Why China | How the "Underground Legion" of the Great Qin Empire "Recovered and Restored | Colored Painting | Rebirth

Six kings complete, four seas one. Emperor Qin Shi Huang swept through the Six Harmonies and established the first centralized and unified multi-ethnic country in Chinese history, the Qin Dynasty, in 221 BC. He adopted the "Emperors" of the Three Great Qin emperors and the "Emperors" of the Five Emperors to form the "Emperor" and proclaimed himself as the "First Emperor". In 1974, after 2000 years of glory, the glory of the Great Qin Empire was uncovered at the tip of the iceberg, but this corner alone has already shaken the world

The "Understanding China from Cultural Relics" national media tracing its roots in Shaanxi visited the Qin Shi Huang Mausoleum Museum.

On July 10th, the "Understanding China from Cultural Relics" national media tracing the roots of Shaanxi visited the Qin Shi Huang Mausoleum Museum, where we can experience the dominance and glory of the Qin Dynasty and appreciate the precious "letterhead" left by Qin Shi Huang for future generations.

In the Great Qin Dynasty, the majestic and majestic style was hidden underground

There are thousands of terracotta warriors in the Terra Cotta Warriors pit. They are the same size as human beings, and they have restored a great Qin army to defeat the enemy. The average height of the terracotta warriors is 1.8 meters, and they are the only ones made in a 1:1 ratio in the tombs of emperors throughout history. The three terracotta pits cover an area of over 20000 square meters. This vast and themed art group sculpture is unparalleled in the history of world sculpture.

The Mausoleum of Emperor Qin Shi Huang is located at the northern foot of Mount Li, with an area of approximately 56 square kilometers. More than 600 accompanying burial pits and tombs have been discovered in the mausoleum area. In the core area of the tomb of Emperor Qin Shi Huang, more than 180 burial pits have been discovered, including famous copper chariot and horse pits, rare birds and beasts pits, civil servant figurine pits, hundred opera figurine pits, stone armor pits, bronze waterfowl pits, large and small stable pits, etc.

The Terra Cotta Warriors have bright colors.

According to the Records of the Historian, the planning and design of the the Mausoleum of the First Qin Emperor was started by the Prime Minister Li Si in accordance with the practice, and the construction of the mausoleum was supervised by the senior general Zhang Han for 38 years. The Terra Cotta Warriors were made after the construction of the Qin Mausoleum and buried in the burial pit.

In March 1974, the Terra Cotta Warriors of the Qin Dynasty, which had been sleeping underground for more than 2000 years, were discovered. Nearly 8000 pottery figurines and horses can be unearthed from all three excavation pits. The pottery figurines are meticulously carved, ranging from their large body structure to their whiskers, hair, and eyebrows. After careful observation, each Terra Cotta Warriors' posture, demeanor, facial expression, face shape, beard, hand lines, and nail cover are completely different, which means that when each terra cotta was manufactured, it was molded, and the trunk and limbs were molded; Clothing, facial features, whiskers, and hair are sculpted purely by hand, carved stroke by stroke according to the true appearance of ancient people.

The majestic style of the Great Qin Dynasty.

During archaeological excavations and cultural relic restoration, experts discovered that there were still inscriptions on the legs, armor, and hidden parts of the terracotta figures, with the production time, the name of the craftsman, and their hometown written on them

From the faces of the terracotta warriors, one can determine their age and personality traits, as well as their original place of residence. These terracotta warriors include southerners, northerners, Han Chinese, and ethnic minorities. From their images, there are middle-aged people, teenagers in their teens, and elderly people with wrinkles on their foreheads, which indicates that some people have far exceeded the age of serving in the military in the state of Qin.

Why did Emperor Qin Shi Huang make so many pottery figurines to accompany him for burial? According to Tian Jing, Vice President of the Qin Shi Huang Mausoleum Museum, this stems from the ancient concept of life and death.

Tian Jing, vice president of the Qin Shihuang Mausoleum Museum, explained the protection of the Terra Cotta Warriors to the reporters.

"They believe that human death is only physical death, and the soul does not perish. Instead, they need to live in another world, so they try to bring what they had before their death to the underground world as much as possible." Tian Jing said that in the late primitive society, a cruel system of human sacrifice emerged. During the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods, with the progress of society, the system of human sacrifice was abolished. In the first year of Duke Xian of Qin, the state of Qin officially abolished the system of human sacrifice. However, they still believed that the soul could not be extinguished, and believed that even figurines made of clay, wood, stone, or metal buried underground could serve their souls. Although making so many terracotta warriors and horses was also a laborious and costly task, compared to burying living people, this was also a significant progress in society.

