Incredible

Over 8,000 terracotta warriors and horses stand ready to aid the first Xian emperor as he makes the transition to the afterlife and hopefully continues his role as an emperor in death. Although he died in 210 BC, his soldiers live on, accidentally uncovered next to his mausoleum in 1974. Their existence alone boggles the mind. However, the fact that each soldier and horse are unique in every way, implying that they were fashioned after real people, is incredible.

The Terracotta Army

The Terracotta Army is an incredible collection of 8,099 life size terracotta figures of warriors and horses. Buried with the first Qin Emperor in around 210BC and built to assist the Emperor in ruling in the afterlife, the figures were discovered in 1974 by local farmers. Each soldier has been individually painted and they have different hairstyles and armour depending on their rank.

The guides tell you that construction of the mausoleum and army would have taken 700,000 workers 38 years to complete.

There is now a museum on the site covering 16,300 square meters where you can see the army, some of those currently excavated are restored to their former glory and arranged in battle formations, but there are thousands yet to be dug out. An amazing site, and the sole object of most visitors' trips to Xian.

Timeless

The attached museum may be no great shakes, but the warriors are truly impressive. There's a great story of the backpacker who camouflaged himself and jumped into the pit, and it took guards two hours to find him.

Imagine being buried with that lot! Almost certainly there are numerous other 'pits' nearby which have yet to be discovered - and the sight that really sets the pulse racing is the huge mound you pass on the route from Xian, the actual tomb of the emperor these soldiers are guarding. It's never been excavated, and they say that thousands of workers were buried alive inside it before being walled up.