Editing Terracotta Army (section)

===Types and appearance===
[[File:I was impressed with the life-like expression (35300697030).jpg|thumb|left|upright|A terracotta general]]

==== The warriors ====
The terracotta figures are life-sized, typically ranging from {{convert|1.75|metre}} to about {{convert|2|m}} (the officers are typically taller). They vary in height, uniform, and hairstyle in accordance with their portrayed rank. Their faces appear to be different for each individual figure, scholars have identified 10 base facial forms which were then further developed to give each figure individuality in terms of facial morphology.<ref name="national geographic">{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TrPmZXt-wIEC&pg=PA27 |title=The Terra Cotta Warriors |publisher=National Geographic Museum |page=27 |access-date=29 March 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230329073020/https://books.google.com/books?id=TrPmZXt-wIEC&pg=PA27 |archive-date=29 March 2023 |url-status=live}}</ref> The figures are of these general types: armored [[infantry]]; unarmored infantry; [[cavalrymen]] who wear a pillbox hat; helmeted drivers of chariots with more armor protection; spear-carrying charioteers; kneeling crossbowmen or archers who are armored; standing archers who are not; as well as generals and other lower-ranking officers.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DbtrAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA110 |title=The Terracotta Warriors: The Secret Codes of the Emperor's Army |first=Maurice |last=Cotterell |publisher=Inner Traditions Bear and Company |date=June 2004 |isbn=978-1591430339 |pages=105–112 |access-date=29 March 2023 |archive-date=29 March 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230329073020/https://books.google.com/books?id=DbtrAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA110 |url-status=live }}</ref> There are, however, many variations in the uniforms within the ranks: for example, some may wear shin pads while others not; they may wear either long or short trousers, some of which may be padded; and their body armors vary depending on rank, function, and position in formation.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DbtrAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA103 |title=The Terracotta Warriors: The Secret Codes of the Emperor's Army |first=Maurice |last=Cotterell |publisher=Inner Traditions Bear and Company |date=June 2004 |isbn=978-1591430339 |pages=103–105 |access-date=29 March 2023 |archive-date=29 March 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230329073027/https://books.google.com/books?id=DbtrAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA103 |url-status=live }}</ref> There are also terracotta horses placed among the warrior figures.
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| image1   = Xi'an Terracotta Army coloured statuettes.jpg
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| image2   = Pigments used on terracotta warriors.jpg
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| footer=Figures with some of their natural coloring, and the pigments used on the Terracotta warriors
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Originally, the figures were painted with ground precious stones, intensely fired bones (white), pigments of [[iron oxide]] (dark red), [[cinnabar]] (red), [[malachite]] (green), [[azurite]] (blue), [[charcoal]] (black), [[Han purple and Han blue|cinnabar barium copper silicate mix]] (Chinese purple or Han purple), tree sap from a nearby source (more than likely from the [[Toxicodendron vernicifluum|Chinese lacquer tree]]) (brown),<ref name="azurite">{{cite magazine |last=Larmer |first=Brook |date=June 2012 |title=Terra-Cotta Warriors in Color |magazine=[[National Geographic]] |pages=74–87 |url=https://www.nationalgeographic.com/magazine/2012/06/terra-cotta-warriors/ |url-access=subscription |access-date=10 December 2019 |archive-date=10 December 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191210122059/https://www.nationalgeographic.com/magazine/2012/06/terra-cotta-warriors/ |url-status=dead }}</ref> and other colors including pink, lilac, red, white,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2010-09/09/content_11278335.htm |title=Terracotta army emerges in its true colors |work=[[China Daily]] |date=September 9, 2010 |last=lie |first=Ma |access-date=July 21, 2019 |archive-date=24 January 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200124003247/https://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2010-09/09/content_11278335.htm |url-status=live }}</ref> and one unidentified color.<ref name="azurite"/> The colored lacquer finish and individual facial features would have given the figures a realistic feel, with eyebrows and facial hair in black and the faces done in pink.<ref>{{cite book |title=Imperial Tombs of China |date=1995 |publisher=Lithograph Publishing Company |page=76}}</ref>

However, in [[Xi'an#Climate|Xi'an]]'s dry climate, much of the color coating would flake off in less than four minutes after removing the mud surrounding the army.<ref name="azurite"/>

