The life-sized terracotta warriors of China are known throughout the world. This clay army of 8,000 including infantry, archers, generals and cavalry was discovered by archaeologists in 1974 after farmers digging a well near the Chinese city of Xian unearthed pieces of clay sculpted in human form.
An amazing archaeological find, the terracotta warriors date back more than two thousand years. But what was the purpose of this army of clay soldiers? Who ordered its construction? How were they created? Secrets of the Dead investigates the story behind China’s Terracotta Warriors and documents their return to former glory for the first time. The film premieres nationally Wednesday, May 4 at 8 p.m. on PBS (check local listings).
Secrets of the Dead is a production of THIRTEEN in association with WNET– one of America’s most prolific and respected public media providers.
Preview this episode:
The extraordinary story of China’s 8,000 terracotta warriors begins two centuries before the birth of Christ with a conqueror named Qin Shihuangdi. After unifying seven warring kingdoms into an empire named China, Qin gave himself the title First Emperor of China. When preparing an extravagant tomb for his journey into the afterlife, the First Emperor of China decreed that he be protected forever by a monumental army. But unlike earlier rulers, who practiced the ritual killing of the entire court to serve them in the afterlife, as they had in life, the First Emperor’s soldiers were made of clay. Secrets of the Dead reveals why the thousand-year–old Chinese tradition of mass human sacrifice ended and uncovers how the custom of tiny tomb figurines became life-size tomb figures.
Since their discovery, no one has seen these ancient warriors in their original splendor, brightly painted and fully armed, ready to protect their Emperor for all eternity. Clues in the faded fragments of terracotta and old excavation reports help to reconstruct what the warriors originally looked like. Incredibly, the bodies of all 8,000 warriors were made individually by hand and each face is unique. But how was a terracotta army of this size made in less than two years using the technology of 2200 years ago? Led by archaeologist Agnes Hsu, the investigation shows that the Chinese may have Henry Ford beat by more than 2,000 years with their own assembly line used to produce the 8,000-strong Terracotta Warriors.
THIRTEEN’s Secrets of the Dead: China’s Terracotta Warriors is a Natural History New Zealand Ltd production for THIRTEEN in association with WNET and National Geographic Channel. Narrator is Liev Schreiber. Writer/producer is Steven R. Talley. Executive producer for NHNZ is Andrew Waterworth. Executive in charge of production for NHNZ is Michael Stedman. Executive producers for WNET are Jared Lipworth and William R. Grant.
absolutely fascinating! I think China is and has been ahead of the rest of the world. What I would’nt give to be able to see these warriors in person! Sadly that will never be !
O…….h how would you predicted such a things like that, you couldn’t
“I think China is and has been ahead of the rest of the world.” Spoken like a true illiterate with no knowledge of ANY history, let alone that of China. Yes, they built the great wall and invented gun powder and silk production. Yes they built these terra cotta soldiers. That hardly qualifies them as world-class innovators in the modern sense — else why do they have to steal all their technology, and mostly from the US?! READ China’s extremely long history of famines — including Mao’s deliberately engineered famine — tyranny, wars, and murderous oppression of their own people (and very little has changed, except superficially), and THEN tell me how much ahead of the rest of the world they are. Stupidity and ignorance is rampant, especially in the pathetically dumbed down United States.
There is no country without a shameful past. Every country had to stand upon the shoulders of giants one time or another in order to see horizon.
I just returned from a 3 week tour of China, traveled all over the country. My overriding impression was: “Americans have no idea what is going on here. If they did, they’d get off their big fat rear ends and put the U.S. back to work!” The construction, the modernization, the overwhelming advancement is beyond anything you can imagine. Nothing “Chinese” about it: it is the 21st century, just like any advanced European country. It is a disgrace that we have sold our manufacturing to China, and that fat cat entrepreneurs are padding their personal pockets while the U.S. is paying the price in unemployment and huge budget deficits. In addition to trimming wasteful spending in this country, we need to increase revenues. CHINA IS POISED – ALREADY IS – THE NEXT ECONOMIC GIANT.
(I saw the Terra Cotta Warriors and it was a phenomenal sight!)
P.S. Tell your children and grandchildren to start learning Chinese!
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I was fascinated by the discussion of Chinese purple and its behavior under a strong magnetic field. What are the scientists’ names and institutional affiliations so that I could learn more about the scientific analysis and its conclusions.
Yes, please! I want to read more about the Chinese purple as well.
amazing!! I just saw the exhibit in Montreal a couple weeks ago. go see it if you can!!
Have to have a copy of this! One of the most amazing stories I’ve seen.
I have chinese glass of this kind and with purple in it-experts have tested it and its still a mystery of how it was made.
of all the things mentioned in this interesting show i find it hard to believe nobody brought up the fact that these chinese chemists invented one of only two man made colors. along with that, this chinese purple contains something in it that when flakes of this color were put into 45t hybrid which is the strongest magnet in the world, it lost its third demention which is a huge discovery for quantum physics. chinese chemist created this and should be looked at as a huge discovery considered this was something that was only created by them over 2000 yrs and no one else since. finding out how they made this could actually help us out, figuring out how to make an object loose its 3rd demention could help better super conductors making our life run faster and easier. To say the chinese were not ahead of their time would be like saying it never rains at Mount Wai-’ale’ale on the island of Kauai, Hawaii
I too was amazed by the information on Chinese purple and its behavior under a strong magnetic field. How can I learn more about the findings and how the research may affect future technology, as mentioned in the show?
