47 The Awakening of the Terracotta Army

兵马俑的苏醒

Xi’an |

China

Chinese

Behind the scenes

While observing the Terracotta Army of Qin Shi Huang near Xi’an in China, I was struck by the sense of power emanating from these thousands of soldiers, frozen in the earth for more than two thousand years.

I then imagined what these men might have felt, and what could have driven an entire people to surpass themselves in order to build such an extraordinary civilization. The text thus gives voice to one of these soldiers, still waiting for the order to rise again.

In the illustration, his determined gaze seems ready to return to battle. Beside him appear the words 荣耀、历史、悲剧 – glory, history, tragedy – like a silent reflection on great civilizations and the often immense price paid to enter history… or to remain in it.

Echoes of the world

Emperor Qin Shi Huang (3rd century BCE) is one of the founding figures of imperial China. After unifying the warring states, he undertook major reforms to structure his empire: standardizing weights and measures, currency, and even writing, so that all regions would use the same characters.

In the illustration appears the word 历史 (lìshǐ), which means “history.” The second character, 史 (shǐ), originally referred to a scribe, responsible for recording events and passing them on to future generations.

Thus, history is not only a sequence of facts: it is also what people choose to record and preserve.

Listen to an audio excerpt of the text