====The acrobats====
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| image1   = Qin Terracotta Acrobat (9897907493).jpg
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| image2   = Qin acrobat, Pit K9901, Qin Mausoleum.jpg
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| footer=Two of the ''"[[The Acrobats|Acrobats]]"'' from pit K9901.<ref name="Acrobats"/>
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Excavations in Pit K9901 have uncovered in 1999 a series of associated terracotta sculptures that have been dubbed "''[[The Acrobats]]''", which have been remarked to display an advanced understanding of human anatomy.<ref name="DQ">{{cite journal |last1=Qingbo |first1=Duan |title=Sino-Western Cultural Exchange as Seen through the Archaeology of the First Emperor's Necropolis |journal=Journal of Chinese History |date=January 2023 |volume=7 |issue=1 |page=22 |doi=10.1017/jch.2022.25 |s2cid=251690411 |language=en |issn=2059-1632 |quote=Stimulated by his discovery of the terracotta entertainers at the necropolis, which display a style of sculpture unprecedented in East Asia, as well as by the internal steplike architecture embedded within the emperor’s tomb mound, Duan began to explore the influence of West Asian cultures on the Qin. He published some preliminary ideas on this topic in his 2011 monograph on the necropolis, but it was most fully explored in three articles published in successive issues of his university journal, Xibei daxue xuebao, in 2015 (translated here in their entirety).|doi-access=free }}</ref> The original function of these statues remains unclear, but they have been described as either potentially acrobat or dancer figures. The number of these figures uncovered thus far are relatively few compared to the more noted warrior figures, with the total discovered probably numbering a dozen. The figures are bare with the exception of a loincloth as dress. These figures are very vivid and less stereotypical than the soldiers, especially through the dynamic treatment of the musculature and bone joints.<ref name="DQ"/> Some of the men are very lean, while others have massive bodies. Several of them are shown in the process of moving or making gestures. These terracotta statues demonstrate an advanced mastery of the depiction of the shapes and proportions of the human body.<ref name="Acrobats">{{cite journal |last1=Nickel |first1=Lukas |title=The First Emperor and sculpture in China |journal=Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies |date=October 2013 |volume=76 |issue=3 |pages=422–427 |doi=10.1017/S0041977X13000487 |url=https://doi.org/10.1017/S0041977X13000487 |language=en |issn=0041-977X |quote=}}</ref>

Eleven of such figurines from Pit K9901 have since been subsequently unearthed with seven of them found in a degree of preservation that made them capable of being largely reconstructed from their fragment shards.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Chen |first=Yumin |date=November 2013 |title=Reflections on China's First Collection of Terracotta Acrobats (an exhibition review) |url=http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1470357213498175 |journal=Visual Communication |language=en |volume=12 |issue=4 |pages=497–502 |doi=10.1177/1470357213498175 |issn=1470-3572}}</ref>
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| footer = Terracotta Army General (Left), Mid-rank officer of the Terracotta Army in [[Xi'an]] (right)
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| image1 = Terrakotta general 2010 (2).jpg
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==== Speculations on possible influences ====
Since the time of their discovery, the figures have been noted for their exceptional stylistic realism and individualism, with assessments having found that no two figures share the exact same features.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=von Falkenhausen |first=Lothar |date=2008 |title=Action and Image in Early Chinese Art |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/44171471 |url-status=live |journal=Cahiers d'Extrême-Asie |volume=17 |pages=51–91 |doi=10.3406/asie.2008.1272 |issn=0766-1177 |jstor=44171471 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230130043011/https://www.jstor.org/stable/44171471 |archive-date=30 January 2023 |access-date=30 January 2023}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Chen |first=Yumin |date=2013 |title=Reflections on China's First Collection of Terracotta Acrobats (an exhibition review) |url=http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1470357213498175 |url-status=live |journal=Visual Communication |language=en |volume=12 |issue=4 |pages=497–502 |doi=10.1177/1470357213498175 |issn=1470-3572 |s2cid=147420437 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230130043016/https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1470357213498175 |archive-date=30 January 2023 |access-date=30 January 2023}}</ref> The earliest note on this aspect was that of 20th century art historian German Hafner who, in 1986, was the first to speculate on a possible [[Hellenistic]] link to these sculptures due to the unusual display of naturalism relative to general Qin era sculpture: "the art of the terracotta army originated from Western contact".<ref name="Duan">{{Cite journal |last=Qingbo |first=Duan |date=2022 |title=Sino-Western Cultural Exchange as Seen through the Archaeology of the First Emperor's Necropolis |journal=Journal of Chinese History 中國歷史學刊 |language=en |volume=7 |pages=21–72 |doi=10.1017/jch.2022.25 |issn=2059-1632 |s2cid=251690411 |quote=More than thirty-five years ago [1986], there was a European scholar (German Hafner, 1911–2008) who considered that the art of the terracotta army "originated from Western contact, originated from knowledge of Alexander the Great and the splendor of Greek art." Lukas Nickel of SOAS has put forward a similar proposition. |doi-access=free}}</ref> This idea was also generally supported by [[Duan Qingbo]], site chief archaeologist from 1998 to 2006, though noting that "the only thing" in extant archaeology which may hold a close similarity to the figures in terms of their artistic style is that of the later 1st century BCE Central Asian [[Khalchayan|Khalchayan statuary]].<ref name="Duan2">{{Cite journal |last=Qingbo |first=Duan |date=2022 |title=Sino-Western Cultural Exchange as Seen through the Archaeology of the First Emperor's Necropolis |journal=Journal of Chinese History 中國歷史學刊 |language=en |volume=7 |pages=21–72 |doi=10.1017/jch.2022.25 |issn=2059-1632 |s2cid=251690411 |quote=The only thing that closely matches the artistic style of the imperial Qin terracotta warriors is the head of a painted pottery figure unearthed in Uzbekistan (...) The way of assembling the head and body for this Kushan figure of a warrior (possibly Saka) was the same as that employed for the Qin terracotta warriors, in that they were fabricated separately, and then the head was inserted into the trunk of the figure. |doi-access=free}}</ref> Li Xiuzhen, senior site archaeologist,<ref>{{cite web |title=Dr Xiuzhen Li, School of Archaeology, University of Oxford |url=https://www.arch.ox.ac.uk/people/dr-xiuzhen-li-0 |website=www.arch.ox.ac.uk |language=en}}</ref> also acknowledged the possibility of Hellenistic influences, stating: "we now think the Terracotta Army, [[The Acrobats|the acrobats]] and the [[:File:2009 Bronze Goose from Qin Shihuang Terracotta Army Burial.jpg|bronze sculptures found on site]] were inspired by ancient Greek sculptures and art."<ref>{{cite web |date=12 October 2016 |title=Western contact with China began long before Marco Polo, experts say |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-37624943 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200316221530/https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-37624943 |archive-date=16 March 2020 |access-date=19 October 2023 |website=BBC News}}</ref> She later also asserted ultimate Chinese authorship: "the terracotta warriors may be inspired by Western culture, but were uniquely made by the Chinese."<ref name="han-sil">{{cite web |author1=Hanink, Johanna |author2=Silva, Felipe Rojas |date=20 November 2016 |title=Why China's Terracotta Warriors Are Stirring Controversy |url=https://www.livescience.com/56939-china-terracotta-warriors-stir-controversy.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200105042337/https://www.livescience.com/56939-china-terracotta-warriors-stir-controversy.html |archive-date=5 January 2020 |access-date=5 October 2017 |publisher=Live Science}} Originally published in {{cite news |last1=Hanink<!-- Associate Professor of Classics, Brown University --> |first1=Johanna |last2=Silva<!-- Assistant Professor of Archaeology and the Ancient World, Brown University --> |first2=Felipe Rojas |date=18 November 2016 |title=Why there's so much backlash to the theory that Greek art inspired China's Terracotta Army |url=https://theconversation.com/why-theres-so-much-backlash-to-the-theory-that-greek-art-inspired-chinas-terracotta-army-67488 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200914140156/https://theconversation.com/why-theres-so-much-backlash-to-the-theory-that-greek-art-inspired-chinas-terracotta-army-67488 |archive-date=14 September 2020 |access-date=22 February 2018 |work=The Conversation}}</ref>

