Emperor Qin Shi Huang Di’s Mausoleum

Qin Shi Huang (or Shi Huangdi) was the First Emperor of a unified China, who ruled from 246 BCE to 210 BCE. In his 35-year reign, he managed to create magnificent and enormous construction projects. He also caused both incredible cultural and intellectual growth, and much destruction within China.

From an ancient unknown writer, we have learnt that the labourers made the tomb of bronze, with its floor being a map of China and rivers of mercury, which, as long as they flowed, Qin would live forever in his underground world. The workers continued construction on the tomb until the emperor’s death in 209BC. The mound was a scale model of the palace, the empire and the world. The labourers installed automatically triggered weapons in the mausoleum to safeguard the treasures and ward off tomb robbers. Most of the workmen who were working on the tomb when the Emperor died were buried alive with Qin to serve him in the afterlife. The warriors were constructed by the 700, 000 employed workers of Qin Shi Huangdi to prepare him for his afterlife journey.

Qin Shi Huang was born in 259 BC and eventually ascended to the throne of the kingdom of Qin at the age of 21 creating a war and declaring himself China’s first emperor (Source 1). Although he did bring unification to China, Qin Shi Huang was a forbidding and brutal dictator who abused his power and dishonoured his people and country. This assignment will clearly highlight the negative aspects of Qin Shi Huang, including: the banning of Confucius, how he enforced of unnecessarily strict laws and how his arrogance and ignorance eventually took over.

Qin Shi Huangdi (Born 259 BCE), initially named Ying Zheng, was the founder of the Qin dynasty, and the first emperor of a unified China. He took the throne of the state of Qin at the juvenile age of 13 years old (246 BCE) after his father passed away. He proceeded to play a vital role in national-decision making, and later prevailed over 6 rival states. Under his rule, Qin’s most prominent impact was unifying China, including building projects, new forms of government control, and standardisation. He will always be deemed for becoming the first emperor of China, and for his prevalent efforts in unifying the country. Despite thwarting two assassination attempts, and two of his own advisers attempting to overthrow him, he passed away due to

To clarify, it was a tough time period for the Chinese workers and soldiers. In Document F, “ If we die, unburies, in the wilds, our corpses will feed the crows.” Because of the many rules and restrictions they had while building Qin, or the leader, probably didn’t care about the passed on people’s bodies so he left it there while everyone kept building and pretended nothing was wrong. From Document E, “...eight months of winter, temperatures reached 20- to 30- below zero, fahrenheit.” They had to keep working no matter what, on the wall, even if it was snowing, raining, and you’re getting frostbite. (Documents E & F) For the chinese workers and soldiers, it was a very hard time period for them to build the wall due to the harsh weather and working

Qin Shi Huang had a large impact on China’s culture. He helped implement canals and roads for easier travel. He started the imperial road system and created fast roads. He was extremely influential in China’s government. Qin declared that the round coins with a square-shaped hole in the center will be the currency of China. He named it the bang liang coin. The first emperor was able to create a measuring

This immensely massive army served two important roles given by Qin Shi Huangdi: to protect his tomb after death and to follow him into the afterlife. The mighty army consisted of approximately 8,000 soldiers, 130 chariots, and 520 horses, but what was even more astonishing was that each soldier was individually unique. Everything was made from a clay-based unglazed ceramic (Check someone’s notes for that). It was discovered in 1974 by two farmers attempting to build a well when they accidently stumbled into the tomb of Qin Shi Huangdi, accompanied by the great Terracotta Army. Ever since the discovery, it has gained the attention of millions of people, from China’s citizens to tourist to scholars, and provided us with more information about

The archeological diggers revealed a close approximate of 200 coexisting pits containing thousands of life size terra cotta soldiers, terra cotta horses and bronze chariots and weapons. Scientists, archeologist and historians calls this “a world renowned discovery”, together with burial tombs and architectural remains with a staggering comprehensive number of over 600 sculptures and other treasures within the mausoleum of the property area of 56.25 square kilometers. The Terracotta Army or the "Terracotta Warriors and Horses" is an assembled collection of terracotta sculptures depicting the armies of Emperor Qin Shi Huang, the first Emperor of China. The small figures are all different and unique; with their horses, chariots and weapons, they are masterpieces of realism. It is a form of funerary art buried with the emperor in 210–209 BCE with the Emperor’s sole purpose as to protect him in the afterlife. The layout of the mausoleum is constructed on the Qin capital Xianyang, divided upon the central and outer lying cities. The circumference of the central city is 2.5 kilometer and the outer cities ranging to 6.3 kilometer. The tomb is located in the southwest of the central city and faces the raising east sun. The main tomb chamber housing the coffin and burial artifacts is the core of the architectural compartment of the mausoleum. According to the historian Sima Qian (c. 145-95 BCE), workers from every province of the Empire exerted extensive amount of man hours in the tomb’s preparation near the death of the Emperor in 210 BCE, in order to construct a massive subterranean like city underneath the gigantic mountain

