Qin Shihuangdi Arriving to the Afterlife

     For this post, we are going to be discussing more about the sculptures created for Qin Shihuangdi in the afterlife. In 1974, when the Chinese peasant discovered the statues of soldiers, he also discovered many other things. He found statues of musicians, acrobats, wrestlers, horses, bronze chariots, birds and more. Today we are going to be talking about the Bronze Horse- Drawn Cart. This piece holds incredible detail and is truly impressive. However, this is not apart of the terra-cotta army. This piece was found a little ways away from the actual burial site, but still quite close. Four horses pull the carriage, and there is a reason to believe they are pulling the emperor around his nation in the afterlife. Meaning, it may have been created as a way for the emperor to tour his land in the afterlife. Some believe that is may also be a way to bring the emperor into the afterlife as one-way transportation. This would be how he would travel to the afterlife. Researchers are still not exactly sure what the intention of this piece was, but because of the incredibly detailed work on this piece, it must have held an important position in the afterlife for Qin Shihuangdi.

- Sydney Cruse