Many important men have stepped onto the Chinese historical stage. But Qin Shi Huangdi (秦始皇帝) certainly has been one of the most important. Being the first one to unite and to rule China his name literally has the same meaning: Qin (秦), the first emperor (shi 始 = the first; huangdi 皇帝 = emperor). He was born as the son of king Zhuangxiang (the king of the Qin) and one of his concubines. Under Qin Shihuang’s rule, the different feudal states were for the first time unified to one country, setting the start of imperial China as it exists today. Following the emperors name ‘Qin’, the country became known as ‘China’ in the outside world.
In order to extend power and improve control over his enormous empire, Qin Shihuang introduced reforms, which influence China and its bureaucracy to the present day the emperor created a central, aristocratic system by organizing the country in 36 prefectures which were further divided into several lower administrative levels. For the ultimate goal of establishing one state and having control of every spot in his newly founded realm he gave orders to massively upgrade the infrastructure by building roads and waterways. Moreover, he unified script and currency and set standards for weights and measures. Furthermore, he connected already existing parts of the Great Wall in order to be able to defend the country against nomadic people trying to conquer new territory. By doing so, Qin Shihuang created another famous landmark of China.
Nevertheless, the construction of his own mausoleum must be considered as his most ambitious task. It is said to be the most expensive project in the entire history of China and historians estimate the expense for the whole necropolis is equal to one third of the national budget at that time. Shortly after accession to the throne in 246 B.C. – the emperor who was only 13 years old – Qin Shihuang initiated the planning of his sepulchre. Nowadays it is estimated that the construction of the mausoleum required around 38 years and had up to 700’000 simultaneously operating workers. Besides the construction of his huge and complex necropolis every terracotta warrior’s facial features were designed individually making each figure unique. Qin Shihuang Di, the emperor who unified China for the first time, literally took his army into his grave.
According to Chinese belief, life continues after death. Even today, people burn fake money and handcrafted, imitated luxury goods for dead dependants to provide them with a comfortable afterlife. More than 2200 years ago, Qin Shihuang prepared his whole army in order to protect him from potential enemies in the hereafter. In order to keep the secret of what is hidden inside, many tomb builders and construction workers were buried alive in the mausoleum.
At the age of 49 - after only 12 years of regency - Qin Shihuang died while undertaking an inspection tour in the countryside. His second-born son Qin Er Shi took over his rule, but could not manage to continue the heritage of his father. Rioting peasants who were heavily exploited during the reign of the first emperor started to rebel against the autocratic and reckless ruling style of their new country. In the course of these riots peasants also pillaged Qin Shihuang’s mausoleum and set fire to it. Finally, the timber framework of the construction collapsed and the crashing wells destroyed most of the warriors, which made the necropolis fall into oblivion. The assassination of Qin Er Shi in 206 B.C. marked the end of the Qin dynasty (221- 207 B.C.). Qin Er Shi could not support the wish of his father, that the Qin rule China for 10’000 generations.

The year 1974 became a very important one for the city of Xi’an. It was in March, when local farmers of the neighbour town Lintong were drilling a well in search of water. Many large pottery fragments were the initial hints for one of China’s most important cultural heritages. First analysis of the warriors, which were mostly broken into pieces revealed the age and significance of these findings. At first  information about this interesting excavation was kept secret.. But when the discovery of these more than 2000 years old warriors finally became public, the excitement about the terracotta army was tremendous all over the world. After being buried for 2200 years the first warriors of Qin Shihuang Di’s army saw daylight again.Today, around 8000 life-sized terracotta warriors have been excavated. No doubt, thousands of statues still remain to be unearthed at this archaeological site.
According to ancient warfare strategies all warriors are placed around the actual tomb. The mausoleum is definitely  one of the most important archaeological findings of the 20th century and is - together with the Great Wall - considered  as the most important cultural heritages of China. In 1987, the UNESCO acknowledged Qin Shihuang’s terracotta army as world cultural heritage. , The terracotta warriors of Qin Shihuangs mausoleum are something not to be missed when visiting China.

The museum of the terracotta army in Xi’an covers a total area of 20 hectares and contains three pits that show the remains of the restored warriors. Today, around 8000 figures have been unearthed which consist of soldiers, cavalry, chariots and original weapons. Nowadays, the army is positioned in the same way as it was already in the beginning and is, therefore, providing the opportunity of giving an impression of ancient battle formations and tactics.In the main pit (pit 1) the warriors are placed in a fighting position. At the eastern part of the pit three rows of archers (204 in total) represent the vanguards. The following main body of the army consists of approximately 6’000 armoured and non-armoured warriors and 30 chariots, each drawn by 4 horses. One row of archers around the main troop facing south, north and west guards the sides and the rear of the army. The actual number which makes up the whole army can only be estimated since the pit is not fully unearthed. Pit 2 houses over 1’300 warriors including infantry, cavalry and chariots. Pit 3, which is the smallest site, was discovered in 1976 and contains only 68 warriors and 1 chariot. Nevertheless, archaeologists see this area as the command centre, because the unearthed figures held special weapons, owned better armour and were well protected by the armies of the two other pits.