We're in Sydney for Xmas and having a day to spare headed off by train and taxi to an exhibition at the Art Gallery of NSW. And, wow, it was a great exhibition called The First Emperor. The gentleman concerned was Qin Shihuang who became king of a very small state at the age of 13 and spent the next 25 years uniting China into more or less its current configuration less the western one-third (including Tibet). He was born in 259 BCE. Qin is pronounced Chin, so guess what: Chin became China. Much of the exhibit contains pottery, bronze and gold (or other precious items) of the 200 years or so preceding Qin's rise and on to his rein as the 1st Emperor.
Interest - indeed spectacular - as that was, the centre-point of the exhibition was the collection of terracotta warriors created to defend him in the afterlife. Their existence was discovered in a field near X'ian in 1974 and subsequently archaeologists worked until today - the work is continuing - to unearth thousands of items of which we saw just a few.
They're magnificent, and Dot and I are now planning to visit X'ian and also Beijing where we'll walk on the wall. Watch this space for further details. If you have a chance, please go. The exhibition runs until 13th March. I now have a replica of the general leading the parade which will stand in my office for inspiration.
AS
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