Language & Landmarks: China's Terracotta Warriors

Ni hao, and welcome to Xi’an, China, the home of the Terracotta Warriors 兵马俑, or bīngmǎ yǒng literally “soldier and horse funerary statues”. This incredible, still to be completely unearthed, archeological find reveals details of an ancient world that is unbelievably advanced. The more than 8,000 warriors, chariots and horses were erected to protect China’s emperor Qin Shi Huang who ruled from 246 BC to 210 BC. The first emperor to unify China began construction on his tomb at the age of 13. Qin,(chin) the name most likely responsible for the naming of China, realized many major achievements in a short 36 years, but was also known for his cruel and erratic behavior. Standardizing the language and writing of China, connecting the first portions of the Great Wall, establishing a dynasty-wide form of currency, and implementing mass irrigation are only some of these accomplishments. Sadly, he also burned writings of Confucian scholars and had them martyred, and used more than 700,000 slaves to build his tomb, burying them there in order to keep the riches of the tomb secret. One might say that in constructing these highly individualized, life-like statues, the first major mass production assembly line was employed. It is believed that 8 molds were used for faces, adding details like dress, facial expressions, eyebrows, beards and hair styles to a fine layer of wet clay. Legs and arms were most likely crafted by shops which manufactured terra cotta drain pipes and vessels, and were stamped with the company ID as a sort of quality control measure. Like individual terracotta soldiers the Chinese writing characters (hànzi) are ancient and unique. The pictographs and ideographs stand alone or combine to build other concepts and words. Although spoken language is not mutually intelligible throughout all of China, the characters are understood by everyone. The writing system has evolved, but the majority of hànzi retain strong similarities to their ancient form. How exciting it would be to recognize and speak the language of more than one-fifth of the world’s population!

– Mary Beauregard, Global LT Intercultural Consultant

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