The terracotta warriors were found in 1974 by a local farmer while he was digging a well.

When he first found the statues, he thought they were ghosts, because they had natural colouring when they were first uncovered, then the colours disappeared within 3 minutes due to oxidisation.

In the last couple of years, scientists have figured out how to stop this from happening.

Here is a view of what the statues actually looked like before the oxidisation happened.

As people kept digging, they found 8,000 life-sized warriors- all with different faces. They are still digging, finding more warriors, bronze chariots, animals etc. “The emperor needed BMW for the afterlife.”

Xi’an was the ancient capital of China, so that’s why the warriors are here.

Emperor Qin  ascended the throne at 13, and died at 50. 221BC, so they are more than 2,000 years old.

The first dynasty knew how to make metal, so they took over the whole of China. They believed in an afterlife, like the Egyptians, except they didn’t do human sacrifice like in Egypt. They had an army of clay, but they were based on real people, so “There are no twins” said Maggie, our guide for today.

The farmer was paid $5 for his trouble. But he was given the duty free shop, so he makes money this way. He’s 77 years old now. Here he is, signing books for 200 yuan ($50) each and lapping up his celebrity.

There are more than 40,000 visitors here each day. On Chinese public holidays, that number doubles. The bullet trains are the main reason why visitor numbers have exploded. It’s far easier for people to travel here.

When US President Clinton came to see the warriors, the farmer was primed to say two remarks to him. The first was “How are you?” and the second was “Me too.” The farmer spoke no English so he had no clue as to what he was saying. He had to memorise the sounds.

The farmer, when he was brought out in front of all the media to meet the president, forgot exactly what to say, so he asked Clinton, “Who are you?”

“I’m the president of the USA,” said Clinton.

The farmer replied, “Me too!”

Pit 1 has 6,000 statues. Most of these are infantry. The buildings that house them are massive, and are air conditioned, which was wonderful because the temperature was a balmy 39C. People were swarming all over the place.

The emperor’s tomb is 1.5 kms behind them. They are facing outward to protect him. 

There are no weapons in Pit 1, because slaves came back after the emperor died to damage his army and leave him vulnerable in the afterlife. They weren’t all that fond of him.They smashed statues and stole the weapons. These statues are being repaired.

After opening hours is when the restoration and archeology takes place. There’s no way anyone could concentrate on their work with thousands of people jostling each other, trying to get a better view of them.

Each statue weighs between 200 and 300 kg .

This one is wrapped in plastic wrap to protect the colours from the air.

The next place we went to was Pit 3. This pit was found with only 68 soldiers. This was an animal sacrifice centre. They were using the animal bones to foretell the future.

Angry slaves got here too, as you can see.

Pit 2 has 1,000 soldiers and 500 horses. The angry slaves missed this bit, so they’ve kept them underground to preserve their colours and keep them safe. They’ve used sonar etc to work out how many warriors are down here.

The exciting thing is that there are genuine warriors in glass displays along the side wall in this pit. This one is an archer. I this is my favourite one. I bought a little one for $25 to bring home with me.

A high ranking officer. He seems a little full of himself.

A cavalryman and his horse.

I thought this guy would be a king fu guy, but he’s a standing archer. His bow, being made of wood, has rotted away.

I saw these monks going in as we were coming out.

I’m so glad I came to see the warriors. It’s a strange feeling to know that you’re looking at things that were made over 2,000 years ago. The emperor had these made for selfish reasons, but there’s no denying that his belief in the afterlife has been a goldmine for his country. There were a LOT of people there today, and as we were leaving, more busloads were arriving.

I saw this statue in the farmer’s gift shop. Buddha riding a water buffalo, apparently unruffled by the experience. How bizarre.

Here’s another bizarre statue. This one is of the youngest baby dragon, called Pichu. He is beloved by shopkeepers, businessmen and tightarses, because he eats gold, silver and gemstones, but he doesn’t have an anus so he can’t poo out any of the riches he swallows. His expression indicates that he has the worst constipation in the world.

After the terracotta warriors, we walked to a restaurant for lunch, then gathered outside. Maggie counted us all, then off we walked to the bus. We were on our way to the train station for another bullet train ride to our next stop. It was important that we didn’t miss that train!

We were at the bus when the word went out. Ross’s wife had just noticed that he was missing. omg

Maggie and one of the guys raced back to the restaurant to try and find him. Time went by…

We made it to the station with 10 minutes to spare. Apparently, he’d put his hand up for the head count, then saw something interesting in a shop. He glanced at it, and when he looked up all 39 of us had suddenly vanished.

I hope he gave Maggie a very good tip.

Blogless Sandy has been under the weather today. She’s been going on by force of will alone, because there was no way she was going to miss the warriors. It’s the highlight of the tour.

Meanwhile, I’m dowsing myself in hand sanitiser and hoping I don’t catch it.

Our next guide in Zhengzhou is called Domenic. When we arrived, it was 7:30 pm and it was still 36C. I think he’s used to dealing with tired Aussie tourists. We were on the bus not 5 minutes and he was selling cold cans of beer and water. The men were happy on the one hour drive to the hotel.

Dad Joke of the Day: