The Mausoleum of the First Emperor of Qin is the first imperial mausoleum in Chinese history, and its huge scale and rich funerary objects rank first among the imperial tombs of previous dynasties. In accordance with the principle of enjoying glory and wealth after the death of Qin Shi Huang, the mausoleum was built in imitation of the layout of Xianyang, the capital of the Qin Dynasty, and was roughly in the shape of a zigzag. The mausoleum is divided into two parts, the mausoleum park and the burial area, and the large ground buildings that have been discovered are the ruins of the sleeping hall, the ben hall, and the garden temple official's house.
In 1961, the State Council of the People's Republic of China announced the first batch of key cultural relics protection units, and in 1987, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization included the mausoleum of The First Emperor of Qin in the world cultural heritage protection catalogue and became the common wealth of all mankind.
The pyramids of ancient Egypt are the largest above-ground royal tombs in the world, and the Mausoleum of the First Qin Emperor in China is the largest underground imperial tomb in the world. Qin Shi Huang took all the glory and wealth of his life into the underground. The archaeological discovery of the underground palace covers an area of about 180,000 square meters, and the depth of the central point is about 30 meters. In addition to the well-known Terracotta Warriors and Horses Funerary Pit, copper carriage and horse pits, more than 600 large stone armor pits, hundred drama figurine pits, civil officials figurine pits and funerary tombs have been newly discovered, and more than 100,000 cultural relics have been excavated in the archaeological work of Qinling Tombs over the past few decades.
The center of the mausoleum is the place where the coffin of Qin Shi Huang was placed, and there are more than 400 funerary pits and tombs around the mausoleum, covering an area of 56.25 square kilometers. The main funerary pits are copper carts, horse pits, rare animal pits, stable pits and terracotta pits, etc., and more than 50,000 important historical relics have been excavated over the years. Excavated in 1980, a group of two-by-one large painted bronze carriages and horses, Gao Che and An Che, are the largest, most ornately decorated, most realistic and most complete ancient bronze carriages and horses found in China so far, and are known as the "Crown of Bronze".
The Terracotta Warriors and Horses Pit is a funerary pit of the Mausoleum of the First Emperor of Qin, located 1500 meters east of the mausoleum. It was discovered in the spring of 1974 by local farmers digging wells. The treasure buried underground for more than 2,000 years was revealed, and it was known as the "Eighth Wonder of the World". For the study of the military, political, economic, cultural, scientific and technological materials of the Qin Dynasty, it provides very precious physical materials and has become a valuable wealth of human culture in the world. The Terracotta Warriors and Horses Pit has now excavated 3, the pit sits west to east, arranged in the shape of a "pin", and there are more than 8,000 pottery figurines and pottery horses in the pit, as well as more than 40,000 bronze weapons.
The first pit of the Qin Shi Huang Mausoleum is the "Right Army", which buries about 6,000 pottery figurines and pottery horses that are the same size as the real people and real horses; the second pit is the "Left Army", with more than 1,300 pottery figurines and pottery horses, and 89 chariots, which is a curved array of infantry, cavalry, chariots and other three kinds of mixed formations, and is also the essence of the Qin Figurine Pit; the third pit has 68 samurai figurines, 1 chariot, and 4 pottery horses, which is the headquarters of the commander of the underground army. This army formation is the epitome of the formation of the Qin army. In 1980, a large bronze cast carriage and horse were excavated on the west side of the cemetery. Shocking and concerned by the whole world, these pottery figurines and pottery horses, which were organized according to the military formation at that time, provided vivid physical materials for the study of military establishment, combat methods, and riding infantry equipment in the Qin Dynasty. The discovery of the Terracotta Warriors has been hailed as the "Eighth Wonder of the World" and "one of the greatest discoveries in the history of archaeology in the twentieth century".
The Terracotta Warriors and Horses of the Mausoleum of the First Emperor of Qin are a valuable treasure of the world's human culture comparable to the Egyptian pyramids and ancient Greek sculptures, and its discovery itself is the most spectacular archaeological achievement of China in the 20th century. They fully express the artistic talents of the Chinese people more than 2,000 years ago, and are the pride and precious wealth of the Chinese nation. Former French President Jacques Chirac's praise for its "Eighth Wonder of the World" has made the Mausoleum of the First Qin Emperor known to more people in the world.
It can be seen that the "world's first mausoleum" should be the mausoleum of Qin Shi Huang, not the Zhaoling Tomb of Shaanxi.