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By QUENTIN SOMMERVILLE
China’s Terracotta Army on the move
Xian: Emperor Qin Shihuang’s army is
on the move.
Some of China’s terracotta warriors are being loaned for a major
exhibition at the British Museum in London.
Hiromi Kinoshita, the curator of the exhibition, said visitors
were likely to be surprised by the exhibition, which will include
a dozen statues and other artefacts
“What many people may not realise is that excavations have
continued, and there are new, recent discoveries of fabulous
life-size terracotta acrobats, civil officials, bronze birds, and
of stone arms. It’s these new discoveries that we would like to
concentrate on,” she said.
She was overseeing the packing of the last of the artefacts in
Xian.
The museum has refitted its famous reading room for the exhibition
and has already sold 30,000 tickets.
Museum staff hope it may even rival the success of the Tutankhamen
show of the 1970s. They are considering opening the exhibit 24
hours-a-day to meet demand.
The Terracotta Army is 8,000 strong. Each statue is unique and was
individually crafted in 221BC.
The army was meant to protect the emperor in the afterlife.
The figures are larger than life – and would originally have been
painted in bright colours. But 2,000 years underground mean the
paint has disappeared.
The detailing on the warriors is so fine, it is possible to
identify which part of China the soldiers came from.
Emperor Qin Shihuang was the first emperor to unify China.
The exhibition will feature the weights and measures and coins he
introduced across the country.
The warriors were forgotten by history, and only rediscovered in
1974.
Yang Peiyan and some other farmers were working in the fields.
“Back at that time, we villagers were digging a well because of
the drought, after 3m down we hit something, the fragments turned
out to be a terracotta warrior,” he said.
Realising the fragments were important – and valuable – he
contacted local officials.
China has a rating system for its Xian artefacts. Unprecedented
numbers of first class objects – which come from within the
emperor’s tomb – are being loaned for the exhibition.
“They are packed in special crates,” Kinoshita said.
“The horses especially are very fragile – they’re suspended in the
crates. We’re having to ship everything over in four
consignments.”
The exhibition at the British museum will run for six months,
beginning on Sept 13. – BBC
 
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