a warrior on show (baidu)So far, ancient terra-cotta warriors and horses have been excavated in three places in China. The most famous ones are the Qin warriors which were found in Xi'an , capital of Shaanxi Province. Though built about century earlier, the size and scale of the underground Qin Army is much larger than its Han counterparts in Xuzhou and Xianyang.
The terra-cotta soldiers in Xi'an were sculptured to protect the tomb of Qin Shihuang, the first emperor to unify a feudal China in the third century B.C. Qin Shihuang founded its capital in Xi'an, and created one of the ancient greatest cities the world has ever known.
Believing that he would continue to rule his county after his death, Qin Shihuang ordered his subjects to build a magnificent underground palace. Construction of the tomb began soon after Qin Shihuang ascended the throne. Hundreds of thousands of people worked 17 years to complete it.
The great detail was recorded in the 1,000 year old document known as "The Record of History". The book described the ceiling of the underground. Imperial halls were embedded with jewels to represent the stars in the sky. Qin Shihuang's stone coffin was built to float in mercury, which symbolizes the sea.
Qin Shihuang commissioned a contingent to protect his tomb. These are the terra-cotta soldiers. The soldiers are stationed in three divisions, the east army, the west army and the central army. The east army is in rectangular formation made up of a 3,000 field warriors, while the west army include 1,000 archers and clay men and hundreds of horses. The army headquarter is in the central army. 
overlooking view (baidu)
The clay statues are in life size and were modeled after the real members of Qin Shihuang's army. The facial features and expression are depicted so vividly in life that one can almost understand the soldiers'characters, and which part of the country they came from, and one can tell from the soldiers garment and posture and weapons his position in the army.
While the soldiers and horses are made of clay, the weapons are real, the terra-cotta armies actually hold a complete arsenal of Qin Dynasty, and some of the weapons were never discovered before and demonstrated more advanced craftsmanship than expected. For instance, an unearthed bronze sword still shines after having been buried underground for more than 2,000 years. It has been found to contain many rare materials. The ancient craftsmen also used special treatment to prevent the sword from getting rusty. Marveling at the sophisticated techniques, historians say they must rewrite its metallurgical history.
