兵马俑博物馆英文精简版讲解词

The museum of Terracotta Warriors and Horses Good morning, Ladies and gentlemen, so nice to see you. I’m your interpreter in the museum of Terracotta Warriors and Horses.This museum is located at the foot of mountain Li Shan, about 35 kilometers east of X i’an. First I will give you a brief introduction about the master of this underground army---the First Qin Emperor. His name was Ying zheng. He came to the throne at the age of 13 in 246BC and seized the power at the age of 22 in 237BC. By 221BC, when he was only 38 years old, he had annexed all the six independent states and established the first feudal empire in the long history of China.
After the unification of the whole country, he styled himself the First Emperor and standardized the coinage, weights and measurements , the legal codes , the written scripts and so on. He also ordered the linkage of the original Great Wall. All these exerted an everlasting influence on the long feudal history of China.
But, just like each coin has two sides, the First Qin Emperor thought his contributions were beyond compare, so he became more and more arrogant and ambitious. As soon as he came to the throne, he ordered that a magnificent mausoleum should be built for him. And after the unification of the whole country, he even gathered 720,000 conscripts from all parts of the country to work on his mausoleum. In fact, it took 37years to complete this project. And the site of these terracotta warriors and horses is just a small part of his mausoleum.
Pit No.1 was discovered in March 1974 when some local farmers were digging a water well to save them from the drought. There are about 6,000 figures in this large pit if fully excavated according to the density. But today, only one third has been excavated.
Pit 1, the largest pit, is in rectangular shape. It measures 230 meters long from east to west,62 meters wide from north to south and 5 meters deep ,covering an area of 14,260 ㎡.It is an earth and wood structure in the shape of a tunnel. Five sloping roadways were constructed on 4 sides of pit to permit access. But do you know how did Qin people make such a large underground construction? Let me tell you the story. First, a large pit was made. The floor was paved with bricks. Earth walls were built and pillars were erected. There are 10 partition walls dividing the whole pit into 11 corridors. On top of the pillars were crossbeams and the crossbeams were covered with mats and then earth. After finishing the underground building, the 6,000 pottery figures were sent to the corridors through the slopping roadways. Then the entrances were sealed. Unfortunately, someone set a big fire on the underground building, the thousands figures were destroyed into fragments at the end of the Qin Dynasty.
The layout of this pit is a large military battle formation. There are chariots and infantrymen in this pit. In the front of the formation are the vanguards.3 ranks of soldiers are standing here in order. They are the first to sacrifice for the emperor. Behind the vanguards is the main body of the formation. There are 38 columns with lines of chariots and infantrymen. The left and right sides of the formation are flanked with a row of guards respectively. At the rear of the formation is another row of guards. The guards are meant to defend against the enemy’s attack from the flanks and the rear. This battle formation is impressively well organized. The warriors and horses are standing as firm as a rock. None of the warriors have shields, but they carry various types of weapons. It is a pity that we can’t see the real weapons held by the soldiers. That’s because they were stolen by someone. After stealing most of the weapons, the one also broke the pottery figures into fragments and burnt them. On the top part, the black charcoal still left there. At the northwest part of Pit.1, we can see the site of the
3rd excavation. After months to years of careful and painstaking restoration, the figures are displayed at their original shape and location.
The Qin terra-cotta warriors and horses were big in life-size and exquisitely made with high technology. The hardness of their bodies indicates that they might be fired at a temperature between 950 and 1050 degrees centigrade.
Pit No.2 is located 20 meters to the north of the eastern end of Pit No.1. This pit is L-shaped. The total area of this pit covers 6,000 square meters. There are more than 1,300 terra-cotta figures in pit No.2, reflecting another large military formation. There are 4 small battle configurations. The kneeling and standing archers situate at the east corner of this pit. The kneeling archers are in the middle of the group with the standing archers placed around them. A general is commanding this group; he is positioned at the left rear. The second configuration is made of war chariots, situates at the south side. These chariots are placed in eight rows with eight chariots in each row, totaling 64chariots. Originally made of wood, the chariots were completely deteriorated when unearthed. During the reconstruction process, we learned each of the chariots was pulled by 4 horses and manned by a charioteer and two attendant warriors. The two attendants rode on the chariot; they carried spears, dagger axes, or other bronze weapons.
The middle configuration consists of war chariots, infantrymen and cavalry. A command chariot was placed at the left rear of the group. A general, a charioteer and a warrior are riding on this chariot. The north group has only cavalry. There are a total of 108 horses and cavalrymen. Four horses and a cavalryman make up a group, and three groups form a line. Each of the cavalrymen stands in front of his horse, holding the rein in one hand and a bow in the other.
These four battle configurations make up a composite military unit. In battle fields these groups could either be used as an integrated unit or could be used independently as required by different situations and different geographical contexts.
