:54] Speaker 1: candles were made from the fat of a mythical man-fish,
[20:59] Speaker 1: often interpreted as a kind of mermaid or perhaps a
[21:02] Speaker 1: giant sea-creature. designed to burn slowly and not extinguish for
[21:06] Speaker 1: a long time. But of course, there is a debate
[21:11] Speaker 1: around what kind of creature this man-fish refers to. Proposals
[21:17] Speaker 1: range from whales to walruses to giant salamanders, but the
[21:22] Speaker 1: idea is pretty clear. The ancient Chinese believed that certain
[21:26] Speaker 1: exotic animal oils could fuel everlasting lamps, ensuring the tomb
[21:31] Speaker 1: stayed illuminated. and the rivers of mercury flowed in perpetual twilight.
[21:38] Speaker 1: But it's hard not to be dazzled by a description
[21:40] Speaker 1: like that. For a long time, many thought it purely
[21:45] Speaker 1: was a legendary or quite exaggerated one. But modern science,
[21:53] Speaker 1: rather than disappointing us with being so rational, has actually
[21:57] Speaker 1: given intriguing support to parts of Sumatran's account, Surveys of
[22:03] Speaker 1: the tomb mound have detected abnormally high concentrations of mercury
[22:08] Speaker 1: in the soil above the unopened burial chamber. One measurement
[22:12] Speaker 1: was recorded at 1,440 parts per billion of mercury, and
[22:18] Speaker 1: that's vastly higher than the natural background level. That strongly
[22:24] Speaker 1: suggests that large quantities of mercury were indeed buried there,
[22:29] Speaker 1: just as the text claims. Mercury in the form of
[22:34] Speaker 1: liquid mercury or cinnabar, mercury sulfide, was known and valued
[22:40] Speaker 1: in ancient China, often for its lustrous quality and use
[22:44] Speaker 1: in alchemy. And it appears that the first emperor literally
[22:49] Speaker 1: ordered tons of the toxic metal to be used in
[22:52] Speaker 1: its tomb, likely in troughs or pools to represent the waterways.
[22:59] Speaker 1: The presence of mercury has also been a key reason
[23:01] Speaker 1: why archaeologists have hesitated to excavate the main chamber disturbing
[23:06] Speaker 1: that mercury could be dangerous to excavators and could also
[23:11] Speaker 1: cause the quick volatilation and loss of the content of those, quote,
[23:16] Speaker 1: rivers it's a bit of a risk I suppose it's
[23:21] Speaker 1: best we wait until we really have a solid method
[23:26] Speaker 1: but another aspect partially confirmed by archaeology is the human
[23:31] Speaker 1: sacrifices outside the central tomb mound archaeologists have uncovered numerous
[23:38] Speaker 1: pits with human remains in total about 188 of them
[23:42] Speaker 1: containing human skeletons found in the broader mausoleum area most
[23:49] Speaker 1: of the remains are young females which aligns with the
[23:52] Speaker 1: idea that concubines without children were likely killed to accompany
[23:56] Speaker 1: the emperor The bones indicate these individuals, likely teenagers or
[24:02] Speaker 1: women in their early twenties, were not buried alive in situ. Instead,
[24:08] Speaker 1: it seems they were executed, perhaps poisoned or strangled elsewhere
[24:14] Speaker 1: and their bodies interred in the pits near the tomb. Well,
[24:20] Speaker 1: it provides grim validation of Samachian's note about the concubines. Additionally,
[24:27] Speaker 1: Other bits held the skeletons of men, possibly the very
[24:30] Speaker 1: craftsmen and labourers who built the tomb. In one area
[24:34] Speaker 1: north of the tomb, a sprawling chamber was found containing
[24:38] Speaker 1: skeletons of workers still in chains, along with sacrificial horses
[24:44] Speaker 1: and the remains of presumably high-ranking individuals, described dramatically as
[24:50] Speaker 1: murdered princes. It appears that dozens, if not hundreds, of
[24:57] Speaker 1: people were put to death to guard the tomb's secrets.
[25:01] Speaker 1: This was a macabre but not unheard-of practice for the
[25:04] Speaker 1: ancient monarchs. Earlier Chinese rulers and other culture's kings, like
[25:09] Speaker 1: Egyptian pharaohs, for example, had also taken servants or wives
[25:13] Speaker 1: to the grave. But in Qin Shi Huang's case, he
[25:18] Speaker 1: combined the old tradition Of human sacrifice with an entirely
[25:23] Speaker 1: new innovation. Life-sized proxy figures. The Terracotta Army. Supplementing and
[25:31] Speaker 1: perhaps replacing real humans as guardians. And so before we
[25:37] Speaker 1: discuss the Terracotta Army in detail. Consider one more thing
[25:42] Speaker 1: about Sumachen's account. Its purpose. Some scholars caution that Sumachen
[25:49] Speaker 1: may have. dramatized aspects of the tomb to make it
[25:54] Speaker 1: a moral or political point. By the Han dynasty, as
[26:00] Speaker 1: when he was writing, Qin Shi Huang's tyranny was often
[26:03] Speaker 1: contrasted with the benevolence of Han rule. Sima Qian's vivid
[26:09] Speaker 1: descriptions could be intended to impress upon readers the extravagance
[26:13] Speaker 1: and hubris of the first emperor. Perhaps a subtle critique
[26:19] Speaker 1: One archaeologist, Duan Qingbo, even suggested that Sima Qian's account
[26:23] Speaker 1: might be partly fictional, possibly aimed at inspiring the Han
[26:28] Speaker 1: Emperor Wu to build a similarly grand tomb for himself. However,
[26:33] Speaker 1: given the archaeological evidence, mercury, all the human remains thrown
[26:40] Speaker 1: into the pits, etc., it's pretty clear that Sima Qian's
[26:44] Speaker 1: sources were grounded in some reality. even if they were
[26:49] Speaker 1: embellished a little bit for dramatic effect. And so with
[26:53] Speaker 1: that in mind, let us shift our attention to the
[26:57] Speaker 1: most famous component of the mausoleum and explore the discovery, features,
[27:03] Speaker 1: and what the Terracotta Army reveals about gin society. It
[27:10] Speaker 1: was spring of 1974. In a rural village a mile
[27:15] Speaker 1: east of Mount Lee, Local farmers were digging a well,
[27:20] Speaker 1: and they struck something unexpected. Yang Zhufa, one of the farmers,
[27:26] Speaker 1: noticed hardened reddish earthenware fragments at about two meters depth.
