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TERRACOTTA TREASURES
CHARLOTTE SHALGOSKY VISITS CHINA’S FIRST UNDERGROUND MUSEUM IN SHAANXI, WHICH DISPLAYS A TREASURE TROVE OF 2,000-YEAR-OLD TERRACOTTA ARTWORKS
THE BUTTER-COLOURED loess of China’s Shaanxi province hides many secrets. For millennia, this dusty region was effectively China’s last frontier: the Gobi Desert to the north and west, and the empty Qinghai Plateau to the south-west. While this far-flung corner of the Chinese hinterland might seem like a wilderness, a few metres under its yellow crust lay untold riches.
Regarded by many as the cradle of Chinese civilisation, Shaanxi province is to the Chinese archaeologists what the Egyptian pyramids are to western historians. According to Dr Joseph Ting of Hong Kong’s Museum of History, Shaanxi boasts more archaeological discoveries than any other part of China. Many of these were stumbled upon purely by chance.
PIECES OF THE PAST
More than a decade ago, a workman involved in the new airport highway construction project near the rural township of Xianyang unearthed a few shards of terracotta. Little did anyone realise that these few pieces of clay would belong to a giant jigsaw puzzle, bringing to light one of China’s greatest archaeological finds in recent years. Around the site, archaeologists uncovered treasures from an imperial burial mound that would become known as Hanyang Ling, the final resting place of Emperor Han Jingdi, who had governed the nation from Chang’an (today’s Xi’an) from 206BC to 221AD.
Today, the area around Xianyang is predominantly rural and seemingly untouched by the rampant modernisation seen elsewhere in China. Driving along the same highway that led to the discovery of Hanyang Ling, one passes villages, fruit orchards and wheat fields, which are punctuated by scores of low, grassy hills. These are not some peculiar geological formation, but manmade mausoleums belonging to past Chinese rulers. They have actually existed for centuries, but respect – as much as deep-rooted superstitions of curses and bad spirits – have kept most people away.
Each burial mound was built as a fortified earth pyramid and positioned according to strict geomantic laws of feng shui; the taller the hill, the greater the status of the deceased.
Near the Hanyang Ling tomb, archaeologists found an important stone compass known as the Pelorus Rock, which an imperial geomancer would have used to line up the tomb sites due north to comply with Confucian beliefs.
When the very first excavations had started around Xianyang, archaeologists came across dozens of troughs in rows up to four metres deep, all radiating outwards from the main tumulus. The pits contained many remarkable artefacts, but the most amazing discovery was hundreds of metre-tall terracotta soldier battalions.
When unearthed, many of these figures appeared naked. Carefully stitched costumes had rotted away and they had empty arm sockets where their wooden arms should have been. The army lay next to troupes of tiny clay animals, including horses, sheep, goats, wolves and poultry. Excavations in nearby trenches unearthed sumptuous bronze and jade pieces, model chariots, elegant terracotta pots and an arsenal of real weaponry.
The artefacts were all part of an immense collection of items created by artisans to accompany the deceased into the afterlife. Among the dust, the skeletons of two enormous, unidentifiable animals harnessed to a cart and entombed for over 2,000 years were also unearthed.
Above ground, life in Shaanxi remains unchanged. Next to the underground museum exit, village women sit and harvest wheat by hand, just as their ancestors have done for centuries. Below the surface, visitors take a journey back in time.
The museum complex is accessed through a huge, virtually unlit passage. Walking into the dim entrance tunnel evokes a wondrous sense of discovery. Earthy smells seep into the nostrils, then, out of the gloom, rows of deep trenches appear behind glass walls, bathed in golden light. The artefacts – some partially submerged in clay, others fully excavated – stand in endless rows, or are piled on earthen mounds like fallen skittles.
The sheer scale is breathtaking, although it’s only a tiny percentage of the site. In a huge dark foyer surrounded by glass walls, state-of-the-art audiovisual facilities feed a vivid interpretation of the excavations onto a wide screen. Raised glass walkways surrounding the site allow people to view entire trenches where the excavated treasures have been specially lit. As a precaution, visitors must don plastic shoe covers at the entrance to avoid damaging the glass.
Incredibly, the work at Hanyang Ling continues. While tourists stare in wonder, archaeologists sit at the bottom of the pits and painstakingly brush dust away from the newly excavated relics.
It is not just a display of the past, but also a fantastical exhibition of the opulence and advancement of China’s feudal society, and the unshakeable reverence given to departed Chinese rulers.
FEATS OF CLAY
Hanyang Ling is not the first imperial tomb to reveal an army of terracotta warriors. In 1974, a ploughman turned up artefacts that led to the excavation of the burial mound belonging to the famous Emperor Qin Shi Huang, the much-feared figurehead of the Qin Dynasty, a period that pre-dates the Han Dynasty by two centuries.
When the discovery was made public and hit international headlines, the tomb and its contents became known worldwide as the Terracotta Warriors. The Qin Shi Huang tomb covered an area of over 56sq km and, like Hanyang Ling, contained thousands of clay soldiers (many of which are currently on display at London’s British Museum). Compared to the Hanyang Ling army, these figures were burly, life-sized effigies that wore clothing of sculpted clay, not fine fabrics.
Over the next 30 years, visiting heads of state, presidents, kings and queens would be honoured with a visit to Shaanxi to see the celebrated tomb of Qin Shi Huang. Comparisons between the two sites are inevitable, but as the director of Hanyang Ling asserts, both are very different. Emperor Han Jingdi’s tomb contains much finer figures, and in archaeological terms, offers a much greater diversity of items than those found at the site of the Qin emperor.
While the Qin terracotta warriors were huge clay statues, many of the petite, metre-tall figures at Hanyang Ling were created as tiny nude mannequins with jointed wooden arms. Each figure would have been individually dressed in silken robes or leather suits of armour, now lost to dust. The genitalia of the figures indicate that the Han terracotta army included women, men and eunuchs.
The Modigliani-like expressions on these slim Han figures are also regarded as gentler than those of the muscular Qin army.
Though they represent military might, they have finer features, wiTheyebrows, lips and moustaches traced in red or black. Indeed, when viewed closely, even the toes of each figure are meticulously sculpted. Museum experts point out that the creation of such an enormous body of work would have certainly required hundreds of seamstresses, sculptors and ceramic artists. It’s likely that they would have been summoned to Shaanxi by the emperor at the time, from all over the country. Some figures even carry a small artist’s mark made by their proud makers.
The terracotta pieces would also have needed enormous furnaces and highly skilled operators. But herein lies one of the many mysteries of Hanyang Ling: where were the terracotta pieces fired? Large-scale kilns have yet to be unearthed and there is no evidence of ash or carbon deposits to indicate spent fuel.
The tons of earth that would have been needed to provide the soil for the imperial mounds have also raised many questions: Where did it come from? Why are there no traces of earth being dug out of the countryside? These questions remain unanswered.
Further excavations require enormous funds and, so far, only the outer pits of emperors’ tombs have been excavated. With the high value attached to burial treasures and the very real risk of looting for the black market, in reality, officials are more concerned that the sites are preserved intact until sufficient financial support and technical advances allow for further, more thorough, investigations.
Until that time, Emperor Han Jingdi remains at rest, deep in the yellow earth of Xianyang and the treasures that share his tomb remain one of the 21st century’s greatest secrets.
Information
Entrance to the Hanyang Ling Terracotta Warriors Underground Museum costs RMB90 (US$11.90) for adults and RMB55 (US$7.25) Ifor students and pensioners in the summer (1 March to 30 November); RMB65 (US$8.60) and RMB45 (US$5.90) in the winter (1 December to 28 February).
Tickets allow entry to both the original museum and the new underground site; a free buggy service links the two. The site is open daily from 8am to 6pm.
To get to Hanyang Ling, hire a taxi driver for half a day. It is about a 45-minute drive from Xi’an city on the old Xianyang airport road. A round trip (including taxi waiting time) costs approximately RMB180-200 (US$24-26). Alternatively, travel in luxury and hire a limousine from your hotel.
The writer is indebted to Mr Chainarong Keratuyutwong, of the Thai Consular Office in Xi’an, and all the photographers whose superb works are featured in War and Peace: Treasures of the Qin and Han Dynasties, produced by the Hong Kong Museum of History, 2002.
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