By Peter-Vincent Schuld

If you are ever bored of your terracotta pots and other earthenware knick-knacks from the Xenos or the Oxfam World Shop and you want some variety, then go to China. It’s not that far. To be precise, the famous Terracotta Army that is located between the Chinese city of Xi’an and Mount Li.

After seeing this wonder of the world, your garden gnomes and other horrible plaster casts will be moved directly to the recycling centre no. 1 in your municipality.

The official story is that in 1974 a number of farmers were digging a well somewhere and suddenly stone men came to the surface. The objects found belong to one of the world’s most impressive tomb complexes, namely that of the first emperor of China, Qin Shi Huangdi (259 BC to 210 BC).

Where in the Benelux we only give a shovelful of sand and, if we are lucky, a single flower as a grave gift, the Chinese were and are much less stingy when the afterlife calls. Today, an average Chinese deceased person is still sprinkled with paper money in his grave. Although a somewhat grieving and price-conscious Chinese nowadays opts for fake money that is sent to the eternal hunting grounds. The real notes of value remain destined for charities such as the casino.

But back to Chinese imperial and funerary pottery. Your reporter had the privilege of traveling privilegedly, sparing him the misery of long queues and souvenir sellers. Lovely agents of the Chinese military police and other representatives of the Chinese authorities ensured a quick and ticket-free entrance. After all, there are situations in which you have to rely on your contacts and the entourage you travel with.

Once inside the gigantic complex, it soon becomes clear that what has now come to the surface is probably only a part of what is still hidden underground.

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Qin Shi Huangdi ascended the throne as King Zheng at the age of 13 and, supported by two ministers, ruled the state of Qin. He soon turned out to be a true conqueror. He rapidly built his empire of states, annexed one Chinese administrative domain after another, decimated the number of opponents and if they did not die, they were exiled. So it happened that at the age of 38 he proclaimed himself emperor of the unified kingdom of China.

His almost divine status gave him the opportunity to have the writing of history prior to his reign banned. Yes, this emperor knew his stuff. However, not everyone could identify with the dictatorial way of governing and so the Zheng alias Qin Shi Huangdi became the object of an attack three times, which he managed to survive each time. During his reign, first as king and then as emperor, he had a network of roads, a variety of palaces and a series of fortifications built.

The man wanted to leave his mark on the future and wanted to continue to do so. He introduced laws that everyone had to abide by. Trade was ordered by means of payment such as coins and instruments such as weights. But this king, later emperor, ruled with a heavy hand and, as mentioned, many warriors and civilians, whether conquered or not, lost their lives in the process. His fascination with eternal life grew and became an obsession. In that respect, the world has not changed wood to this day.

Tradition tells us that the Chinese emperor was looking for a remedy that would lead to immortality and that alchemists recommended mercury pills to him. Not much later, the immortal-seeking emperor was “end of story on earth”. The emperor was convinced that if there was such a thing as earthly mortality, it would pass into subterranean immortality.

He died… and tradition tells us that this was the result of mercury poisoning.
I don’t know, but I tend to see some causal relationships here.

Nevertheless, the emperor did take into account an end and ordered the construction of a huge mausoleum at the start of his imperial reign in 221 BC. If there was to be a death in the event that the search for earthly immortality failed, then there had to be an imperial death.

According to history, 700,000 troops were deployed to carry out the enormous project through hard work. That’s 350,000 more people than the Great Wall of China was built with. It is highly doubtful whether the work ethic required for this was kindly enforced, for after the workers had finished their work in the last phase of the constructions, they were buried alive according to tradition, so that they would never be able to reveal the secrets, the contents of which lead to the interior of the tomb system and thus disturb the afterlife of the emperor.

The actual mausoleum containing the tomb in which the emperor was laid to rest after his failed immortality and is located under a burial mound that would once have been 115 meters high but which has not been uncovered to this day. No one seems to know where to find the entrance. Well, this may also have become very difficult because the tomb complex, which would consist of a large amount of structures such as palaces, is covered with an immeasurable amount of earth.

The most intense stories circulate about this part of the tomb complex. Some kind of booby traps such as automatic crossbows would have been installed for those who still dare to gain access. Treasures in the form of precious stones and other valuables are said to have been deposited. Bronze seals are said to protect the tomb from the ravages of time and elements such as moisture. But what is actually true about this? Only excavations will be able to provide a definite answer. Traditions tell the most beautiful stories, but only facts teach us the truth.

Nevertheless, the soil has already revealed a few things, even if it is only the tip of the iceberg. Some 8,000 hand-crafted warriors of all ranks (from private to general) were uncovered along with countless other items such as weapons and chariots. The melee and stabbing weapons found were in excellent condition. At this time, the Chinese already mastered the craft of gunsmithing and treated the surfaces of the weapons in such a way that they could withstand a blow and a stab. Once exposed to the heat and the humid outside air, the terracotta statues that had been underground for 2200 years proved to be no match for the fungi that attached themselves to the statues.

In 1985, Dr. Paul Janssen, founder of the pharmaceutical company Janssen Pharmaceutica from Beerse, Belgium, had set up production facilities for medicines in the vicinity of Xi’an together with the Chinese authorities. The construction of his factories ran parallel to the ongoing special archaeological finds. During a visit in the late 1990s, Dr. Paul Janssen was also confronted with the deteriorating condition of the deteriorating fungi (fungus) on the thousands of years old art treasures that have now become UNESCO World Heritage Sites. In consultation with the Chinese authorities, it was decided to transfer a number of specimens of the archaeological finds to the laboratories of Janssen Pharmaceutica in Beerse, near Turnhout. There, fungus experts went to study the possibilities of combating the fungi that had affected the statues.

In the laboratory, flower pots were used that were exposed to similar air and humidity conditions as the mineral treasures found in the covered exhibition areas. Traces of the fungi found on these pots were applied as they were found on the Chinese terracotta objects.

In a 12-week trial, some of the test flower pots were treated with antibodies to prevent fungus formation and some were left untreated. Simulating the humidity conditions such as those in the exhibition halls in Xi’an was a challenge, but it worked. The test showed that the untreated flower pots were affected by the fungus and that the treated pots were protected from the fungi that rapidly affected the state of the artworks found. After an additional series of tests at the find–exhibition location, all images and artifacts found were treated with the fungus-like water-based spray. This was followed by a long-term collaboration between the Chinese antiquities authorities and Janssen. This year, the knowledge of the Chinese authorities has advanced to the point where they can independently continue to conserve the existing and yet to be found ceramic artifacts.

The sight of the artifacts is overwhelming. The 200-metre-long rows of terracotta statues of soldiers and horses tell of an ancient civilization that, in addition to a great deal of high-quality craftsmanship, was also accompanied by a period of cruelty unimaginable to us. It is difficult for us to imagine, let alone actually know, under what circumstances, for example, the bronze chariots found were made, how the craftsmanship was learned, how long it took them to make the birds found in bronze at the time. How did the craftsmen acquire the knowledge of materials?

Seeing the statues, which have so many different facial expressions but still form such a unity, raises more questions about the time of Emperor Qin Shin Huangdi than it answers.

There is still a lot to discover and new archaeological finds that will amaze the world may not be long in coming.