[27:33] Speaker 1: At first, the significance was not clear. Bits of pottery
[27:38] Speaker 1: and some bronze arrowheads emerged. The farmers collected a few
[27:43] Speaker 1: bronze points, selling them for a bit of a small profit.
[27:47] Speaker 1: and even kept some terracotta bricks to use as pillows.
[27:50] Speaker 1: But little did they know, they had stumbled on the
[27:53] Speaker 1: fringe of one of the greatest archaeological treasures on earth.
[27:58] Speaker 1: News of the finds reached local authorities, and a cultural
[28:02] Speaker 1: relics official named Zhao Kangmin came to investigate. When he
[28:07] Speaker 1: recognized a broken clay torso and a head with distinct
[28:11] Speaker 1: facial features, he realized that these were no ordinary pottery shards.
[28:18] Speaker 1: They were pieces of ancient statues. And so the government
[28:22] Speaker 1: quickly dispatched a team of archaeologists from Shanxi province. And
[28:27] Speaker 1: by May 1974, systematic excavations began. What they uncovered stunned
[28:34] Speaker 1: the world. An entire subterranean army of life-sized terracotta soldiers
[28:39] Speaker 1: arrayed in battle formation. Over the next few years, Three
[28:45] Speaker 1: large pits and one smaller empty pit were identified, now
[28:49] Speaker 1: labeled from 1 to 4. The scale was unprecedented. Pit
[28:56] Speaker 1: number 1, the largest, is roughly the size of multiple
[29:00] Speaker 1: football fields, about 230 meters long and 62 meters wide,
[29:07] Speaker 1: and it contains the bulk of the army, estimated to
[29:10] Speaker 1: be over 6,000 infantry and chariot warriors. Row upon row
[29:15] Speaker 1: of clay soldiers stand in corridors separated by earthen partitions,
[29:20] Speaker 1: exactly as real soldiers would stand in military formation. The
[29:25] Speaker 1: front rows in pit one consist of archers and infantry,
[29:29] Speaker 1: while the war chariots, originally wooden, now decayed with only
[29:33] Speaker 1: the bronze parts remaining, were positioned behind. Each chariot, drawn
[29:38] Speaker 1: by a team of fourteen, horses. Deeper into the pit
[29:43] Speaker 1: are ranked columns of armoured foot soldiers, likely the main
[29:47] Speaker 1: battle force. Wooden beams and mats once roofed this pit,
[29:53] Speaker 1: which was then buried to conceal the army. Evidence of
[29:57] Speaker 1: a collapsed, burnt roof was found on top of the figures.
[30:01] Speaker 1: Pit 2 is located nearby, and contains a more mixed force.
[30:09] Speaker 1: It has archers, famously the kneeling crossbowmen ready to fire,
[30:15] Speaker 1: cavalry with horses, and more chariots possibly representing a flank
[30:20] Speaker 1: or specialised unit supporting the main army. An estimated 1,300
[30:25] Speaker 1: warriors and horses are in Pit 2, along with 80
[30:29] Speaker 1: or so chariots. This bit gives us some of the
[30:32] Speaker 1: most iconic individual figures, like the kneeling archer and the
[30:36] Speaker 1: cavalryman with his saddled horse. They've been exhibited internationally, too.
[30:43] Speaker 1: Moving on to bit three, it's a bit smaller. It
[30:45] Speaker 1: appears to represent a command post or headquarters for the army.
[30:50] Speaker 1: It held only about 68 figures, including high-ranking officers and
[30:54] Speaker 1: a chariot, and it has an altar-like setup. Many archaeologists
[31:01] Speaker 1: believe Pit 3 was the army's leadership bunker, as the
[31:05] Speaker 1: figures there are likely generals and officials. And finally, Pit
[31:11] Speaker 1: 4 was found empty, whether left unfinished or deliberately left
[31:17] Speaker 1: vacant as a symbolic space is uncertain. But the consensus
[31:23] Speaker 1: leads towards the interpretation that construction halted due to the
[31:27] Speaker 1: aforementioned rebellions. Now in all, by current estimates, about 7,000
[31:34] Speaker 1: to 8,000 terracotta soldiers, about 100 life-size ceramic horses, and
[31:41] Speaker 1: some 130 wooden chariots now disintegrated leaving bronze fittings, were
[31:46] Speaker 1: made to accompany the Emperor. Excavations are ongoing, even today
[31:53] Speaker 1: in 2025. New figures and even additional pits continue to
[31:57] Speaker 1: be discovered in the area, and scientists believe thousands more
[32:01] Speaker 1: warriors remain buried beyond the sections that we've already unearthed.
[32:08] Speaker 1: Now what makes the Terracotta Army so fascinating? Not just
[32:12] Speaker 1: their number, but the incredible realism and detail. Each soldier
[32:19] Speaker 1: is roughly life-sized or slightly larger, averaging about 180 centimetres,
[32:25] Speaker 1: about 5 foot 11 tall, with some officers being taller
[32:30] Speaker 1: and more robust in stature. They are rendered in painstaking detail.
[32:36] Speaker 1: Every warrior has unique facial features, expressions, and hair or
[32:42] Speaker 1: beard styles. No two faces are exactly alike. Some have youthful,
[32:48] Speaker 1: smooth cheeks, others sport bushy moustaches. knots or caps indicating rank.
[32:57] Speaker 1: This uniqueness gave rise to the popular notion that perhaps
[33:00] Speaker 1: each statue was modeled after a real individual soldier. While
[33:06] Speaker 1: full individuality might be an artistic illusion, archaeologists have identified
[33:11] Speaker 1: at least ten basic face molds that were used as templates,
[33:15] Speaker 1: with artisans then hand-carving additional details onto each face to
[33:19] Speaker 1: differentiate them. The bodies Torsos, limbs, were crafted separately in
[33:27] Speaker 1: an assembly line fashion, and then later on assembled. Inscriptions
[33:33] Speaker 1: found on some pieces indicate a highly organized workshop system.
