2 Terracotta TZ20

I bought a new camera, but not the one I had in mind. The Panasonic Lumix DMC TZ20 is a superzoom camera capable of up to 16x optical zoom. It is equipped with 24mm wide angle lens, 3-inch touchscreen screen of 480 000 pixels and type MOS sensor of 14.1 MP. There is also built-in GPS. It cost $499 (U.P. ~$700). The salesman recommended this model over the prosumer Nikon P7000, saying its better for travel purposes. I decided to test out my new camera at the Terracotta Warriors: The First Emperor and His Legacy exhibition (free admission since it was the Terracotta Weekend Festival!) at the Asian Civilizations Museum. Mum and Dad wanted to go too, but upon seeing the snaking queue, they gave up and left me to my defenses. After an hours wait under drizzle and shine, I finally got into the special exhibitions gallery.


[caption id="attachment_117" align="aligncenter" width="529" caption="Building a warrior"][/caption]

Although the main focus of the exhibition was the Qin artefacts unearthed from the First Emperor's tomb complex, artefacts before and after the Qin, namely the Zhou and Han respectively, were also featured. This gave a good comparison of the scale and complexity of the First Emperor's tomb compared to that of other Emperors.


These were some of the artefacts from the Zhou/early Qin period before the reign of the First Emperor. They encompassed bronzes, jade, gold objects, decorated roofs, early coins and coin moulds, or in other words, small curios.

Top: Bronze washer (left) and bronze kettle with phoenix-shape spout (right).

Middle: Iron dagger with gold and turquoise hilt. This was found in an aristocratic tomb and presumably made for ceremonial use. I'm amazed how the gold and turquoise are able to stand up to the elements after two millennia! It still gleams after all those years.

Bottom: roof eaves tiles with phoenix (left) and deer (right) motifs. During the Western Zhou dynasty (1046-771 BC), builders began to roof important edifices with earthenware tiles. The phoenix represents peace and the deer represents longevity and wealth, if I remember correctly.


The Qin state, located in West China, became a strong military power dynasty in the late Zhou dynasty. The first Emperor unified the seven warring states and founded the Qin dynasty (221-206 BC).

Above: mini-chariot replica, driven by four horses. Apparently the real McCoy was too fragile to be transported over for the exhibition.


In 1974, terracotta warriors were discovered in three burial pits about 1.5 km from the First Emperor's tomb mound. Almost 2000 have been unearthed to date, but the estimated number is 8000. In addition to warriors, chariots, horses and real weapons such as arrows are also common. These soldiers are life-size (or even larger than life) and they are sculpted with intricate features to indicate rank and function.

Above (from left): light infantry officer, identified by headdress and moustache; charioteer, identified by the position of the arms holding reins and loose sleeves; standing archer.

Below: general, who is taller than the rest and has distinctive tassels on the upper chest.



The individuality of each figure is just astounding; just look at the details on the face and clothes they wear. They could be portraits of actual soldiers. Now I know why terracotta soldiers were featured in The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor - it's not hard to imagine them coming to life. And to think there are 8000 of such figures, what painstaking work!



Above: strongman (left) and kneeling archer (right). These figures probably held weapons but are now missing.



In 1998, archeologists unearthed a surprising find: thousands of tiny limestone plaques in a pit southeast of the burial mound. Eventually they realized it was stone armour: about 87 suits, including one for a horse (surprise!) and 43 helmets. The purpose of these suits, which would be useless in real life due to its fragility, remains unanswered. Perhaps it is to defend against enemy combatants in the afterworld or to repel demons. Who is supposed to wear those suits? Just look at the plaque links - amazing!

The Qin dynasty lasted only a few years after the death of Qin Shihuang (cause unknown, either illness/murdered) and was followed by the Han dynasty founded by Liu Bang(202 BC - 220 CE). Imitating the First Emperor, the Han rulers placed terracotta armies within their tomb complexes. However, compared to the First Emperor, these soldiers appear small and stylized and have strong agricultural connections, perhaps to provide the deceased with a pleasant afterlife.

Above top: mini terracotta warriors (left), animal figures (right); bottom from left: two men, two horsemen, woman and eunuch (if you look closely you can see the missing genitalia!)

At the exit/entrance,  the terracotta army was given a contemporary makeover in a funky installation by local artist Justin Lee. A fusion of East and West, the figures don elements of commercialization such as headphones and laptops. It was quite humorous. I wonder what kind of music they would actually listen to or the kind of websites they would visit, should there be such technology in those days.



Little/no editing has been applied to these photos. The image quality is ok, I guess. I played around with manual settings for some of the pictures but the gallery was quite crowded and I didn't want to stand in other people's way.Oh one last picture. There were some dressed-up people walking about and I thought I'd take a picture with them as a momento. :)