TERRACOTTA WARRIORS INVADING LONDON SOON

The 8,000 soldiers of the terracotta army, meant to protect China’s Emperor Qin Shihuang in the afterlife, had been buried for more than 2,000 years before their discovery by farmers in 1974. Now they’re on the move again, at least some of them who are heading towards London for a major exhibition at the British Museum. The show will run for seven months, beginning on September 13, and 30,000 tickets have already been sold.

Over 120 loan objects from China's Museum of Terra-cotta Army will be shown this autumn in a major British Museum exhibition which features China's first emperor.

This loan exhibition "First Emperor: China's Terra-cotta Army", scheduled to run seven months from Sept. 13 this year to April 6 of next year, will feature the largest group of material from the tomb of the First Emperor to be loaned abroad.

This once-in-a-lifetime exhibition will explore one of the greatest archaeological discoveries of the 20th century and provide an insight into China's First Emperor, Qin Shihuangdi, and his legacy.

Objects featured in the exhibition will include a number of the world-famous terracotta warriors from Xi'an, China, which were buried alongside the First Emperor in readiness for the afterlife, as well as some of the most striking recent discoveries made on the site.

In introducing the idea of a unified state and effectively creating China in 221 BC, the First Emperor of Qin created what is today the oldest surviving political entity in the world. How that state has survived, developed and is viewed today will be explored through events, lectures and debates around the exhibition.

















source: all images from OnAsia Images
photographer: Natalie Behring