[33:37] Speaker 1: For example, one inscription reads, 17th year, about 230 BC,
[33:44] Speaker 1: made by the government workshops, by master craftsman Yu and
[33:48] Speaker 1: worker Diao. Now this tells us, that specialized government-run workshops,
[33:55] Speaker 1: likely located near the site, produced the terracotta figures, and
[34:00] Speaker 1: kept quality control records by inscribing the year and names
[34:03] Speaker 1: of the foremen and artisans. Now, if you didn't catch it,
[34:08] Speaker 1: that 17th year date is quite intriguing. It suggests the
[34:13] Speaker 1: production of these figures was already underway around 230 B.C.,
[34:19] Speaker 1: which is before Qin had finished unifying China, but while
[34:23] Speaker 1: he was actively campaigning to do so. It implies the
[34:28] Speaker 1: mausoleum army was being made in tandem with his real
[34:32] Speaker 1: military campaigns, with the convergence of preparing for both earthly
[34:37] Speaker 1: and heavenly battles. Originally, the terracotta warriors were not drab,
[34:44] Speaker 1: brownish-grey as they appear now, They were actually painted in
[34:48] Speaker 1: a vivid variety of colours. Traces of pigments have been
[34:53] Speaker 1: found on many figures. Reds, greens, blues, purples and more.
[34:59] Speaker 1: Some warriors wore bright lacquered armour with coloured details. Others
[35:04] Speaker 1: had painted faces to accentuate their eyes and eyebrows. One
[35:09] Speaker 1: particularly rare pigment discovered on these figures is Chinese purple.
[35:14] Speaker 1: A synthetic purple pigment of barium copper silicate, showing that
[35:20] Speaker 1: the advanced materials were available at the time. Unfortunately, when
[35:26] Speaker 1: the figures were excavated and exposed to air, the remaining
[35:30] Speaker 1: paint curled and flaked off rapidly in many cases, whether
[35:35] Speaker 1: it was within minutes or hours. Well, the rapid deterioration
[35:42] Speaker 1: of the pigments was a sobering lesson for archaeologists. It
[35:47] Speaker 1: demonstrated how fragile the preserved state of these artifacts can
[35:50] Speaker 1: be once disturbed, and this is a key reason why
[35:54] Speaker 1: excavators and Chinese authorities have slowed down and sometimes completely
[36:00] Speaker 1: halted further digging, opting to preserve artifacts in situ until
[36:06] Speaker 1: better conservation techniques can be developed. Oh, and as an aside,
[36:12] Speaker 1: this is also one of the main arguments against unsealing
[36:14] Speaker 1: that central tomb chamber any time soon. If we can't
[36:19] Speaker 1: protect the paint on a terracotta statue from fading, it's
[36:24] Speaker 1: not likely we're ready to preserve the 2200-year-old silk, wood,
[36:28] Speaker 1: and mural paintings that could exist inside the tomb. Well,
[36:35] Speaker 1: besides soldiers, the pits contained a complete military arsenal. Many
[36:40] Speaker 1: of the warriors originally held real functional bronze weapons. Remarkably,
[36:47] Speaker 1: several of the bronze swords recovered from the pits were
[36:49] Speaker 1: still sharp and untarnished when excavated. Tests showed some blades
[36:55] Speaker 1: had a thin, chrome-rich oxide layer, leading to early speculation
[37:01] Speaker 1: that gin metallurgists had invented a form of chromium anti-rust treatment.
[37:07] Speaker 1: Later research indicated that chromium might have come from natural
[37:11] Speaker 1: contamination or lacquer, but either way the quality of the
[37:16] Speaker 1: weapons was superb. The arrowheads were found in bundles, suggesting
[37:21] Speaker 1: they were originally stored in quivers. Chariots in the pits
[37:25] Speaker 1: had fittings of bronze, and even remnants of leather and wood.
[37:30] Speaker 1: Two exquisite half-sized bronze chariots with horses were also unearthed
[37:34] Speaker 1: in a pit west of the main tomb mound discovered
[37:38] Speaker 1: in the eighties. These chariots, each drawn by four bronze horses,
[37:43] Speaker 1: are incredibly detailed, complete with an umbrella-like canopy, reins and
[37:49] Speaker 1: an armed driver, and were likely placed to serve the
[37:53] Speaker 1: Emperor's soul on tours of his realm in the afterlife.
[37:58] Speaker 1: The artisans even modelled moving parts, doors that open, windows
[38:03] Speaker 1: that slide. They demonstrate the high craftsmanship achieved under the chin.
[38:10] Speaker 1: It is also worth noting that, that the terracotta army
[38:12] Speaker 1: is positioned to the east of the tomb mound facing outward,
[38:17] Speaker 1: as if to guard the emperor from the direction of
[38:19] Speaker 1: his conquered states, that is all the warring states lay
[38:23] Speaker 1: generally to the east of Qin. This symbolism is that
[38:27] Speaker 1: these troops are vigilant, protecting their lord from any dangers
[38:32] Speaker 1: that might approach his resting place. In essence, they are
[38:37] Speaker 1: the protective spirit army for the afterlife. just as real
[38:41] Speaker 1: armies protected him in life. Interestingly, by using clay figures
[38:46] Speaker 1: to represent his soldiers, Qin Shi Huang may have also
[38:49] Speaker 1: been making a practical choice. He had sacrificed even a
[38:54] Speaker 1: fraction of 8,000 real soldiers to bury with him. The
[38:58] Speaker 1: stability of his new empire could have been jeopardized if
[39:01] Speaker 1: he had done that. So instead, the Terracotta Army stands
[39:06] Speaker 1: in for the living. A grand form of Ming Qi,
[39:11] Speaker 1: or spirit objects, which in Chinese funerary tradition are items
[39:16] Speaker 1: buried to provide for or symbolize needs in the afterlife.