In addition, a large number of bronze weapons, including swords, beryllium, spears, spears, spears, halberds, spears, crossbows, and arrowheads, were also unearthed in the terracotta pit. Most weapons, after more than 2000 years, still have sharp edges.

In the new era, the cultural relics of the Great Qin Dynasty have regained their vitality

Cultural relics have gone through two thousand years, telling us the story of the Great Qin Dynasty. In order to make them more complete and healthy, cultural relic restorers have done everything possible to revive them.

From 2009 to 2022, the Qin Shi Huang Mausoleum Museum conducted the third excavation of Pit 1, covering an area of approximately 400 square meters. More than 220 pottery figurines and 16 pottery horses were cleaned up in total; 4 tanks, 2 drums, 1 drumstick, 1 paint shield, and 3 cages; Multiple weapons and bows and arrows; More than a thousand items, including chariots, horses, weapons, production tools, etc. In addition, there has been new progress in the protection of painted paintings and the restoration of cultural relics at the Mausoleum of Emperor Qin Shi Huang. Since 2010, more than 140 terracotta figurines have been restored.

Terra Cotta Warriors under repair.

At the restoration site at the west end of Pit 1, journalists can see the scene of cultural relics workers repairing and protecting the Terra Cotta Warriors.

The pottery pieces were extracted from the site, preliminarily assembled and studied in the nearby trial assembly area, and then moved to the restoration area for restoration. The bonding of pottery figurine fragments is carried out in a bottom-up order. First, bond the foot pedal, then the feet, legs, body, and finally the head. After each stage of assembly and gluing, special tools and straps must be used to fix it, waiting for the adhesive to solidify. The adhesive for bonding fragments must be reversible, which means that one day when the adhesive ages and no longer has stickiness, it can be removed at any time and replaced with another adhesive material.

Not every pottery figurine can find all the fragments. There are a large number of incomplete pottery figurines in the restoration area, with small defects and cracks naturally exposed. It has a sense of historical vicissitudes and is easy to handle again. In order to better display and display, cultural relics protection personnel will use ceramic powder and glue to supplement the missing parts based on the principle of symmetry.

"There is a small card on the pottery figurines with two lines of numbers on it. One is the collection number, and the other is the archaeological number, indicating the location and serial number of the pottery figurines when they were unearthed. In addition, after the restoration and protection of the pottery figurines are completed, the staff will record their information and restoration content, and each Terra Cotta Warriors has a thick file." Tian Jing said.

New excavations have confirmed that the hair color, skin tone, and clothing color of each pottery figurine are not exactly the same. Some hair colors are pitch black, while others are brown; The skin color of exposed parts such as face, hands, feet, etc. may be pink, flesh red, bone white, or even the iris of the eyes. There are also differences among individuals, including dark red, pitch black, light brown, and many other changes. One of the terracotta figurines had eyelashes traced with a fine pen on its lower eyelids. Most of the remaining colors of the clothing have fallen off the silt, including red, green, blue, purple, blue, etc. After comparing the color blocks, 17 different colors have been found in the pit, especially purple and blue, which are very precious.

Terra Cotta Warriors Pit 1 is full of tourists.

The reporters on the scene are very concerned about the preservation and restoration of the Terra Cotta Warriors' paintings. Has the color changed since the discovery of the terracotta warriors? Tian Jing explained that the craftsmen of the Qin Dynasty first applied a layer of raw lacquer to the burned pottery figurines, and then painted various bright colors on the raw lacquer layer. After a gap of 2200 years, when the terracotta warriors and horses were unearthed, both the pigment layer and the raw lacquer layer had aged, especially the raw lacquer layer was very sensitive to humidity. If the external environment was relatively dry after excavation, the raw lacquer layer would contract, crack, curl, and then detach from the pottery body along with the colored painting within a few minutes.

"What is gratifying now is that breakthrough progress has been made in the protection technology of ceramic cultural relics' painted paintings. We have used a combination of anti wrinkle and reinforcement agents to protect the remaining painted layers of terracotta figurines, and then wrapped them with cling film. After the painted layer stabilizes, we can remove the cling film and the paintings can be preserved," said Tian Jing.

Xie Qing, a reporter from Future.com, said, "This time I came to the Terra Cotta Warriors and learned more about the details of the restoration of the Terra Cotta Warriors, which made me feel that the restoration of the Terra Cotta Warriors requires patience and care, and the cultural relics restorers are really admirable. They use new technologies and new processes, which not only let the cultural values and technological processes of the Terra Cotta Warriors be well inherited, but also promote the traditional culture. I will also add stories about the restoration of cultural relics in the report, so that more people can understand the superb level of the restoration of the cultural relics restorers in the the Mausoleum of the First Qin Emperor Museum."