Catch one of China’s great archaeological discoveries at the National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne.
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THE CHINESE EMPEROR BEHIND THE TERRACOTTA WARRIORS Young emperor Ying Zheng took the Aside from his ferocious character, throne in 246 BC. at the age of 13. Emperor Qin was known for many things By 221B.C., he unified collection he introduced new imperial currency of warring kingdoms and renamed and standardised weights and measures. himself Qin Shi Huangdi the First He ordered for the Chinese writing to be Emperor of Qin. made uniformed, interlinked the states
with canals and roads, and is credited for building the first version of the Great Wall.
He relocated influential families from their home provinces to the Shaanxi capital where he could keep close eye on them to ensure that his ruling was followed and no one would be out of line. If they did, they would suffer the consequences, like the 460 scholars who were rounded up and executed for criticising the government.
The emperor was also obsessed with the idea of immortality. Hence his most stunning project the Terracotta Warriors, which started shortly after he took the throne.
Today, the warriors and other statues serve as symbol of the scale of the emperor’s reign and his influence over the vast land of China.
hihuang’s terracotl fatriors, Pit Promotion and Emperoi Shihuang’s Mausoleum
NATION OF VICTOR! of immortality’ of Victoria now till 13
the Imperial Army as well hal
THE WARRIORS hallof the Terracotta warrioryou will see Armoured neral, the highest ranking the warriors the exhibition. Other you’ll see include range of military different ranks and
Each warrior consist: of seven
—aplinth, feet, torst rms, hands head. The: appearance throughthe use of different moulds and by manipulating the of fingers and arms while the clay ft. Workersof these Terrac were each held personally onsible the quality of the work. They had to nameson parts they made and were if the part did not meet certain standards.
is an of all warriors men in
differentpart and. for punished
While they Terracotta Their face: hair and
first brightly coloured. th dark brown, elicately
THE HORSES AND THE CHARIOTS Horses were important for work and warfare
in ancient China. The the Gallery’s
of human and animal
crifice where their religious ceremonies al offering gods that sometimes required the slaughterof animals.
With this in mind, tions at the Terrac’ nausoleum uncc
CAI GUO-QIANG: THE TRANSIENT LANDSCAPE Presented in parallel with the Terracotta Warriors exhibition at the Gallery is contemporary artist Cai Guo-Qiang’s new artwork inspired by his home country’s culture and philosophical traditions.
The exhibitions include must-notmiss monumental installation of 10,000 suspended porcelain birds spiralling over visitors’ heads at the Gallery. The birds create three-dimensional impression of calligraphic drawing of the sacred Mount Li, the site of the ancient tomb of first emperor and his warriors.
Source: MUHIBAH, the Royal Brunei Airlines in-flight magazine, 2019 Sep-Oct, pages 35-40. Text recovered from the scanned page by OCR and lightly corrected; spelling may differ from the printed edition.
