China News Service, Beijing, February 19th, title: Terracotta Warriors have discovered highlights of Chinese archaeology in the past half century
China News Agency reporter Ma Haiyan
"You must go to Xi'an when you come to China, and you must visit the Terracotta Warriors and Horses when you come to Xi'an." The Terracotta Warriors and Horses in the Mausoleum of Emperor Qin Shihuang have been reappeared for nearly half a century. They have become a business card of China, and even a beautiful business card of the ancient city of Xi'an. Great highlight.
Data map: The Terracotta Warriors and Horses Museum in Xi'an, Shaanxi.
Image source: Visual China
The "accidental" discovery of "national treasure"
The Terracotta Warriors and Horses of the Qin Dynasty were discovered by chance when a local farmer was drilling a well on March 29, 1974.
In May of this year, reporter Lin Anwen returned to Lintong, Shaanxi from Beijing to visit relatives.
While chatting with the wife who worked at the Cultural Center of Lintong County, she mentioned that pottery figurines were unearthed near the Mausoleum of Emperor Qin Shi Huang.
As a reporter with a deep understanding of Xi'an history and culture, Lin Anwen is deeply curious about this.
The next day, Lin Anwen came to the studio of local archaeologist Zhao Kangmin who was repairing the pottery figurines.
Zhao Kangmin is repairing a pottery figurine with many pottery pieces stacked on the ground.
Another pottery figurine, which has been roughly restored, stood there. It was tall and the size of a human being. It was masculine and high-spirited. Lin An, who was familiar with the history books, judged it to be the image of a soldier in the Qin Dynasty at a glance and was a rare "national treasure." .
Lin Anwen stayed at home for more than a month. After his vacation was over, he returned to Beijing and wrote the report "A Group of Qin Dynasty Warrior Pottery Figurines Unearthed from the Mausoleum of Qin Shihuang".
According to the report, these pottery figurines were dressed in military uniforms and held weapons in their hands. They were modeled after the true image of soldiers in the Qin Dynasty.
Pottery figurines have been unearthed around the Mausoleum of Emperor Qin Shihuang before, but they are all small kneeling figurines. This is the first time that they have been discovered like this kind of real people.
The most precious thing is that this is a group of warriors.
The discovery of these warrior pottery figures is of great value for evaluating Qin Shihuang and studying the politics, economy, and military of the Qin Dynasty.
In the report, Lin Anwen also pointed out that the Mausoleum of Emperor Qin Shihuang is a national key cultural relic protection unit, but it has not been properly protected.
The production team digs pits in the cemetery at will to open up wasteland for farming.
Some of the metal products in the unearthed cultural relics were destroyed as scrap copper and rotten iron, and some stone and ceramic objects were thrown away.
This is the first report on the terracotta warriors and horses. It introduces the unearthed situation of the Qin warriors and its significance. It clearly points out that it is part of the Mausoleum of Emperor Qin Shi Huang. It also points out that the ruins and relics unearthed in the Mausoleum of Emperor Qin Shi Huang have not been properly protected.
The high-level leaders of the central government attached great importance to it. Li Xiannian, the then Vice Premier of the State Council, immediately issued instructions to the State Administration of Cultural Heritage to discuss with the Shaanxi Provincial Party Committee and quickly take measures to properly protect this key cultural relic.
A single stone stirred up waves and caused a wave of waves, ushering in a new chapter in Chinese archaeological history.
The largest underground military museum
In early August 1975, Yuan Zhongyi, the leader of the Qin warriors archaeological team, wrote a report on the excavation of the Qin warriors and sent it to the State Administration of Cultural Heritage.
Wang Yeqiu, then director of the State Administration of Cultural Heritage, was in Beidaihe. He was very happy to see the report and was thinking about how to protect these precious cultural relics.
One day, Wang Yeqiu ran into Marshal Nie Rongzhen, the vice premier of the State Council who was in charge of the national science and technology work, on the beach.
The two sat down to chat and talked about the excavation of the Terracotta Warriors.
Wang Yeqiu said that according to the detection results, this is a large pottery pit, more than 200 meters long from east to west, and more than 60 meters wide from north to south. There are thousands of pottery figurines and horses. It is a majestic underground army formation!
After hearing this, Nie Shuai said with emotion: "It's incredible! Such a big underground army formation, if only a museum can be built."
Wang Yeqiu quickly took over: "I also have this idea, but considering the country's economic difficulties, I didn't dare to raise it."
Nie Shuai pondered for a moment, and said: "The country is in difficulties, but we still have to do what needs to be done. You should give a report to the State Council and let everyone discuss it!"
Wang Yeqiu returned to Beijing the next day and found two deputy prime ministers, Gu Mu and Yu Qiuli, and talked about his ideas with Marshal Nie Rongzhen, and proposed to build a museum on the site of the Qin Warrior Pit.
Both deputy prime ministers agreed.
The central government attaches great importance to it and concentrates its efforts on major issues.
