Give Them Some Credit

I feel as though I didn’t really do justice to the Terracotta Warriors in my post about Xian. This was my second visit to the Warriors and I was no less impressed the second time around. The Terracotta Army really is an incredible sight and the sheer scale of the site lends an appreciation to the work that must have gone into creating it some 2000 years ago… and the egos involved. There are literally thousands of Warriors in a number of pits, each Warrior slightly larger than life-size and each with unique features.

It is still an active archaeological site and being able to see the Warriors as they were found, broken and covered in dirt, makes you realise the magnitude of the restoration job. It must vary from incredibly frustrating to incredibly rewarding trying to put all the pieces together.

I also couldn’t help but spare a thought for the farmers who made the initial discovery. Digging a well on their farm in 1974 they made one of the most important historical discoveries in recent times. I wonder how they felt – excitement or dread (“there goes the farm”).