Others have argued that such speculations rest on flawed and old Eurocentric ideas that assumed other civilizations were incapable of sophisticated artistry and thus foreign artistry must be seen through Western traditions, with site archaeologist Zhang Weixing stating that "there is no substantial evidence at all" for any such linkage.<ref name="han-sil" /> Raoul McLaughlin, an independent researcher on Roman trade, stated that there is no Greek influence on the Terracotta Army and emphasized the differences in artisanship, construction material, and symbology.<ref name="WHC">{{cite journal |last1=Bulla |first1=Patrick Michelle |date=October 2019 |title=The Qin Dynasty, the Hellenistic Empire, and the Art that May Connect Them: Why Exploring Cultural Connections Matters for Educators and Students of World History |url=https://worldhistoryconnected.press.uillinois.edu/16.3/forum_bulla.html |url-status=live |journal=World History Connected |volume=16 |issue=3 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230606084945/https://worldhistoryconnected.press.uillinois.edu/16.3/forum_bulla.html |archive-date=6 June 2023 |access-date=29 October 2023}}</ref> Darryl Wilkinson of [[Dartmouth College]] has instead argued that the Qin era display of sculptural naturalism, alongside that of the pre-Columbian [[Moche culture]] in Peru, indicate that "the Greeks did not invent naturalism" and that "sculptural naturalism is not the product of any one culture's civilizational 'genius.{{'"}}<ref>{{Citation |last=Wilkinson |first=Darryl |title=On the Ontological Significance of Naturalistic Art |date=2022 |work=Ancient Art Revisited |pages=47–66 |url=https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9781003131038-3/ontological-significance-naturalistic-art-darryl-wilkinson |access-date=2023-10-10 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231019071933/https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9781003131038-3/ontological-significance-naturalistic-art-darryl-wilkinson |archive-date=19 October 2023 |url-status=live |publisher=Routledge |doi=10.4324/9781003131038-3 |isbn=978-1-003-13103-8}}</ref>