Infantry Pit and Terracotta Warriors during the Qin Empire

Infantry Pit and Terracotta Warriors during the Qin Empire
Name:
Course name:
Professor’s name:
Student e-mail:
Date:


Infantry Pit, Qin dynasty, ca. 210 BCE.Earthenware, life-size.Warrior Pit 1, tomb complex of Qin Shihuangdi, Lintong, Shaanxi province. P. 139
In the infantry pit, thousands of terracotta army warriors guard the tomb of Qin Shihuangdi or Qin Shi Huang, and Shihuangdi is one of the most important rulers in the history of China. The 3rd century BC infantry pit shows soldiers who are motionless and silent and gives the impression that they can start to walk at anytime. Some of the soldiers have weapons, and they are placed in different positions within the infantry pit, which shows their different status and ranks. According to tradition when emperors were buried with their soldiers and servants who worked for them in their lifetime they still had the power to command them in the afterlife. The terracotta warriors protect their emperor in the pit and are one of the archaeological discoveries that provide clues on Chinese history during the Qin dynasty in imperial China.
Qin Shihuangdi, was the first emperor of China under unification of that country while also standardizing the language, currency, weights and measures as well as being responsible for the Great Wall of China project (Neave, Blanchard and Sardar 138). The site of the tomb was chosen because of its good geometry and is located in Lintong, Shaanxi province (Neave, Blanchard and Sardar 138). Besides the clay earthenware warriors, there were weapons, horses, and chariots in Qin Shihuangdi’s tomb. Emperor Qin Shihuangdi abolished the states and formed a strong central government, and instituted an efficient administration and bureaucratic state where the feudal aristocracy less powerful than before. Shihuangdi began the construction of the Great Wall protect China from attacks by barbarians as the Chinese were attacked by nomadic tribes and Huns and different tribes from the north. The underground infantry pit shows that the emperor was powerful and as such was worthy the protection.
The infantry pit and terracotta soldiers wearing loincloths show a distinctive aspect of the Qin dynasty where the emperor organized the warriors and exercised political control. The infantry pit found underground and the thousands of soldiers show that there was likely a large force of soldiers, who were crucial to keeping the state well protected and administered.In the Qin institutional system, appointed officials were in administrative positions and the emperor was intent on controlling the Qin State (Li et al, 128). In ancient China, there was a need to offer adequate protection against warring tribes and the sculptures reflect the belief that the soldiers would protect the emperor even in the afterlife.
There are approximately 7,000 terracotta soldiers, found at the infantry pit, and the sculptures of men unearthed highlight that the people having unified China probably revered the emperor. Each of these statues reproduces in detail from the various facial features, hairstyle, mustache, gestures and possibly ethnic attributes and some with their weapons.While the soldiersare modeled individually, the general impression i...