Yesterday, I visited the Terracotta Warriors Exhibit in Seattle. The show is the first such exhibit ever outside China and is on display for only 5 months before traveling to Philadelphia. It is an awesome show, particularly because of the way the life size clay sculptures are displayed and the dramatic lighting that highlights each sculpture. If you live in or near Seattle or will be visiting the area before Labor Day, catch the World Premiere at Seattle’s Pacific Science Center, April 8-September 4, 2017.
The Terracotta Warriors are a collection of terracotta sculptures depicting the armies of Qin Shi Huang, the first Emperor of China. They are a form of funeral art that was buried with people of influence in ancient China. The first Emperor of China (210–209 BC) was buried with the Terracotta Warriors to protect him in the afterlife. 
BACKGROUND: There were about 8,000 life size statues of soldiers buried along with the emperor. Most of the statues measure 5 feet 11 inches tall but some soldiers are as tall as 6 foot 7 inches. The Statues were made to represent all battalions in ancient Chinese Army. Some are dressed like the cavalry while others are dressed like archers and still others like foot soldiers. The Statues were made by over 700,000 thousand workers who were involved in molding legs, arms, torsos, and heads etc. which were then assembled together. Apart from the soldiers, the emperor was also buried with 150 life-size cavalry horses and 130 chariots with 520 horses buried with the army. Amazingly, the horses in the archaeological site are saddled. This indicates that the saddle was invented long before the Qin Dynasty. The actual tomb of the emperor has yet to be found.
