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Terracotta Warriors

Mausoleum of the First Qin Emperor (259 B.C.-210 B.C.) is located at the northern foot of Lishan Hill, 30 km east to Xian city. In the south is Lishan Hill, which is the ocean of mountain ranges and covered with dense forests; in the north it borders River Wei, which zigzags all the way like a snake until its end. The tall imperial mausoleum embraced in the grand mountains was m unity with Mount. Li, which produces a beautiful and unique landscape.

The construction of the mausoleum started in the year when Emperor Qin ascended the throne. It involved 800,000 laborers and it took 38 years to be completed. In contrast, building the Pyramids in Egypt took 30 years. Mausoleum of the First Qin Emperor, the largest imperial mausoleum in the Chinese history, is a combination of ancient Chinese industry and great wisdom and a collection of Chinese history and culture. It is renowned to the whole world for its magnitude of scale and abundance in treasure. In 1961, Mausoleum of the First Qin Emperor was listed as key national cultural relic under state protection, and in 1987 it entered the list of world cultural heritage sites in 1987, thus it became the common wealth of all the human beings.

Behind Pit Number One is a 360-degree cinema. Here visitors can stand in a circular theatre and watch a dramatisation of scenes from Qin Shihuangdi's conquering of the six independent states, the construction of his mausoleum, the making of the terra cotta figures and their eventual destruction by soldiers of the rebel general Xiang Yu. It is very useful to see this before entering the museum itself as it gives a better understanding of what is on display.

In some places, village heads are taking the lead. The head of one village in Huayin County, Shaanxi, sent villagers on a special mission to Xi'an, Shanxi and Henan provinces to contact purchasers while simultaneously assuming personal command of the excavations. From 1996 to 1998, villagers dug up more than 40 ancient tombs, including one of the Western Zhou, 18 of the Eastern Zhou, three of the Warring States Period and more than 10 belonging to the Han. The northern highlands at Xianyang is thick with tomb groups belonging to the Warring States Period and the Han dynasty. At one time, almost every village carried out ancient tomb excavations. Every morning newly dug holes appeared around villages. In 2000, the discovery of Han dynasty tombs in Jingbian county, northern Shaanxi, became a magnet for group upon group of excavators. They worked openly and without conscience until a police officer fired a warning shot. Only then did they leave grudgingly.

From the early 1900s to 1949, when warlords battled constantly and the Chinese nation was in political turmoil, there was ample scope to plunder cultural relics. Much of the booty from Shaanxi was taken to Beijing and added to private collections, or sold and exported. The largest and most valuable bronze from Shaanxi is the Guo Ji Zi Bai Pan unearthed at Guochuansi, in Baoji. The bronze tray weighs 213.3 kilograms with 111 characters inscribed on it. :Fortunately, this national treasure is now in the collection of the National Museum of China in Beijing. Epigraph experts praise the tripod, used as cooking vessel (Maogong Ding), as the greatest treasure-unearthed in Shaanxi during the Qing dynasty-with 499 characters inscribed in 32 lines. It has the most characters of any bronze discovered in China. In the early period of the 1910s, this bronze vessel was once left as a pledge at the Daosheng Bank run by Russians in Tianjin. Just prior to it being purchased by foreign interests and exported, the Palace Museum in Beijing redeemed it. However, the Nationalist Party took it to Taiwan just prior to 1949.