The Mausoleum is situated at the northern foot of Mount Li southe of Lintong county in Shaanxi province . As stated in the "Records of the Historian" , "there was an immense reserve of jade on the southern side of the Mount . The First Emperor of Qin Yin Zhen admired it so much that he demanded he be buried there after demise." In 246 B.C., not long after he ascended the throne of the Qin Kingdom , Yin Zhen inaugurated the construction of his mausoleum at Mount Li . In 221 B.C., as he had conquered all the other six kingdoms , he gathered 700,000 prisoners to resume the project , which had not been completed at his death in 210 B.C . In all , the construction of the Mausoleum went on for thirty nine years .
The size of the Mausoleum is ranked the top of its kind throughout the world . After 2,200 years of erosion and wash-out by wind and rain , it today still looks like a hill with a 76-meter height , compared to its original 166-meter height . It is surrounded by a wall with the main gateway opened to the east , different from most of Chinese cemeteries that take the north-south course , indicating that the First Emperor of Qin was the sovereign of the Qin Kingdom in the west and swept across the other six eastern kingdoms in the east of Qin .
The "lie-in chamber" of the First Emperor of Qin is positioned in the back part of the Mausoleum . In the west of the Mausoleum between the Inner City and the Outer City there are 17 burial pits of horses , 17 burial pits of precious animals , and 14 pits of pottery figurines . There are also several buried-together pits . There is in the middle a cemetery path in which were buried wooden and copper horse-driven chariots . In the north of the Mausoleum are an accompanying buried-together pit and seven side rooms , and a gateway and a cemetery path leading to the grave proper . In the east of the Mausoleum are three cemetery paths . Outside the Mausoleum is the adjunctive burying area , in which are discovered so far three pits of Terracotta Warriors , three pits of stables , 17 tombs of killed horses and 17 tombs of prisoners . The underground palace symbolized the city of Xiangyang, which was very luxurious : "Mercury was poured in as the rivers and seas . Its top part imitated the Heaven and its lower part imitated the Earth . It was illuminated with human-oil candles , "that were supposed not to extinct for a long time . In it stored valuable articles and precious jewelry ." It was equipped with mechanic arrows and bows to prevent robbery . In 209 B.C. , when the corpse of the First Emperor of Qin was buried in the Mausoleum , Hu Hai ,the Second Emperor of Qin , buried alive in the Mausoleum all the concubines of the First Emperor bearing no offspring and sealed inside it all the craftsmen engaged in the construction of the Mausoleum . This was an extremely cruel act .
The Terracotta Warriors are supposed to be the garrison troops stationed outside the east gate of the Mausoleum . They are arrayed in three pits in the form of the character "品" along the west-east course . Those in No .1 Pit are infantry . Those in No.2 Pit are mixed cavalry , chariots , infantry and archers . Those in No .3 Pit in an 凹shaped formation are the headquarters commanding the troops in the other two pits . In the three pits there are altogether more than 7,000 terracotta warriors , more than 100 chariots , more than 400 terracotta horses , and thousands of weapons .
The sizes of the terracotta warriors are that of the real men and the real horses . The warriors are 1.8 m . tall , with different , imposing complexions , sculpted carefully and lively . Their varied expressions , postures and armors reflected their ages , experiences , combat braches and positions . The terracotta horses are all of true life sizes . All the horses are strong , with raised ears and with eyes looking to the front . Their appearances are in very appropriate proportions . Aside from the excellent craftsmanship , the artistic achievements of the horse sculptures are inseparable from the fact that the Qin people were good at raising horses . The arms unearthed are even more surprising . Even now , the unearthed chromium-plated bronze swords are glistening and sharp . The two unearthed chariots are very amazing . Each chariot had four horses and a driver . The chariot had an exquisite cover , carved windows and a saddle with gold and silver filigrees . Made entirely to true size , the copper chariots reflect the consummate casting and assembling technique in the Qin Dynasty .
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