Pit No.3 is the smallest of the three pits and was discovered in 1976. Only 68 pottery figures and one chariot drawn by four horses were unearthed in this pit. It is of U-shape about 520 square meters. Pit 3 is now known as the command center of the entire army, because of the following reasons：
Its position in the far northwest corner of the overall plan.So it ensured this one was well protected by the armies of the two large pits.
At the eastern end of the pit, there is a slopping road serviced as the entrance, then followed by an ornate canopied chariot with four armed soldiers. The chariot with canopy was colorful painted, representing higher rank.
In the north and south side chambers, 64 fully armed figures were found. Unlike the soldiers in Pit1 and Pit2, these figures were arranged face to face with their backs to the wall; it suggests that they were the guards. Even the weapons held by these guards are different from those in another two pits. One particular weapons named Shu, which had no blades, only unearthed from Pit3, were believed to be used by the guards of honor.
In north chamber, a piece of broken deer horn and some remains of animal bones were found at one time. They were used by generals as ritual objects for those religious practices, praying for the protection from the God before each battle.
Once the terra-cotta warriors and horses were all arranged inside the corridors, the entrances were closed. It meant a sealed united army was formed to guard Emperor Qin’s underground palace.
In December,1980,2 sets of large painted bronze chariots and horses were unearthed 20 m west of the mausoleum. They were buried about 7.8m underground, and placed one after the other facing west in a wooden case. Having remained for more than 2200 years, the wooden case has decayed , and the top rammed soil caved in. The 2 bronze chariots and horses were broke into more than 3000 pieces. After 8 years of careful and painstaking restoration , they have been restored to their original shape and now are displayed in our museum.
The bronze chariots and horses are half the size of the real ones. Each chariot has a single shaft, two wheels, and is drawn by 4 horses . Both the chariots and horses are made of bronze, except some small spare parts that are made of gold and silver, such as the bridles, necklaces of the two side horses.
The first chariot has a charioteer. H e’s standing under an umbrella-like canopy. The canopy is made of a domed bronze plate. The charioteer wears a cap , a long light robe , and carries a bronze sword at his waist .His position is a high-ranking officer .He stretches his two hands forward . A nd holds the reins in both hands , looking very attentive.
The sculpture technique of the bronze horses is remarkable. The heads of the horses are all clear-cut with conspicuous lines. Each horse has 2 short pricked ears , big bright eyes , broad nose and mouths , round bodies, strong legs , fleshy thighs , and all the four horses are solidly planted on the ground . Four or six teeth are engraved in their mouth, which indicates that each horse is about 4 or 6 years old.
The shaft is connected with the crossbar on which two forked yokes were boun . The two horses in the middle are harnessed with a yoke at the neck, while the two on both sides are tied with a rein round the shoulders. The two outside horses are the ones that provide the major force to pull the chariot along.
There are special devices to prevent the side horses from going too far from the two middle horses or too near to the middle ones. It is clear to show that one device is a T-shaped bronze piece looked like a flying bird with both wings spreading. The sharp end protrudes from the chest of the middle horses to prevent the side horse from leaning inward. Another device is a gold-and-silver chain tied between the crossbar and the necks of the two side horses, so the side horses are not able to move too far outward to ensure the balanced cooperation of the four drawing horses.
The 2nd chariot was called the comfortable chariot. Some archaeologists say that this chariot is the “Wen liang che” in Chinese as stated in historical records. It means that it could regulate the inside temperature. When the door and windows opened, it was cool inside, and it was warm when the were closed. In the year of 210BC, when Emperor Qin died, his body was brought back to the capital in a chariot like this. So this second chariot was meant for the use of Emperor Qin’s soul to go on inspection after his death. The chariot is divided into 2 parts, the front part for the charioteer. The rear part was for the host. The tortoise shell-shaped canopy is about 2.3 s m with a thickness of 1-4mm.
These 2 sets of bronze chariots and horses provide a lot of precious information to help the study of the harnessing and driving system of the single-shaft-two-wheeled chariot of Qin Dynasty, and help solve many of the longtime questions in dispute. One such question concerns the reins .It was said“ A charioteer holds 6 reins” But in the Qin Dynasty, a four-horse-drawn chariot has eight reins, two for each horse. So the question that has puzzled historians for centuries is that which 6 reins were held by the charioteer. Now the unearthing of the Qin bronze chariots and horses has brought to light the answer. From these chariots, we can see that the 6 reins held by the charioteers are the 4 reins of the side horses, while the inside reins of the middle horses are tied to the front part of the chariot, these bronze chariots and horses present us a clear picture of the ancient harnessing and driving system.
These 2sets of bronze chariots are the earliest, largest and most complete structure of their kind ever discovered in China. They are just a small part of all the treasures buried in the mausoleum of Emperor Qin Shihuang. We can predict that there will be more and more exciting archaeological finds around the tomb area. We are sure that one day when the tomb is excavated and opens to the public, it will attract more and more visitors from all over the world, and it will amaze the whole world again with greater wonders.。