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The Terracotta Army is thousands of life-sized clay soldiers buried around 210 BC to guard the tomb of China's first emperor. They were assembled from moulded parts, then finished by hand so that no two figures look quite the same.

Xi'an, China, c. 210 BC

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The story behind the card

The army was made for Qin Shi Huang, who united China's warring states and ruled as its first emperor from 221 BC until his death in 210 BC. Work on his tomb began in 246 BC, when he became king of Qin at the age of thirteen. Farmers digging a well near Xi'an found the first fragments on 29 March 1974. The three main pits are thought to hold more than 8,000 soldiers, 130 chariots with 520 horses and 150 cavalry horses, and most figures are still in the ground. Researchers have identified about ten basic face shapes; craftsmen then added clay to give each soldier his own features. The figures were once brightly painted, but in the dry air the lacquer beneath the paint can curl within 15 seconds and flake off in about four minutes.

Türkçe oku
Terracotta Ordusu, pişmiş kilden yapılmış, insan boyunda binlerce askerden oluşur. Askerler, Çin'in ilk imparatorunun mezarını korusun diye MÖ 210 dolaylarında toprağa gömüldü. Kalıplanmış parçalardan birleştirildiler, ardından elle öyle işlendiler ki hiçbiri ötekine tıpatıp benzemez.
Xi'an, Çin, yaklaşık MÖ 210

Ordu, savaşan krallıkları birleştirip Çin'in ilk imparatoru olan ve MÖ 221'den MÖ 210'daki ölümüne kadar hüküm süren Qin Shi Huang için yapıldı. Mezarının inşasına, 13 yaşında Qin kralı olduğu MÖ 246'da başlandı. İlk parçaları 29 Mart 1974'te Xi'an yakınlarında kuyu kazan köylüler buldu. Üç ana çukurda 8.000'i aşkın asker, 520 atın çektiği 130 savaş arabası ve 150 süvari atı bulunduğu tahmin ediliyor; figürlerin çoğu hâlâ toprağın altında. Araştırmacılar yaklaşık on temel yüz kalıbı belirledi; ustalar bunların üstüne kil ekleyerek her askere kendi yüzünü verdi. Figürler bir zamanlar rengârenk boyalıydı, ama kuru havada boyanın altındaki vernik 15 saniyede kıvrılıp dört dakika içinde dökülebiliyor.

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Background reading: Terracotta Army
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