Dan's Adventure

When the Terracotta Warriors were displayed in London last year I missed out on the chance to see them but in a way I’m kind of glad I did. As I entered pit 3, the smallest of the three pits at the Terracotta Warrior site, I was a bit taken aback at just how large the pit was, but also a bit confused as it was pretty empty. Signs indicated that hundreds of warriors had been discovered from this pit but they all seem to have been removed, perhaps part of the exhibit that tours the world. The second pit was even larger, containing far more warriors and many that were in pieces. The introductory video explained that pits containing the warriors had been raided once upon a time with many of the warriors destroyed, weapons stolen and everything burnable burnt. Some effort has been made to stick the pieces back together and there is a collection of warriors that have been rebuilt. I’m glad I saved pit 1 for last as the others would have been a disappointment if they followed it. The number of warriors is impressive, thousands of them, I don’t think they out numbered the number of Chinese tour groups crowding around them though. Its not just the scale of the army that impressed me but the detail that each member of the army contained. Everything down to the facial expressions is different on each warrior. Excavation work is still being carried out in all three pits and its believed that there could still be more undiscovered pits in the surrounding area. That last point leaves me very confused as to why so much of the area has been developed as a tourist attraction with shops and restaurants built over areas that could contain more pits.