SkillBuilder discussion Historical signiýcance 1. Why were thousands of terracotta warriors buried around the tomb of China’s ýrst emperor? 2. How were the terracotta warriors made, and why are they all unique? 3. What do the terracotta warriors tell us about ancient Chinese beliefs in the afterlife?
SOURCE2 Some of the thousands of terracotta warriors that were buried around the tomb of China’s ýrst emperor.
7.2 SkillBuilder activity USING HISTORICAL SOURCES
SOURCE3 From Sima Qian’s book, Shiji . Sima Qian was a Chinese historian who lived from about 145 to 86 BCE (during the Han dynasty). In the ninth moon the First Emperor was buried in Mount Li . . . he employed his soldiery, to the number of 700 000, to bore down. . . and there a foundation of bronze was laid and the sarcophagus placed thereon. Rare objects and costly jewels were collected . . . in vast quantities. Artiýcers were ordered to construct mechanical crossbows, which, if anyone were to enter, would immediately discharge their arrows . . . On the roof were delineated the constellations of the sky, on the þoor the geographical divisions of the earth . . . The Second Emperor said, ‘It is not ýtting that the concubines of my late father who are without children should leave him now’; and accordingly he ordered them to accompany the dead monarch to the next world . . . someone suggested that the workmen who had made the machinery and concealed the treasure knew the great value of the latter . . . Therefore, so soon as the ceremony was over . . . the mausoleum was closed, so that not one of the workmen escaped.
Examine SOURCE3 . 1. In this extract from Shiji , Sima Qian talks about Qin Shihuang’s tomb. Propose what you think would have been the purpose of the mechanical crossbows. 2. Identify what was pictured on the roof. Discuss why this might have been done. 3. Identify what was done to the concubines and the workmen and infer what this tells you about the emperor’s power and attitudes to human life.
TOPIC7 Ancient China 187
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