Terracotta Warriors: Charmed Again

There’s something about the Terracotta Warriors. I first saw them two years ago when I lived in Taiwan, and was surprised to find each figure individually sculpted, each suit of armor and hairstyle distinct from the next. They weren’t at all the monolithic group I’d expected from photos of the excavation pits near Xi’an, China. I couldn’t read any of the exhibit text at the time (it was in Chinese, of course) but no matter: I was smitten.

I got a second chance to see the warriors last night, at DC’s National Geographic headquarters, and they were just as mesmerizing. The exhibit includes a number of artifacts discovered at the excavation site– bronze cranes, jade pendants, decorated bricks–and details the warriors’ unexpected discovery by a group of unwitting Chinese farmers in 1974. It’s a great backstory, but the show’s kick-in-the-gut moment comes at the very end, in a low-lit room where you’ll see ten of the warriors, standing, kneeling, poised for battle.

Yes, they were meant to be fearsome, to protect a Chinese emperor from the demons of the afterlife. But their faces are just too likeable: a sloping cheekbone, a curled mustache, a pair of curious eyes that reach across millennia. Really. It’s enough to make you book the next flight to Xi’an.

Terracotta Warriors: Guardians of China’s First Emperor runs through March 31, 2010.

Photo by smmorgan photos via Flickr (Creative Commons).

[Via http://dcmuseumgoer.com]