Wednesday, March 21, 2012

Terra Cotta Soldiers Field Trip


We were recently able to visit the Bower Museum’s Warriors : Tombs and Temples.    If the exhibit comes to a museum near you, be sure to visit!   It was an awesome exhibit!

The tour started out with a brief history of  the three dynasties featured in the exhibit.  

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and The Tang DynastyTerra Cotta Soldiers 012

The exhibit featured several of the famous life-sized terra cotta soldiers found protecting Emperor Qin’s tomb (which the Chinese government has deemed too  sacred to breech). 

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The size of the figures are impressive as is the individuality of each figure.   Every face different!

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The burial pits featured not only soldiers, but also life-sized horses.

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Fighting my way through a crowd of boys, I found a case filled with weapons found in the pits with the soldiers.

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Since the Terra Cotta Soldiers have been discovered, many other Tombs have been uncovered.   Turns out Emperor Qin was not too popular a person.   He did much to unify China, but wasn’t above high taxes and working people to death.   So after his death, other tombs were protected by smaller armies---about two feet in height—as a protest to Qin’s extravagant burial. 

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Like Egyptians’ belief in the afterlife, the Chinese believed the dead would need everything they had during their earthly life in the next life. 

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So they were buried with stoves,

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vessels, and farm animals (as well as farmers!).

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Next we entered a Tang Dynasty princess’ tomb full of amazing pieces of art.  

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An amazing time was had by all at this amazing exhibit.

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11 comments:

  1. What a great field trip. It looks like they are gone now? (I can't find them on the Bowers website.) My boys would have loved to see them (though I think I'll be taking them to see the Gold exhibit).

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  2. It has left The Bower Museum. You can check out an awesome overview of the exhibit here: http://www.terracottawarriorexhibit.com/ The Gold exhibit does look pretty interesting. Our tour guide mentioned that an exhibit of Faberge Eggs will be coming soon. I definitely want to go see that one.

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  3. What an amazing field trip! I don't see your kids forgetting this anytime soon!

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  4. That is a wonderful field trip. Thanks for sharing!!

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  5. This does sound like a fantastic field trip! Thanks for sharing it with Look! What We Did!

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  6. That looks like a really cool field trip!

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  7. I'm glad you shared this with Favorite Resources :) This post is a virtual field trip!

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  8. This is so cool. We are just starting to study ancient China. I love your explanations. Do you live in China? I heard there is a replica of the Terra Cotta Soldiers in Texas.

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  9. wow, this would be great when we study Ancient China! Wonder if we'll get something similiar around here ! Thanks for sharing at FTF!!

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  10. Wonderful we are going to studying China next year and this is on my list. Great field tirp thanks for sharing on the Home school field trip hop

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  11. It would be so fabulous to see this exhibit! Your family must have had a great time :-) My husband and I have always been fascinated by the terracotta warriors - what an incredible army to create. And the faces! Amazing - thanks for including photos of so many of them :-) One day we hope to visit China and see them.

    Thanks for sharing on Happy Family Times :-)

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