This world civilization class has been very mentally demanding, yet it has also enabled me to evolve into a better student and acquire more knowledge regarding the origin of current societal conditions. One of the most interesting sections of the course material was about the development of Ancient China and how they dealt with the afterlife. The interactive websites you provided for us presented me with very intriguing facts about their burial process. It was one of the many instances where I was submerged in the diverse cultures from various civilizations, and it is interesting to compare and contrast how societies have developed overtime with new innovations. Overall, learning about the taboo aspects of different regions was very surprising

Around three-hundred thousand soldiers from the Qin Dynasty were sent to guard and build this wall. In 221 BCE, Qin conquered towns and state, which he soon created a large kingdom with. He died about eleven years after he made this big kingdom. Before his death, he had a chance to create roads, a palace, and his artists created the terra cotta army. This army had about eight thousand real-life soldiers. His biggest project was the Great Wall of China. This was made in 206 BC, because Qin’s successors were overthrown by the Han Dynasty, who ruled for four hundred years. The Han dynasty was concerned about border security, so the Qin and Han dynasty joined forces to build a wall. This wall, the Great Wall of China, was built to keep the Xiongnu

In 1974 Chinese farmers in Lintong District, Xi 'an, of the Shaanxi province were digging for a well when they unearthed fragments of clay figures and made one of the most important discoveries in art history to date. Archaeologists were notified of the discovery and they began excavating the area for more clues as to what was buried. The clay army of China’s first emperor, Qin Shi Huang, was found buried in pits near the emperor’s underground tomb, over 8,000 warriors dated to approximately the late third century BCE. The massive life sized army was once in full color and complete with weapons such as swords and bows. Researchers have studied the various techniques and new technology that was introduced to create the fine detail and unique features of each figure. Art historians have speculated possible influences from other cultures such as Greek and Hellenistic that helped shape the style of the figures. The terracotta warriors have been excavated from four main pits, other clay figures including chariots, horses, and performers have been discovered around the emperor’s tomb. The clay army is a part of a much larger necropolis consisting of several halls, stables, and an imperial park around the tomb mound. Qin Shi Huang’s tomb hasn’t been excavated out of fear of destroying artifacts buried within by exposing them.

We all use organic dyes which brighten of lives for a few years and then fade away. Han purple is a 2800 year old pigment, artificially prepared by the Chinese (Link 6-a), which still retains its charm. This pigment was found on the glass-beads worn by the rich and the famous, ceramic utensils, wall paintings and on the statues of famous Terracotta Warriors. It was used most extensively during Han’s Dynasty, hence the name.

In Ancient China a heavy emphasis was placed on the proper treatment of the dead and there are several detailed burial practices that define the death culture. In Ancient China people believed that life did not end in death, and that the dead would go into the afterlife doing the same things they did while alive. Because of this belief, tombs were outfitted in all the necessities that the dead would need for the afterlife. Objects placed in the tombs could range from personal objects to weapons. Flutes and other instruments were placed in tombs for the dead to play music as a form of entertainment. Weapons were exquisitely decorated and served more of a symbolic display of power rather than for function. Another part of ancient Chinese death

The burial monument when built will look like the plan I created and a structure of the grave good would be put at every corner of the monument to show the symbolism between the deceased and the grave good.

It was found with 8000 soldiers made of terracotta and horses and chariots to ‘Protect’ the king in his past life. qin shi huang is a well known person and people have been looking fro this tomb. It had 520 horses and 150 chariots. I believe that he was assinatited and then wanted a way to live forever so he sent men out to sea to look for a land where people don't die realising that he might not actually live forever, he made his workers and many many other people build a massive elaborate tomb for him. The building started being built when he was 13 and he died when he was 49 and his tomb took 700,000 work on his tomb. The warriors stand guard in three pits (a fourth was found to be empty) that cover five and a half acres and are sixteen to 24 feet