[39:22] Speaker 1: In earlier periods, much smaller figurines were used, or in
[39:26] Speaker 1: most tragic cases, actual humans sacrificed. Qin Shi Huang's tomb
[39:32] Speaker 1: marks the apex of using life-size surrogates to an almost
[39:36] Speaker 1: humane effect. If we can call creating an army of
[39:41] Speaker 1: clay humane compared to killing Britannians, I suppose we can.
[39:46] Speaker 1: Either way, it ensured he had an army without harm.
[39:49] Speaker 1: decimating his own. Beyond the warriors and military gear, excavations
[39:55] Speaker 1: across Mount Li complex have revealed Qin Shi Huang truly
[40:00] Speaker 1: tried to replicate his world in miniature. Inside the inner
[40:04] Speaker 1: walls of the mausoleum, not far from the emperor's mound,
[40:07] Speaker 1: archaeologists found pits with terracotta courtiers and officials, civil servants
[40:14] Speaker 1: who would administer the emperor's affairs in the next world.
[40:18] Speaker 1: There were also pits with fears of acrobats, strongmen, musicians, entertainers,
[40:26] Speaker 1: presumably performing for the Emperor eternally. One such pit contained
[40:31] Speaker 1: life-sized terracotta acrobats and weightlifters. Another pit held small bronze
[40:37] Speaker 1: sculptures of water birds, set in a sort of garden scene,
[40:42] Speaker 1: complete with a water channel accompanied by pottery musicians. This
[40:47] Speaker 1: seems to represent the Imperial Pleasure Park, where the Emperor
[40:51] Speaker 1: could stroll and enjoy nature. Nearby were real stables. The
[40:58] Speaker 1: skeletons of actual horses have been found buried in stalls
[41:02] Speaker 1: with terracotta grooms kneeling beside them, indicating the Emperor would
[41:07] Speaker 1: have both live horses sacrificed for him and clay servants
[41:11] Speaker 1: to tend them. A particularly fascinating find was a pit
[41:17] Speaker 1: containing sets of stone armor and helmets. These armor pieces
[41:21] Speaker 1: are made of small limestone plaques tied together with bronze wires.
[41:26] Speaker 1: They're too heavy and brittle for actual combat use, so
[41:30] Speaker 1: they were likely made specifically for burial. Perhaps to outfit
[41:34] Speaker 1: the spirit of the emperor or guards in ceremonial armor,
[41:39] Speaker 1: or simply as lavish grave goods symbolizing military might. There
[41:44] Speaker 1: could also be an alternative to burying real armor, which
[41:49] Speaker 1: was precious and could be re-used by the living. All
[41:53] Speaker 1: these discoveries show that the Terracotta Army is just one
[41:57] Speaker 1: part of a much larger mausoleum universe. The First Emperor
[42:02] Speaker 1: went to his grave, escorted not only by soldiers, but
[42:05] Speaker 1: an entire revenue of state. Government officials, entertainers, artisans, a
[42:11] Speaker 1: whole microcosm of the empire. Think of it as the
[42:16] Speaker 1: emperor's world, just reconstructed in clay, bronze and stone. And
[42:22] Speaker 1: all that leads us to examine the cultural and religious
[42:26] Speaker 1: beliefs behind such a tomb, which brings us to our
[42:30] Speaker 1: next section. The creation of the army and the entire
[42:37] Speaker 1: mausoleum complex must be understood in reference to ancient Chinese
[42:42] Speaker 1: beliefs about death and the afterlife. The Chinese of Qin
[42:47] Speaker 1: Shi Huang's time believed in afterlife, where the spirits of
[42:51] Speaker 1: the deceased would continue to exist in that realm, in
[42:53] Speaker 1: many ways mirroring the living world. This belief is reflected
[42:58] Speaker 1: in the concept of burial goods, as we've mentioned, Ming Qi,
[43:02] Speaker 1: which were intended to provide for the deceased in the afterlife.
[43:07] Speaker 1: If a king needed servants, food, weapons, and entertainment in life,
[43:12] Speaker 1: of course, it's only logical he'd need them in death.
[43:16] Speaker 1: hence objects and sometimes people, unfortunately, would be buried with
[43:22] Speaker 1: him to fulfill those needs. But this idea was not
[43:26] Speaker 1: unique to China. Of course, we see it in Mesopotamia, Egypt, etc.
[43:33] Speaker 1: But the scale and execution by Qin Shi Huang were, well,
[43:40] Speaker 1: simply unprecedented. But who knows? Egypt, Mesopotamia, even parts of Greece.
[43:49] Speaker 1: Who knows what we're going to find? Perhaps there's another
[43:53] Speaker 1: unprecedented discovery just around the corner. Well, conjecture aside, in
[44:01] Speaker 1: early Chinese history, human sacrifice at royal burials was practiced.
[44:06] Speaker 1: For example, during the Shang Dynasty, that is 1600-1046, there
[44:11] Speaker 1: is evidence of slaves or war captives being killed to
[44:15] Speaker 1: accompany elites in death. By the Zhou Dynasty, 1046-256, this
[44:24] Speaker 1: practice was becoming less common, often placed by figurines. The
[44:31] Speaker 1: state of Qin itself before unification had tombs of its
[44:35] Speaker 1: rulers with large bits of clay figurines or wooden statuettes,
[44:39] Speaker 1: indicating a shift towards symbolic substitutes rather than killing real people.
[44:45] Speaker 1: Qin Shi Huang's mausoleum can be seen as a grand
[44:49] Speaker 1: culmination of this trend. Instead of sacrificing 8,000 real soldiers,
[44:55] Speaker 1: he had 8,000 ceramic ones made up. Instead of burying
[45:00] Speaker 1: all his courtiers alive, he provided ceramic bureaucrats. Probably as
[45:06] Speaker 1: useful as the real bureaucrats, to be honest. Yet, as
[45:10] Speaker 1: we noted, he did still sacrifice some individuals, the poor concubines, artisans, animals.
[45:19] Speaker 1: It wasn't an entirely bloodless affair. It's as if the
[45:24] Speaker 1: most critical, irreplaceable elements, his senior wives and the makers
[45:30] Speaker 1: of the tomb who knew its secrets, were sacrificed, but
[45:34] Speaker 1: the rank-and-file soldiers were spared in favor of clay replicas.
