Discovering the secrets of the Terracotta Army

In 1974 a poor farmer named Mr. Yang was digging a new well in his field when a head rolled out of the earth landing at his feet, followed by an arm, hand outstretched, as if trying to grasp him. He ran in terror believing his ancestors had returned from the afterlife to punish him. He returned later that day supported by two other farmers and they began to dig.

What they found was the start of one of the most extraordinary archaeological finds in history, eight thousand Terracotta Warriors protecting the vast 2200-year-old tomb of the first emperor Qin Shi Huang. He of the Qing Dynasty who built the Great Wall.

He is known as the Emperor of Two Miracles: the Great Wall and the Warriors. But he also stopped the civil war, unified the country, created a single currency and a common language, invented chrome-plating technology, built high-speed roads and dug canals to connect the Yellow River to the Lijiang and West Rivers, linking the main cities…