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The Terracotta Army Museum lies 1.5 km east of The Tomb of Qin Shihuang, known as the First Emperor, who unified China 2200 years ago. Emperor Qin, from whom China gets its name, ordered the creation of this model army.
Every figure differs from those around in facial features and expression, clothing, hairstyle, and gestures. The horsemen, the longbow bearers, the archers and the senior officers and generals were positioned in strict accordance with the ancient directives on the Art of War. Many of the figures originally held real weapons of the time, such as bronze swords, longbows, arrows, spears, dagger-axes and other long-shafted weapons. Surface treatment of the weapons made them resistant to rust and corrosion so that after being buried for over 2000 years they were still sharp.
The Terracotta Army has lain underground for more than 2000 years. However, in 1974, farmers digging a well uncovered one of the greatest archaeological sites in the world. The first part of the Terracotta Army site to be discovered was named Vault One. In 1976, two other vaults were uncovered 20-25 meters from Vault One, and were named Vault Two and Vault Three.
Excavation of the earth and timber vaults revealed thousands of life-size terracotta warriors in battle formation - a whole army which would accompany its emperor into immortality. The discovery was a real eye-opener to the whole world, as the vaults are so big, the figures are so vivid and the number of the figures is so incredibly large!

The Terracotta Army figures supply abundant and detailed artifacts for the study of the military, cultural and economic history of that period. The Terracotta Army figures excavation was regarded as one of the greatest discoveries of the 20th century. In December 1987, UNESCO selected the Tomb of the First Emperor (including the Terracotta Army Vaults) as a World Cultural Heritage Site.

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