[45:39] Speaker 1: A pragmatic and somewhat progressive compromise for the time. I
[45:45] Speaker 1: suppose you could say it's progressive. But why did he
[45:50] Speaker 1: feel so compelled to create such an elaborate burial anyway?
[45:54] Speaker 1: Why do it in the first place? Seems like a
[45:57] Speaker 1: lot of trouble to go to, don't you think? Well,
[46:02] Speaker 1: it's at that point that we confront the Emperor's personal
[46:06] Speaker 1: obsession with immortality. Qin Shi Huang famously sought elixirs of
[46:12] Speaker 1: life that's recorded in Sumatian's history. He dispatched those magicians
[46:17] Speaker 1: like Xu Fu to find the Isles of Immortals in
[46:21] Speaker 1: the Eastern Sea, hoping to obtain a potion that would
[46:25] Speaker 1: make him live forever. Spoiler alert, he never found it.
[46:31] Speaker 1: But paradoxically, while striving to avoid death, he simultaneously prepared
[46:36] Speaker 1: for his own death on a colossal scale. Perhaps he
[46:40] Speaker 1: was just hedging his bets. If the elixirs failed, and
[46:44] Speaker 1: he did die, then at least he would have fortified
[46:49] Speaker 1: a domain in the afterlife where he could continue to reign.
[46:53] Speaker 1: Psychology here is pretty fascinating, I think. But one might
[46:58] Speaker 1: ask rhetorically, did the First Emperor truly believe his clay
[47:02] Speaker 1: army would come to life in the spirit realm and
[47:05] Speaker 1: serve him? Given the sincerity of the ancient beliefs, I
[47:10] Speaker 1: think it's pretty likely that he did. The army was
[47:14] Speaker 1: positioned and equipped as if ready for real battle, a
[47:19] Speaker 1: spiritual battle or defense. In the worldview of Qin and
[47:24] Speaker 1: his advisors, the spirit world was not so different from
[47:26] Speaker 1: the earthly one. It had a bureaucracy, armies, possibly threats,
[47:31] Speaker 1: and it certainly had a hierarchy. Qin Shi Huang was
[47:36] Speaker 1: ensuring that he remained the supreme ruler in the next world.
[47:41] Speaker 1: just as he had been in this one. But there's
[47:45] Speaker 1: another cultural aspect, as the concept of ancestral legacy and memory.
[47:51] Speaker 1: By building such a magnificent tomb, he was also cementing
[47:55] Speaker 1: his memory for future generations. After all, we're still talking
[48:00] Speaker 1: about him now, aren't we? So it must have worked.
[48:05] Speaker 1: There was an element, though, of monumentality. like the pyramids
[48:09] Speaker 1: of Egypt or the mausoleums of other great leaders. The
[48:16] Speaker 1: first emperor's tomb was meant to inspire awe, and it
[48:19] Speaker 1: certainly did slash does. Even if no living person was
[48:24] Speaker 1: meant to see the terracotta soldiers, perhaps the very act
[48:27] Speaker 1: of building them was a statement to the gods and
[48:30] Speaker 1: to posterity about the emperor's greatness. In later eras, the
[48:35] Speaker 1: tomb became the stuff of legend. and surely for centuries
[48:39] Speaker 1: people in the region knew that some great king was
[48:41] Speaker 1: buried at Mount Li. One could say Qin Shi Huang
[48:46] Speaker 1: achieved a form of immortality through this legacy. His name
[48:51] Speaker 1: endures partly because of this astonishing mausoleum. But let's consider
[48:57] Speaker 1: also how the terracotta army reflects the values of Qin
[49:01] Speaker 1: society on a more grassroots level. Qin was a highly
[49:06] Speaker 1: militarized state, Its rise to power was through conquest and
[49:11] Speaker 1: strict military discipline. The fact that the largest component of
[49:16] Speaker 1: the burial is an army speaks to how crucial the
[49:20] Speaker 1: military was to Qin Shi Huang's identity and empire. It
[49:25] Speaker 1: was through armies that he unified China, and so an
[49:28] Speaker 1: army would safeguard his unified empire in the next life.
[49:32] Speaker 1: At least that was the logical outcome. This meticulous detail
[49:38] Speaker 1: in rank and unit formation among their terracotta troops shows
[49:43] Speaker 1: the emphasis on organisation and hierarchy, characteristics of the Qin
[49:48] Speaker 1: military system. Bronze weapons found with them underscore that the
[49:54] Speaker 1: Qin army was well-armed and technologically advanced, their swords and
[49:59] Speaker 1: spearheads being far superior to many contemporaries. And even in death,
[50:05] Speaker 1: The Emperor arms his soldiers with real weapons, as if
[50:09] Speaker 1: expecting real combat in spirit. That's how seriously he took
[50:14] Speaker 1: the notion of potential threats. Religiously, Qin Shi Huang's actions
[50:21] Speaker 1: can also be tied to the concept of Heaven's mandate
[50:23] Speaker 1: in cosmic order. By mirroring his empire within his tomb,
[50:29] Speaker 1: and by simulating the cosmos, stars above, rivers below, he
[50:33] Speaker 1: was effectively creating a cosmic palace, where he, as the
[50:38] Speaker 1: first emperor, was the center of order. It's almost an
[50:43] Speaker 1: act of cosmic unity, bringing heaven and earth together in
[50:47] Speaker 1: his burial. Traditional Chinese belief held that a harmonious burial
[50:52] Speaker 1: and remembrance of an emperor could influence the prosperity of
[50:56] Speaker 1: the realm and bring favor of heaven. Ironically, though, Qin
[51:01] Speaker 1: Shi Huang's own dynasty did not last much longer after him,
[51:06] Speaker 1: as we shall discuss. Well beyond the religious and cultural motivations,
[51:16] Speaker 1: the terracotta army can be viewed through a political lens
[51:19] Speaker 1: as a statement of absolute power. Qin Shi Huang was
[51:25] Speaker 1: not a humble ruler. He claimed to be the beginning
[51:29] Speaker 1: of a new age. hence the name First Emperor, rather
[51:35] Speaker 1: than just sticking with the old title of King. Constructing
[51:39] Speaker 1: a tomb of such an unprecedented scale was a way
[51:42] Speaker 1: of projecting his might and, of course, divine right to rule.
