1760

I wish that everyone on our trip could have had the opportunity to see the terra cotta warriors. I personally found the story behind them to be fascinating. They date back to the Qin dynasty (i think around 200 BC) and the Chinese recently found over 8,000 of these warriors. What they symbolize is the ancient belief that life continues after death, and the ancient Chinese emperors wanted to be prepared for afterlife and thereby were to be buried with an army, livestock, pottery, treasures, etc. Before the terra cotta warriors the emperors would BURY PEOPLE ALIVE - soldiers, slaves, etc. The terra cotta warriors were replacements for burying people alive, though we did learn that oftentimes the people that built the tombs were killed in order to maintain the secrecy. If that doesn't exemplify authority, I don't know what does!