When will this show be re-shown on OETA??
We saw these soldiers in person two weeks ago in China and were thrilled to see that a story on their making had run on PBS in our absence. We gleaned much more from this informative telecast than from our local guide at the terra cotta pits. We saw some of the colors, but were never told about the lacquer process, nor Chinese purple. They did not go into the same detail regarding how each of the warriors was made. Thank you, PBS!!
Also, I 100% agree with Roni above. China is poised; they are ready. I have never seen more construction going on in my entire life. They have bridges that are gorgeous. They are expanding the lines of the bullet train. Here in America, our rail service is abyssmal. Lavender Blue, China only took what the US was willing to give away and shame on us for that. American companies looked for a cheaper workforce. They have workers willing to work harder and longer for a fraction of what American laborers demand. Their attention to detail is also amazing – their trees are even trained to grow straight. They have a beautiful country and an amazing history and were, and are, far ahead of the rest of the world.
The funny thing about all this progress that the Chinese are making is the fact that it’s inspired by the American Dream and it’s ideal; such as equality under the law, equal opportunity for all, social mobility, the happiness of making money and spending it, living life as an individual or the pursuit of personal happiness. Although people is rightly proud of their ancient heritage, they just want to live life like Americans. The emphasis at least among young people is getting away from the constraints of traditional morality and customs and redefining themselves in 21st century terms.
The old Chinese cultures have produced magnificant things. Like these warriors. Too bad that the progress at the moment is at the expense of the freedom of the people. After the reign of Mao Zedong the country was left devastated. Now the economy looks like it is overtaking the rest of the world, but the people are even more enslaved than before. Contrary to what J wong says here. and his concept of the American Dream is a farce. That famous american dream was to make people spend, spend, spend.
Selling houses with mortgages to people without a job or any money. And letting people max out 4 or 5 different creditcards. No wonder the American banks are guilty of causing the biggest worldwide creditcrunch since their last successfull attempt in 1929. They did not learn anything from that one, as they are not learning anything from the present crisis.
Lavender Blue says:
April 20, 2011 at 7:36 pm
“Spoken like a true illiterate with no knowledge of ANY history, let alone that of China.
What great self-assessment Lavender Blue. It’s easy to claim superiority when you only look at what’s happening now rather the entire history. I guess it’s easy to do when your history is well short of 5000 years.
If you actually study the history between the west and China from the 16th to 19th century, Lavender, you may find that it’s the west (Britain, France, Netherland, etc) created wars and unfair trading treaties to undermine a culture that is deep in science and technology, as well as, like all civilizations, greed and corruptions. Ever heard of the Opium War? That’s how Hong Kong became British colony for 99 years. Not a bad idea to export drugs to a foreign country in exchange for natural resources and corrupt the minds of their citizens!
No doubt Mao’s “revolution” was nothing more than delusional gestures to prove to the west that China was doing just fine under “communism” when China was neither great nor was Mao a true “communist”. He was a murderous dictator.
If you want to deny historical facts and focus on the “present” i guess you don’t have to look too far to see that the US has also stole technology from, of all places, Nazi Germany for their scientists and their technologies in rocket science. that’s definitely one small step for man, and one giant leap for mankind. Also, let Japanese war criminals free in exchange for experimental data on human POWs and civilians in Manchurian states during WWII.
But if you ignore all that, yes, you may have a point.
Nice!
Steve’s right. And I pity those who “speak like a true illiterate and with no knowledge of any history”
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The Chinese were not trying to create purple, they were trying to create fake jade (jade was supposed to help with imortality). So it wasn’t a monumentous discovery years ahead of their time, it was an accident.
Also for decades Chinese families were allowed only one child. And they all wanted male children. It was fairly common for female babies to disappear.
As far as the recent economic progress, it is truly fed by American corporate greed in looking for ever cheaper labor source; the American consumer willing to condone it by reelecting the politicians who bow to that greed through the lobbists, and in paying the cheapest possible price for everything-afterall, country of origin is stamped on all the products-we dont have to buy it. And the Chinese system is no better than ours. No wonder they can build all those bridges when the tons of U.S. dollars is pouring in while a fraction is actually paid to the workers.
The trade unions, the civil servents and the elected officials are all in it for whatever they can get and screw the citizens who pay for it; and we just keep paying them. Did you know a U.S. Congressman is exempt from insider trading laws. Maybe that is one of the reasons the spend 50 million dollars to get elected to a job that pays $200,00.00…and we just keep on voting for them.
Aside from all the political rambling, the properties of that pigment is facinating and makes me wish I wassmart enough to understand it.
this is awesome