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Built for the first emperor in Chinese history,
the mausoleum was listed as a world cultural heritage site in 1987.
According to Records of History, Qing Shihuang started building
his own tomb on Lishan Mountain soon after he came to the throne.
Construction expanded after he unified China in 221 B.C. and involved
700,000 laborers. It was completed 38 years later.
The mausoleum has a square rammed earthen
base and is still 76 meters high. The coffin and chamber of Qin
Shihuang are in the center of the underground palace. The mausoleum
site contains more than 400 tombs and vaults of articles buried
with Qin Shihuang; they cover an area of 56.25 square kilometers.
The main vaults include the vault of the bronze carriage, the vault
of horses, the vault of rare and precious birds and animals, the
vault of stables and the vault of warriors and horses. Over the
past few years, a total of 50,000 historical and cultural relics
have been unearthed. The painted and colored bronze carriage, drawn
by two bronze horses unearthed in 1980, is the largest and most
elegant of its type discovered in China. The carriage is made of
more than 3,000 parts, over 1,000 of them gold and silver.
The vaults of the terra cotta warriors and
horses are 1.5 kilometers east of Qin Shihuang's Mausoleum and the
first was discovered when local peasants were sinking wells during
a drought in 1974. There are three vaults. Vault I is 14,260 square
meters in area and contains 6,000 life-like terra cotta warriors
and horses. On display are 1,000 soldiers, eight war chariots and
32 horses. Vault ¢̣, which covers an area of 6,000 square meters,
contains 1,300 warriors and horses and 89 war chariots. Unlike Vault
( which contains only chariots and foot soldiers, Vault ¢̣houses
warriors, war chariots, cavalrymen, and foot soldiers. Vault ¢ó is
the headquarters of the underground army and is 376.64 square meters
in area. In it there are 68 warriors, one war chariot and four horses.
The figures epitomize soldiers of the Qin army.
Included in the UNESCO world heritage list
in 1987.
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