[51:46] Speaker 1: And it's pretty telling that Qin, the name of his state,
[51:51] Speaker 1: is the root of the modern name China. This is
[51:56] Speaker 1: no coincidence. It reflects how Qin Shi Huang and his
[52:01] Speaker 1: dynasty set the template for what a unified Chinese empire
[52:05] Speaker 1: would be. By marshalling hundreds and thousands of workers to
[52:10] Speaker 1: build his mausoleum, he demonstrated that his authority extended not
[52:14] Speaker 1: only the living populations of China, but even over the afterlife.
[52:20] Speaker 1: A political aspect of the terracotta army is also appearing
[52:23] Speaker 1: in how it may have been intended for its propaganda
[52:26] Speaker 1: or deterrence. Consider this. The tomb was meant to be hidden, yes,
[52:34] Speaker 1: but its construction was certainly known to the people of Jin.
[52:39] Speaker 1: As the project spanned decades, news would spread, despite attempts
[52:43] Speaker 1: at secrecy, that the Emperor was building something massive at
[52:48] Speaker 1: Mount Lee. The very idea that he would have an
[52:52] Speaker 1: immortal army guarding him could deter would-be grave robbers or
[52:56] Speaker 1: rebels with notions of defiling the tomb. After all, People
[53:01] Speaker 1: are pretty superstitious. There's a message, too, written on the tomb.
[53:07] Speaker 1: Here lies the emperor, who even in death commands an
[53:13] Speaker 1: army of thousands. This is a psychological continuity. Just as
[53:19] Speaker 1: Qin Shi Huang's armies had terrified and subdued the warring states,
[53:24] Speaker 1: his clay army symbolically guarded his reign post-mortem. Even death
[53:31] Speaker 1: would not make him vulnerable. But there is an irony
[53:35] Speaker 1: and a lesson in the story. Qin Shi Huang poured
[53:38] Speaker 1: resources and people into his tomb, sometimes literally poured them
[53:42] Speaker 1: into the tomb, and other huge projects like the Great
[53:46] Speaker 1: Wall and Giant Canal System. These contributed to widespread suffering,
[53:52] Speaker 1: heavy taxation, forced labour, strict law enforcement. After his death,
[53:59] Speaker 1: resentment boiled over and the empire fell into rebellion. The
[54:04] Speaker 1: Qin dynasty collapsed in just a few years, one of
[54:07] Speaker 1: the shortest dynasties in Chinese history. But fair play, it
[54:12] Speaker 1: certainly had quite an impact. Some later historians, including Sima Qian,
[54:18] Speaker 1: imply that the tyranny and over-ambition of the first emperor
[54:22] Speaker 1: sowed the seeds of revolt. The Terracotta Army then stands
[54:27] Speaker 1: as a bit of a paradox, is both a monument
[54:30] Speaker 1: to unparalleled power and a symbol of the excess that
[54:34] Speaker 1: can topple a regime. And so you might ask yourself,
[54:39] Speaker 1: was the Grand Mausoleum really worth the price? Did the
[54:44] Speaker 1: Emperor's determination to control his legacy actually undermine it by
[54:49] Speaker 1: fuelling hatred among the people? These are questions that provoke
[54:55] Speaker 1: quite a bit of reflection on the balance between a
[54:58] Speaker 1: ruler's reach and grasp. But from another angle, the terracotta
[55:05] Speaker 1: army has immense political significance for modern China as well.
[55:10] Speaker 1: Since its discovery, it's been well and truly leveraged as
[55:13] Speaker 1: a national treasure, a source of pride, linking contemporary China
[55:19] Speaker 1: with its ancient roots. The site was named a UNESCO
[55:23] Speaker 1: World Heritage Site in 1987. The warriors have travelled the
[55:28] Speaker 1: world in museum expeditions, exhibitions rather, acting as kind of
[55:34] Speaker 1: de facto ambassadors of China's rich cultural heritage. That first
[55:40] Speaker 1: emperor once vilified as a cruel tyrant in some historical
[55:43] Speaker 1: narratives is often celebrated today for his role in creating
[55:47] Speaker 1: a unified Chinese state and also giving China its name.
[55:54] Speaker 1: The terracotta army has contributed to a rehabilitation of Qin
[55:58] Speaker 1: Shi Huang's image. Through these artifacts, people see the grandeur
[56:04] Speaker 1: and vision of the man, not just the bloodshed. Well,
[56:11] Speaker 1: let's keep things a little bit exciting. We'll highlight a
[56:15] Speaker 1: few lesser-known facts about the Terracotta Army that you might
[56:20] Speaker 1: find a little bit intriguing. First of all, an army
[56:24] Speaker 1: with rank and diversity. We've already mentioned that they're not
[56:30] Speaker 1: uniform clones, they represent a structured military. Careful studies show
[56:35] Speaker 1: clear distinctions in rank and unit type. Generals have double-layered
[56:40] Speaker 1: armour with headgear and ribbons and are positioned strategically. For example,
[56:45] Speaker 1: a high-ranking officer figure was found in Pit 3, likely
[56:49] Speaker 1: commanding the forces. As for the lower-ranking foot soldiers, They
[56:55] Speaker 1: wear simpler tunics and armoured vests. There are also cavalrymen,
[57:00] Speaker 1: each with one hand, extended as if holding reins, and
[57:09] Speaker 1: the other originally holding a weapon, standing beside their horses.
[57:14] Speaker 1: And further to this, there are even mid-stride officers and
[57:18] Speaker 1: kneeling crossbowmen, as well as unarmoured infantry. a complete order
[57:24] Speaker 1: of battle in clay form. And here's a fun little detail.
