Time and the Terracotta Warriors 221-206BC

Themes.
1. The desire for immortality.
2. The concealment of the monumental over time.
3. The reconstruction of monuments through archaelogy.
 
Chronology.
1027-771BC the Western Zhou dynasty
771 BC the Western capital of Hao sacked
771-475 BC Eastern Zhou dynasty ; Spring Annals then Autumn Annals.
551 - 479 BC the life of Confucious.
475-221 BC the Warring States Period
361 BC the ascendancy of Lord Shang Yang in Qin; he died 330 BC.
318 BC - 312 BC the years of Qin conquest of minor states.
259 BC birth of Qin Shihuang, came to the throne in 246 BC at the age of 13 as King Chen of Qin.
221 - 206BC the Qin dynasty.
206BC - 8AD, the Western Han Dynasty
25 -220 AD the Eastern Han Dynasty
 
" The king of Qin has a waspish nose, eyes like slits, a chicken breast and a voice like a jackal. He is merciless with a heart of a tiger or wolf. When in difficulties he willingly humbles himself, when successful he swallows men up without scruple.... shopuld he succeed in conquering the empire, we sdhall all become his captives." Advisor to the king of Weei 221 BC.
"He gave orders for two hundred and seventy palaces and pavilions within 200 li of Xianyang to be connected by causeways and covered walks and furnished with hangings, bells, drums and beautiful ladies each in the appointed place. Disclosure of his whereabouits became punishable by death."

"No fewer than three hundred astrologers are watching the stars but these good men for fear of giving offence, merely flatter the emperor and dare not speak of his faults. It is he who decided all affairs of state great or small. He even has the documents weighed every morning and night, and will not rest until a certain weight has passed through his hands. How can we find the herbs of mortality for such a tyrant. And so they ran away.... Four hundred scholars were tried and found guilty of breaking the law. They were buried alive in Xianying as a warning to the whole empire. "
 
BOOKLIST

K.S.Gilbert (editor) Treasures from the Bronze Age of China , an exhibition from the People's Republic of China, Metropolitan Museum of Aret New York, 1980.

Edmund Capon, Qin Shihuang; Terracotta Warriors and Horses , exhib.catal. Australia, 1983.

Dien, Thorp, Andrews and Kuwayama, The Quest for Eternity, Chinese Ceramic Sculptures from the People's Republic of China , Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Thames & Hudson, 1987

Robert L. Thorp, Son of Heaven Imperial Arts of China, Seattle and Columbus exhibition catalogue 1988/9.

The Burial Pits site (Pits 1, 2 and 3), Lintong, 1.2 k from the Mausoleum of Qin Shihuang, the First Emperor of Qin, in Shaanxi Province.