At the end of September 1979, the grand hall of Terracotta Warriors and Horses Pit No. 1 was completed, and Marshal Ye Jianying inscribed the name of the museum.
The exterior of the museum is arched with no columns inside. The hall is 204.5 meters long from east to west and 72.5 meters wide from north to south, covering an area of more than 16,000 square meters.
On October 1, on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the founding of New China, the Terracotta Warriors and Horses Museum of Qin Shihuang was officially opened to the public.
Walking into the hall, people were all impressed by the magnificence of the terracotta warriors and the superb craftsmanship.
Standing on a high place for a bird’s eye view, the terracotta warriors and horses warriors in the pit are alternately arranged in rows and columns, very neatly arranged into a huge rectangular army formation, vividly reproducing the Qin army’s millions of soldiers and thousands of chariots. The magnificent momentum vividly shows the mighty power and heroic spirit of the Chinese nation.
This is unique in the history of sculpture at home and abroad.
Business card for foreign exchange
The discovery of the Terracotta Warriors and Horses of the Qin Dynasty quickly attracted the attention of the world. The President of the United States, the Queen of England, the Prime Minister of Japan and the Prime Minister of France came to visit.
The first foreign leader to visit was Lee Kuan Yew, then Prime Minister of Singapore.
In early 1976, Lee Kuan Yew visited Xi'an and learned that the Terracotta Warriors were unearthed. He heard that they were the size of a human being. He was unbelievable, so he had to take a look.
On May 15, 1976, Lee Kuan Yew came to the excavation site of the Qin Warriors Pit.
He went down to the pit of the figurines, watched carefully, and stood in front of a pottery figurine, comparing each other.
Lee Kuan Yew is tall and tall, but the Terracotta Warriors are a little taller than him.
Seeing these pottery figurines and horses, Lee Kuan Yew couldn't help but exclaimed: "This is a miracle of the world! This is the pride of the nation! I am a Chinese, and I have my share."
On September 1, 1978, Chirac, then Mayor of Paris and later President of France, visited the Terracotta Warriors and said: “There are seven wonders in the world. The discovery of the Terracotta Warriors can be said to be eight wonders. It doesn’t count if you don’t look at the pyramids. I have actually been to Egypt without seeing the Terracotta Warriors." Terracotta Warriors and Horses are called "the eighth wonder of the world". From this, its discovery is recognized as "the greatest archaeological discovery of the 20th century."
On November 8, 1991, Chirac came to visit again.
This time he not only carefully visited Pit No. 1 of the Qin Warriors, but also visited Pit No. 3 and the bronze carriages of Qin Mausoleum.
After the visit, he wrote in the guestbook: "This visit to the Terracotta Warriors and Horses once again confirmed the eighth wonder of the world's cultural heritage. Xi'an, through its long history, culture and strength, is completely comparable to Athens, Rome, and Babylon."
In August 1982, the terracotta warriors and horses went to Australia for exhibition.
This is the first time that the terracotta warriors and horses have "goed abroad" alone, and it has become a good story in cultural exchanges between China and foreign countries.
In 1987, UNESCO included the Mausoleum of the First Emperor of Qin and the Terracotta Warriors and Horses in the World Heritage List.
Archaeology is reborn
In a blink of an eye, nearly half a century has passed since the Qin Terracotta Warriors and Horses reappeared, and earth-shaking changes have already taken place around the Qin Warriors.
From the earliest open-pit mining to later scientific excavations, from heavy excavation to heavy protection.
With the passage of time, the significance of Qin terracotta warriors and horses to Chinese civilization has become more and more prominent, and their excavations have also accumulated valuable experience for subsequent archaeological practices.
The reason why the Terracotta Warriors and Horses of Qin Shihuang are today, apart from the attention of many central leaders and the hard work of archaeologists, Lin Anwen said that there is another major and essential factor-the international status of the People's Republic of China.
Just imagine, wasn't the discovery of Mogao Grottoes in Dunhuang, Gansu also a great discovery in the 19th century?
But in the semi-colonial and semi-feudal old China, this art treasure house was ruined and a large number of national treasures were lost abroad.
After the founding of the People's Republic of China, especially since the reform and opening up, tens of millions of friends from the five continents have flocked to it, which has set off a wave of "Qin warriors" worldwide.
After Lin Anwen retired from the post of vice president of China News Agency, he still cared about the archaeological research of Qin's terracotta warriors and horses, was fascinated by Qin history, and studied Qin seal.
He saw the TV series "Miyue Biography" wantonly joking about tampering with history, and actually used the terracotta warriors as the funeral of Miyue (Queen Dowager Qin Xuan), and solemnly pointed out that this is a "randomly fabricated and absurd TV series."
He emphasized that the conclusion that the terracotta warriors and horses were the "one emperor of the ages" Qin Shihuang was buried after arduous excavations, and on the basis of obtaining a large amount of archaeological evidence, the conclusion that archaeologists have made various arguments.
This is a scientific conclusion generally recognized by the archaeological, historical, and natural science circles, and it is beyond doubt.
(Finish)