So You Want to Be a Terracotta Warrior?

Well, you're over 2300 years too late to be among the original 8,000-plus Terracotta Warriors defending the First Emperor in his sprawling burial site, but in China, they can knock off anything.

For only $1200, you can have your face's likeness sculpted and placed atop the body of a 6'2" Terracotta Soldier's body to place in your garden.

Like the original Terracotta Warriors, these new statues are made with solid legs, so the base sits firmly on the ground.  A hollow torso and arms makes them easier to transport and assemble.

The finishing touch, a head sporting the personal features of the specific warrior, makes each stature unique.

The Terracotta Warriors all stand about 6'2" tall, which our guide Yuan theorized was due to the most elite corps of soldiers being selected to some extent based on their intimidating size, which certainly makes sense, but I'd guess that the factory-like approach to creating their terracotta counterparts explains the uniform height.

Emperor Qin Shi Huang had an assembly line running to materialize the dream he had as a teenager of a massive terracotta army protecting him through eternity long before Henry Ford started rolling out Model T's in Detroit.

The more you learn about Chinese history, the more you realize they invented many methods and products we now take for granted, even if what may be another original Chinese concept --- totalitarianism --- prohibited subsequent generations from knowing all that their ancestors had known in order to control the masses.

The necropolis complex of Qin Shi is the largest in the world, and most of it has not been excavated yet.

The pits we visited have revealed what is already the largest coordinated sculpture-work in the world, and it is amazing to behold.

Unfortunately, it is quite crowded in the viewing area above the pits where the soldiers stand, especially on the Sunday before May Day, the biggest holiday of the year in this Communist country.

Because atheism is required to be a card-carrying Communist, which includes everyone in government ---even if that is only a fraction of the total population --- I guess it makes sense that International Workers' Day would be much bigger than, for example, Christmas.

On this holiday weekend, lots of families from the countryside came to Xi'an to see this Wonder of the World.  The new Chinese Communist Party policy of encouraging tourism to learn about their great country is a stark contrast to Mao's Cultural Revolution (great 1 minute video linked here), which sought to eradicate not only all vestiges of capitalism but also traditional elements of Chinese society and history itself.

Despite the crowds, we were overwhelmed by the scope of this exhibit of Qin Terracotta Warriors.  With patience and a bit of nudging forward, I was able to get to the front everywhere I went.

In Steve Berry's history-anchored action novel, The Emperor's Tomb, which I re-read upon returning from China, his characters seem to have the place pretty much to themselves, which is perhaps the biggest fantasy of all, but that book is a highly entertaining way to be spoon fed a lot of real history.  It would be a good choice to bring on your trip to China.

Our tour company had included a stop at the Terracotta Warrior Factory store, which had a furniture store on the second floor, during our full day in Xi'an.

At first we grimaced at being forced to endure what we thought sure to be crass commercialization of one of the main attractions of the tour.

In fairness to Gate 1, any trip to Asia, where knockoffs of name brand products might be found for a fraction of the cost of those in the USA, groups traveling together inevitably include lots of die-hard bargain hunters who would happily shop until they drop.

As turned out to be the case almost every time, the store proved to be very educational and had beautiful quality merchandise.

There were a few types of statues.  There was, of course, only one Emperor, although everyone could bring home a copy of him if they wanted.

Officers, soldiers, cavalry, archers and other ranks were mainly recognizable by different hair styles or hats to easily be differentiated on the battlefield.  Officers wore modified crown hats designating levels (i.e., general versus colonel or captain) and cavalry had relatively flat hair, but the description I remember most distinctly was that soldiers had their hair piled into man-buns on the left side, while archers piled their man-buns on the right.

The rationale was that most archers were right handed, so they needed to be able to pull arrows from the quivers on their backs over their right shoulders while they held their bows in their left hands.  Having hair there might impede the right arm's movement or snag the arrow.

The archers are also differentiated a kneeling rather than standing.

Because there were fewer archers to support the soldiers on the front line, there naturally were fewer archers than soldiers, so anyone assembling an army of their own for their mantle back home would probably want more soldiers.

Perhaps that is why the factory store was having a special on archers during our visit, but if I remember correctly, some of the archers on special were standing like soldiers, so perhaps that is why they were on sale.

In any case, the quality of the figures is excellent, and they were available in several sizes, most of which you can hold in your hand.  The beautifully boxed sets can be shipped directly home, at no additional cost in most cases.

I should note that some who bought in the factory store later had a bit of buyer's remorse upon seeing knockoffs at street vendors in Shanghai a couple of days later.

Perhaps the street vendor goods were made in the same factory, because just because a contract may only call for factory production eight hours a day doesn't mean the factory won't run around the clock --- a lesson that American companies who outsource manufacture of their theoretically patented products should at least consider --- but I would also say that the explanation of the meaning of what you're buying is worth quite a bit.

Plus, a souvenir is more than the item itself, for which you likely have no real practical use at home. It represents what you were doing at the time you bought it, and that is where the value lies.

We were happy to have that quiet educational experience at the factory store, where we saw some craftspeople providing finishing touches on statuary, because at the "pits," we were pretty much on our own.

Our guides Candy and Yuan gave us a quick overview of what we would find in the different exhibits on the bus ride and outside Pit 1, but other than coming up with a meeting place, which was of paramount importance on such a busy day, we were pretty much on our own.

6,000 soldiers lined up row after row in Pit 1 is really amazing, especially when you consider that after farmers brought the site to the attention of government, archaeologists found almost every soldier to be in pieces, which had to be painstakingly re-assembled like a ginormous jigsaw puzzle from hell.

Pit 2 contains infantry and cavalry, the more elite part of the forces, while pit 3 was apparently the command center, with officers and a war chariot.

An interesting note is that originally the Terracotta Warriors had colored uniforms and natural skin tones, but over the years, most of the color has faded.

The fourth exhibit hall, the Chariot Room, holds two bronze recreations of chariots at exactly half scale which were found west of the tomb.

We had been told the Chariot Room would be the most crowded exhibit of all, but we were able to get right next to the glass display cases for great views.

It was here, at what is more officially called the "Multi-Exhibition Hall of the Museum Qin Terracotta Warriors and Horses," that Julie and I were approached by a sweet little boy and his mother who asked if he could have his picture taken with us.

We had been told by Yuan that this was common, because foreigners are still oddities in China, especially for people from the countryside.  Most tourists tend to stay in major metropolitan areas.  This beaming 7 year-old boy was eager to practice English he learnt in school, asking where we were from.  Los Angeles surprisingly seemed unfamiliar to him, but he understood America.  I wish we had taken a photo of him, too.

The furniture store on the second floor of the terracotta factory, by the way, was also impressive, with gorgeous workmanship on display which over the centuries has been cherished in European palaces and museums.

From our morning exercise in the park to the Terracotta pits, it had been a great day, but we still had our optional Dumpling Dinner (only $15 additional per person) coming up.