Warriors

In 1974, some farmers near Xi'an were digging some wells and found some pottery fragments and bronze weapons. What followed was probably one of the largest archaeological finds ever.

People knew that Emperor Qun ShiHuang Di the first emperor of China's mausoleum was nearby, but no one knew that more than 1,000 terracotta warriors and horses guarded it. The statues were buried for more than 2000 years.

Emperor Qun is credited for uniting China. He conquered the six other states that existed in ancient China. He implemented a standardized system of weights and measurements for the country. He is built the Great Wall. Well, actually he connected several smaller walls that were already there. He died in 210 BC. If you like history, you should look him up. He was and interesting character.

These terracotta warriors are all different. They have different hair styles and they say that no two faces are alike.

At one time all of these statues were painted. You can see a little paint on a few of them.

They are still unearthing relics from this active archaeological site. There are three main pits where the warriors, horses, and weapons were found.

We know where Emperor's tomb is but it has not yet been unearthed (that is another story).

This is the farmer that first discovered the warriors while digging a well. Now he signs autographs and poses for pictures.

After this picture was taken, he shook their hands.

Eryn was too shy to take this picture, but she did say that we should say "xie xie" (thank you) for finding the warriors.

*Before we took this trip the kids kept saying that we were going to see the "teriyaki warriors".