[57:29] Speaker 1: That kneeling archer figure, one of which was found almost
[57:33] Speaker 1: perfectly preserved with paint, has become something of a good
[57:38] Speaker 1: luck symbol in Xi'an when first discovered as the city
[57:42] Speaker 1: closest to the site. It was intact and richly coloured,
[57:47] Speaker 1: which locals press doubted as a sign of good fortune. Today,
[57:53] Speaker 1: replicas of kneeling archers are popular souvenirs. If you do
[58:00] Speaker 1: go to Xi'an, you really do have to get one. Well,
[58:05] Speaker 1: also with that, we have the assembly line style of production,
[58:11] Speaker 1: mass-produced in workshops with modular methods. Heads, arms, legs, torsos,
[58:19] Speaker 1: made in moulds and then customised, In fact, archaeologists found
[58:23] Speaker 1: parts from different figures could sometimes fit on each other,
[58:28] Speaker 1: indicating standard sizes. Also, many statues have inscriptions or stamps
[58:35] Speaker 1: in hidden areas, like inside arms or under armour pieces,
[58:39] Speaker 1: naming the workshop or foreman responsible. Of course, this allows
[58:44] Speaker 1: for quality control. Any defective work could be traced back
[58:48] Speaker 1: to its maker. The scale of this project implies an
[58:52] Speaker 1: early form of an assembly line, with specialization. Some craftsmen
[58:57] Speaker 1: focused on heads, others on hands, attaching pieces in fine detail.
[59:01] Speaker 1: It's quite a marvel of industrial organization for its time,
[59:08] Speaker 1: showing the advanced state apparatus Qin Shi Huang commanded. There
[59:14] Speaker 1: is also an anecdote indirectly related to the tomb, as
[59:18] Speaker 1: the story of how Qin Shi Huang's death was kept
[59:21] Speaker 1: secret by his prime minister Li Si and the chief
[59:24] Speaker 1: eunuch Zhao Gao. The Emperor died unexpectedly in 210 while
[59:30] Speaker 1: on a tour in the provinces, quite ironically seeking the
[59:34] Speaker 1: magical herbs for immortality. Fearing turmoil, Lisa transported the corpse
[59:41] Speaker 1: back to the capital, without telling anybody what had happened.
[59:46] Speaker 1: According to Sima Qian, to mask the smell of the
[59:49] Speaker 1: decomposing body in the carriage, carts of salted fish were
[59:53] Speaker 1: placed directly in front and behind of the Emperor's wagon.
[59:58] Speaker 1: The ruse worked for long enough, in time to return
[1:00:01] Speaker 1: them to Shenyang and install the emperor's son on the throne.
[1:00:04] Speaker 1: This macabre little incident shows the lengths taken to ensure
[1:00:09] Speaker 1: Qin Shi Huang's burial and tomb completion could proceed smoothly,
[1:00:14] Speaker 1: without interference or usurpation on the road. And then we
[1:00:21] Speaker 1: have the curse of the tomb. It's long been superstition's
[1:00:26] Speaker 1: around disturbing Qin Shi Huang's resting place. Local folklore for
[1:00:30] Speaker 1: centuries whispered that the tomb was cursed, or guarded by
[1:00:34] Speaker 1: some spirits. Some villagers believed that a dragon resided in
[1:00:39] Speaker 1: the mound, or that one could see ghostly soldiers at night.
[1:00:44] Speaker 1: While these are just legends, the real curse proved to
[1:00:48] Speaker 1: be chemical and physical, as mentioned, that sudden flaking of
[1:00:53] Speaker 1: the paint due to dryness and oxygen. and potential mercury
[1:00:57] Speaker 1: poisoning risks. In a sense, the Emperor's engineers did create
[1:01:01] Speaker 1: a tomb so well-sealed and climate-controlled, waterproof with a drainage system,
[1:01:07] Speaker 1: mercury perhaps as a fungicide, that opening it without damage
[1:01:11] Speaker 1: is going to be extremely challenging. We might not even
[1:01:16] Speaker 1: do it in our lifetime. I hope we do. But, well,
[1:01:22] Speaker 1: it doesn't seem likely. the fear of loss, destroying what
[1:01:27] Speaker 1: we seek to observe. It's put a modern scientific caution
[1:01:31] Speaker 1: on excavation plans, and as of now, the Chinese authorities
[1:01:35] Speaker 1: have a policy of no immediate excavation on the central
[1:01:39] Speaker 1: tomb until technology can guarantee its preservation. Thus, the Emperor's
[1:01:45] Speaker 1: wish to remain undisturbed is being respected, at least for
[1:01:50] Speaker 1: the time being. There is a recent study, too, that
[1:01:56] Speaker 1: has traced the likely source of all that mercury in
[1:01:59] Speaker 1: the tomb. Ancient texts didn't specify where it came from,
[1:02:03] Speaker 1: but modern researchers found evidence pointing to cinnabar mines in Xunyang, Shanxi,
[1:02:10] Speaker 1: which were active in the Qin period. It's quite possible
[1:02:14] Speaker 1: that the Emperor's own quest for mercury laid in the
[1:02:17] Speaker 1: elixirs of life. He in fact ingested mercury pills for longevity.
[1:02:22] Speaker 1: dovetailed with accumulating mercury for his tomb's rivers. Tragically, those
[1:02:28] Speaker 1: elixirs may have caused his death. Chronic mercury poisoning could
[1:02:33] Speaker 1: explain some of the erratic behaviour in his later years
[1:02:36] Speaker 1: and sudden demise. Thus the very element intended to grant
[1:02:41] Speaker 1: him eternal life and adorn his eternal resting place was
[1:02:45] Speaker 1: probably the thing that killed him. And there's certainly a
[1:02:48] Speaker 1: poignant irony in all that. the pursuit of immortality leading
[1:02:53] Speaker 1: to an earlier death. But I know you want more.
[1:03:05] Speaker 1: What about that unopened tomb? Well, to date, the burial
[1:03:11] Speaker 1: chamber beneath that 76-high-meter mound has not been opened. But
[1:03:20] Speaker 1: we do know a little bit about it. Ground-penetrating radar
[1:03:23] Speaker 1: and core samples have given us a rough idea of
[1:03:26] Speaker 1: its structure. A large, rectangular chamber. Around 80 by 50 meters.
[1:03:34] Speaker 1: So fairly big. Enclosed by sturdy walls, perhaps multiple levels.
