Terra Cotta Army Xi’an, China By Weelang Tan

Xi'an, a city in Central China, is an area created by eight surrounding rivers and streams. Xi'an has a warm climate. The region has hot, humid summers and cold, dry winters. Spring and autumn are brief in between. Xi'an receives most of its rain from August to late October.

In 1974, four farmers in Xi’an, China were digging a well for their village. They never thought that they would make a historical discovery that had long been told about throughout China’s long history.

History says that about 2,000 years ago in Ancient China, Emperor Qinshihuang, the first emperor of China, was ruler of the Chinese Kingdom. He wanted to be the emperor forever, so he had his people build life-like statues of his army, which included soldiers, horses, carriages and weapons, and bury them with him when he died so that they may defend him in the afterlife.

Today, many visitors go to Xi’an to see the terra cotta warriors. They admire how Emperor Qinshihuang was able to have such amazing statues of his army buried in his tomb.

This is one of the farmers, today, who discovered the statues. Shown here, he is autographing copies of his book. The terra cotta army as they stand on display in Xi’an.