The incredible history of China's terracotta warriors - Megan Campisi and Pen-Pen Chen

4,521,131 views ・ 2015-06-30

TED-Ed


Please double-click on the English subtitles below to play the video.

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What happens after death?
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Is there a restful paradise?
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An eternal torment?
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A rebirth?
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Or maybe just nothingness?
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Well, one Chinese emperor thought that whatever the hereafter was,
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he better bring an army.
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We know that because in 1974,
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farmers digging a well near their small village
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stumbled upon one of the most important finds in archeological history:
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vast underground chambers surrounding that emperor's tomb,
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and containing more than 8,000 life-size clay soldiers ready for battle.
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The story of the subterranean army begins with Ying Zheng,
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who came to power as the king of the Qin state at the age of 13
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in 246 BCE.
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Ambitious and ruthless,
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he would go on to become Qin Shi Huangdi,
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the first emperor of China after uniting its seven warring kingdoms.
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His 36 year reign saw many historic accomplishments,
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including a universal system of weights and measures,
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a single standardized writing script for all of China,
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and a defensive barrier that would later come to be known as the Great Wall.
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But perhaps Qin Shi Huangdi dedicated so much effort
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to securing his historical legacy
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because he was obsessed with his mortality.
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He spent his last years desperately employing alchemists
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and deploying expeditions in search of elixirs of life
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that would help him achieve immortality.
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And as early as the first year of his reign,
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he began the construction of a massive underground necropolis
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filled with monuments, artifacts,
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and an army to accompany him into the next world
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and continue his rule.
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This magnificent army is still standing in precise battle formation
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and is split across several pits.
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One contains a main force of 6,000 soldiers,
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each weighing several hundred pounds,
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a second has more than 130 war chariots and over 600 horses,
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and a third houses the high command.
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An empty fourth pit suggests that the grand project
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could not be finished before the emperor's death.
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In addition, nearby chambers contain figures of musicians and acrobats,
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workers and government officials,
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and various exotic animals,
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indicating that Emperor Qin had more plans for the afterlife
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than simply waging war.
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All the figurines are sculpted from terracotta, or baked earth,
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a type of reddish brown clay.
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To construct them, multiple workshops and reportedly over 720,000 laborers
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were commandeered by the emperor,
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including groups of artisans who molded each body part separately
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to construct statues as individual as the real warriors in the emperor's army.
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They stand according to rank
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and feature different weapons and uniforms,
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distinct hairstyles and expressions,
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and even unique ears.
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Originally, each warrior was painted in bright colors,
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but their exposure to air caused the paint to dry and flake,
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leaving only the terracotta base.
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It is for this very reason that another chamber less than a mile away
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has not been excavated.
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This is the actual tomb of Qin Shi Huangdi,
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reported to contain palaces, precious stones and artifacts,
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and even rivers of mercury flowing through mountains of bronze.
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But until a way can be found to expose it without damaging the treasures inside,
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the tomb remains sealed.
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Emperor Qin was not alone in wanting company for his final destination.
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Ancient Egyptian tombs contain clay models representing the ideal afterlife,
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the dead of Japan's Kofun period were buried
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with sculptures of horses and houses,
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and the graves of the Jaina island off the Mexican coast
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are full of ceramic figurines.
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Fortunately, as ruthless as he was,
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Emperor Qin chose to have servants and soldiers built for this purpose,
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rather than sacrificing living ones to accompany him,
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as had been practiced in Egypt, West Africa, Anatolia,
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parts of North America
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and even China during the previous Shang and Zhou dynasties.
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And today, people travel from all over the world to see these stoic soldiers
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silently awaiting their battle orders for centuries to come.
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