01Generals & Officers
The tallest figures, in double-layered caps and fish-scale armor, hands clasped around the staff of command. Only a handful have been found — the pit roster stays realistic all the way to the top.
秦始皇兵马俑 · the buried army
The Warriors
An estimated 8,000 life-size soldiers were commissioned for the First Emperor's tomb; more than a thousand have been unearthed — and no two faces are the same. Meet the ranks, the craft and the weapons of the underground army.
An army made of clay
The Army the First Emperor Took With Him
Ying Zheng ordered his tomb started at the age of 13, and it consumed nearly 720,000 workers over 38 years. Beside the unexcavated burial mound, his workshops raised an entire army out of the loess clay of Lintong: generals, infantry, archers, cavalry and chariots, ranked in battle formation facing east — toward the six warring states he had unified in 221 BC.
The army was discovered in March 1974, when farmers digging a water well east of the mound broke into a buried pit. What emerged is the greatest archaeological find of the 20th century: more than a thousand life-size terracotta warriors unearthed so far, each finished by hand, each with a face of his own. Standing before the front rank of Pit One, most visitors stop talking — exactly as the reviews promise.
- Roughly 1.75–2 metres tall — generals the tallest, modeled on a real Qin army
- Assembled from modular parts, personalized by hand, fired and painted
- One ticket covers all three pits plus the mausoleum site 1.5 km west
1,000+ warriorsunearthed since 1974 — no two faces alike
Read the ranks
The Corps of the Terracotta Army
The army is a complete military roster in clay. Once you know the code — caps, armor, poses — you can read every soldier's rank and duty from across the hangar.
0102Armored Infantry
The backbone of the front rank: lamellar armor plates, shin guards, hair tied in topknots to the right. Their feet — square or pointed toes — hint at who stood the longest watches.
03The Archers
Standing and kneeling crossbowmen kept the volley continuous. The Kneeling Archer — carved shoe treads and palm pads still crisp — is the army's most photographed figure.
04Cavalry & Chariots
Saddle-mounted riders on short, solid horses; chariot crews with outstretched reins. The chariots themselves were real wood-and-bronze vehicles — only their metal fittings survive.
05The Horses
Hundreds of life-size war horses with cropped manes and knotted tails, modeled on the stocky breeds of the Qin plains — and the half-size bronze teams in the Bronze Chariot Hall.
Faces & workshop
A Thousand Faces, One Production System
The army was mass-produced 2,200 years ago — yet personalized like portraiture. That paradox is the secret of the warriors.
Eight face moldsHeads came from a small set of molds — then sculptors shaped individual brows, ears, mustaches and expressions by hand.
Modular bodiesLegs solid, torsos hollow-coiled, arms and heads attached separately — the kit-of-parts method that made an 8,000-figure army possible.
Fired like potteryLow-oxygen kilns at roughly 950–1,050 °C turned river clay into ceramic tough enough to outlast an empire.
Painted — and it vanishedLacquer and mineral pigments, including the synthetic "Chinese purple", flaked away within minutes of excavation. Conservation keeps fighting for the rest.
Real metal, real army
The Weapons of the Underground Army
The clay soldiers carry real bronze — tens of thousands of actual weapons buried with the army, many still sharp after 2,200 years underground.
Bronze Swords & Spears
Blades of cast bronze buried in the pits — some unearthed still gleaming and pliable enough to shave with, thanks to Qin metallurgy.
Crossbow Triggers
Interlocking bronze trigger mechanisms of uncanny precision — interchangeable parts, two millennia before "interchangeable parts" had a name.
Arrowheads & Bolts
Quadruple-pointed bronze arrowheads found in bundles — standardized to a degree that suggests assembly-line production.
The Bronze Chariots
Two half-size chariot-and-horse teams unearthed in 1980 — thousands of parts each, gold and silver inlay, "the Crown of Ancient Bronzes".
…and the uniforms: seven styles of armor across the ranks, belt hooks, topknots tied to regulation, and shoes with different soles for standing or kneeling duty. The army is a portrait of the Qin military system, not just its soldiers.
From clay to army
Four Steps From Riverbank to Buried Guard
The whole force was manufactured beside the tomb — an assembly line 2,200 years ahead of its time.
Dig & Coil
Loess clay from Mount Li's foothills, pressed into bases, coiled into hollow torsos on solid legs.
Mold & Finish
Heads from eight molds, personalized by hand; hands shaped for their weapons; names stamped for quality control.
Kiln & Paint
Fired near 1,000 °C, coated in lacquer, painted in reds, greens and Chinese purple.
Rank & Bury
Assembled into units, ranked in formation facing east, buried to guard the emperor forever.
Stand Before the Army Yourself
Tickets from $18.03 — book online with Trip.com, scan your passport at the gate, and meet a thousand different faces in one morning.