[1:03:40] Speaker 1: But we don't know exactly what's inside. Though the imagination
[1:03:45] Speaker 1: certainly runs wild. based on some of Chen's record and
[1:03:49] Speaker 1: bits of evidence like mercury in the presence of surrounding figurines.
[1:03:54] Speaker 1: Scholars strongly suspect the tomb chamber could be one of
[1:03:57] Speaker 1: the most spectacular archaeological finds in history if it was opened.
[1:04:03] Speaker 1: We might see a sarcophagus of the emperor, possibly of
[1:04:07] Speaker 1: a precious metal. Maybe the rumoured model of the empire
[1:04:11] Speaker 1: with rivers and mercury and star-studded ceilings. Perhaps carts of treasure.
[1:04:17] Speaker 1: rare gems and books, and, well, one certainly hopes records
[1:04:21] Speaker 1: or texts might be buried that could shed light on
[1:04:24] Speaker 1: the Qin state, which infamously burned many of their books.
[1:04:30] Speaker 1: Imagine if the Emperor's edicts on unification, or maps of
[1:04:34] Speaker 1: his empire, treatises of his alchemists were buried with him.
[1:04:39] Speaker 1: It could certainly fill significant gaps in our historical knowledge.
[1:04:44] Speaker 1: And pretty much as soon as that tomb gets opened, well,
[1:04:50] Speaker 1: basically this video is probably going to become null and void.
[1:04:54] Speaker 1: I'm going to have to just completely make a new one. Well,
[1:04:58] Speaker 1: I suppose it's a sacrifice that I'm willing to make.
[1:05:04] Speaker 1: Inside that tomb, there may also be remains of those
[1:05:07] Speaker 1: who were sacrificed in the chamber. As Sima Qian described, though,
[1:05:12] Speaker 1: likely removed if they were executed outside. The possibility of
[1:05:17] Speaker 1: well-preserved textiles, artworks, or even the Emperor's own well-preserved body,
[1:05:23] Speaker 1: if extraordinary measures were taken, is pretty slim, but cannot
[1:05:26] Speaker 1: be entirely ruled out. But caution tempers the excitement. We
[1:05:33] Speaker 1: already know that we just can't open it yet. Well,
[1:05:36] Speaker 1: we all know what happened to the other tombs. We
[1:05:39] Speaker 1: don't want that to happen to the Grand Priests. or
[1:05:45] Speaker 1: the tomb with its unique challenges. The consensus is just
[1:05:48] Speaker 1: a weight. The rhetorical question arises, should we really open
[1:05:54] Speaker 1: the tomb if we could? Some argue that time is
[1:05:57] Speaker 1: also the enemy, that unknown natural processes or illicit tunneling
[1:06:03] Speaker 1: could damage the tomb if it is left alone. It
[1:06:06] Speaker 1: was believed that future technology, perhaps advanced robotics or methods
[1:06:11] Speaker 1: to inertly scan the interiors in full detail, will allow
[1:06:15] Speaker 1: a non-invasive peak or a controlled excavation that preserves everything.
[1:06:22] Speaker 1: In any case, the tomb remains sealed as it has
[1:06:25] Speaker 1: been for over 2,200 years. Perhaps that's just what Qin
[1:06:32] Speaker 1: Shi Huang would have wanted, at least until the fate
[1:06:37] Speaker 1: appointed by time. Well, I think that is it for today.
[1:06:45] Speaker 1: We've certainly learned a lot about the Terracotta Army and
[1:06:49] Speaker 1: the Mausoleum complex. Now, when I went there myself, I
[1:06:57] Speaker 1: remember I showed up a very typically brownish haze of
[1:07:02] Speaker 1: a day in Xi'an, as it always is in the
[1:07:05] Speaker 1: winter there. About a 45 minute bus ride out of
[1:07:09] Speaker 1: the city, I remember walking down that long, long path
[1:07:16] Speaker 1: to get down there. I insisted on walking. They have
[1:07:19] Speaker 1: the little buses going back and forth from the entrance
[1:07:21] Speaker 1: of the complex, but I insisted on walking, taking in
[1:07:24] Speaker 1: the entire atmosphere. Almost snowing, but not quite. I remember
[1:07:31] Speaker 1: when I did reach that pit one, that main part
[1:07:37] Speaker 1: of the complex, just walking into it. Breathtaking is the
[1:07:43] Speaker 1: only word that I can describe for it. Absolutely breathtaking.
[1:07:51] Speaker 1: So really, you owe it to yourself to go and
[1:07:56] Speaker 1: take a look. It is really fantastic. It's not the
[1:07:59] Speaker 1: only thing in and around Xi'an as well. There's a
[1:08:03] Speaker 1: beautifully preserved city wall that goes around the main part
[1:08:07] Speaker 1: of Xi'an And, of course, the main clock tower in
[1:08:11] Speaker 1: the centre of the city. Just beautiful. Absolutely beautiful city. Anyway.
[1:08:21] Speaker 1: Now I sound like an old man reminiscing on old holidays.
[1:08:25] Speaker 1: Sorry to digress. Bit of a personal touch at the
[1:08:28] Speaker 1: end for you. Well, I'm going to thank the top
[1:08:31] Speaker 1: tier supporters and patrons. You realise you didn't get any
[1:08:35] Speaker 1: ads in the video because of them. So, we thank...
[1:08:50] Speaker 1: Thank you so much. And thank you for listening. if
[1:09:19] Speaker 1: you're still awake or just still interested why don't you
[1:09:24] Speaker 1: tell me what you thought in the comments always an
[1:09:27] Speaker 1: interesting topic and having a discussion is always a nice
[1:09:32] Speaker 1: little thing to see I can't respond to all the
[1:09:35] Speaker 1: comments I get hundreds of them every day but I
[1:09:40] Speaker 1: suppose it's a good problem to have but I do
[1:09:43] Speaker 1: appreciate it and people having spirited conversations So good night, everyone.
[1:09:50] Speaker 1: As always, lots of love to you all. And I
[1:09:52] Speaker 1: will see you in the next exciting video. Good night
[1:09:58] Speaker 1: for now.

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