Download Background information about the exhibition

Background information on the exhibition
“Qin – The eternal emperor and his terracotta warriors”
Chronological context
Qin’s rise
Beginnings of the Qin Dynasty in the city of
the same name (around 870 BC)
Qin rulers are recognised by the Zhou kings
as princes (770 BC)
The first Qin ruler declares himself King (324
BC)
Qin Shi Huangdi declares himself First
Emperor of China and founds the Chinese
Empire (221 – 207 BC)
Civil war (206 – 202 BC)
The Han Dynasty takes power (202 BC)
At approximately the same time in Europe
Beginning of the Iron Age in Central Europe (c.
750 BC)
Founding of Rome (753 BC)
Alexander the Great (ruled 336 – 323 BC)
conquers the East
Hannibal crosses the Alps with his army of war
elephants. Beginning of the 2nd Punic War (218
BC)
The Romans defeat Hannibal and the
Carthaginians in the Battle of Zama (202 BC).
End of the 2nd Punic War (201 BC)
Geographical context
The tomb complex of the First Emperor of China is located near Xi’an, the capital city of the
present-day northwestern Chinese province of Shaanxi. Today, China extends over some 9.6
million km2 (3.7 million sq mi). Its largest north-south expansion measures 4500 km (2800 mi), its
largest east-west expansion measures 4200 km (2600 mi).
Qin Shi Huangdi – The First Emperor of China
“Qin” – meaning
“Qin” in ancient China stood for
• a region
• a people
• a principality
• a kingdom
• the first imperial dynasty
Qin Shi Huangdi – the person
• Lived from 259 to 210 BC
• Qin Shi Huangdi was a controversial figure with a great historical impact. Hardly any
contemporary written records about him have survived. Most of the information we have
about the First Emperor came down to us from the Chinese historian Sima Qian (circa 145
– 90 BC), who wrote about and critically assessed him at some remove. Sima Qian’s
description to this day shapes our image of Qin Shi Huangdi.
• He conquered six warring states and united them, thus creating a vast new empire – the
Chinese Empire.
• He declared himself First Emperor of China (221 BC).
• His title “Qin Shi Huangdi” translates as “First Sublime Divine Emperor of Qin”.
Qin Shi Huangdi – the legacy
• He founded a Chinese Empire with a central system of administration.
• He connected up existing ramparts to form the Great Wall of China.
• He unified currencies, measurements and weights.
• He standardised the system of writing, ensuring that decrees and laws could be read in all
parts of the empire. To this day, the standardised writing system is a crucial unifying force
throughout the multi-ethnic state of China.
• He enforced his ideas even against stiff resistance all over the empire.
• His achievements retained their importance long after his death and had a lasting impact
on China’s development.
• The centrally administered empire as a system of government survived the overthrow of the
Qin Dynasty and despite several hiatuses continued until 1911.
Qin Shi Huangdi – the tomb complex
• The First Emperor’s burial mound is an unmissable pyramid of earth towering over the Wei
River Valley in northwestern China, some 40 km northeast of the city of Xi’an in the
Province of Shaanxi. The actual burial chamber still remains untouched beneath the 78 m
high burial mound.
• It was only realised that the tomb consisted of much more than just the mausoleum when
Qin Shi Huangdi’s terracotta army of some 8,000 warriors was discovered by chance in
1974.
• It is located circa 1.5 km east of the burial mound. Some 180 further pits with grave goods
and other sites are spread over several square kilometres of the tomb complex.
• The tomb complex mirrors the First Emperor’s self-image and claim to power.
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The exhibition “Qin – The eternal emperor and his terracotta warriors”
Contract negotiations
• In May 2010 the initial talks took place between the Bernisches Historisches Museum and
representatives of the Province of Shaanxi in China.
• During the following two-and-a-half years, representatives of the Bernisches Historisches
Museum travelled to China several times and attended numerous meetings.
• As early as 2011, a basic agreement was reached with the lending museum (Shaanxi
Cultural Heritage Promotion Centre, Xi’an) to hold an exhibition in Bern.
• This was followed by lengthy negotiations and a complex approval process with the
authorities in Beijing.
• The definitive contract was signed in early January 2013.
Insurance
• The objects are insured to an extent that is usual for museum exhibits.
Transporting the exhibits
• In late January, four restorers/conservators from the Bernisches Historisches Museum
travelled to China to pack the objects in collaboration with staff from the lending institutions.
• The ten terracotta figures and 220 other objects were jointly assessed, their condition
documented and photographed and then carefully packed for the journey.
• The objects will be transported to Europe by air.
• They will be unpacked in Bern in collaboration with the Chinese colleagues and their
condition once again documented. They will then be carefully positioned in their designated
places in the exhibition.
Layout of the exhibition
The exhibition is centred around the formation of the Chinese Empire, the flamboyant First
Emperor and his monumental tomb complex with its spectacular terracotta army as well as the
period’s legacy for China. The terracotta figures will be presented alongside some 220 other highquality, fascinating artefacts, and together they will relate exciting stories from the early days of the
Chinese Empire.
Prologue: China 3,000 years ago
I. The rise of Qin (9th century to 210 BC)
• From principality to kingdom
• The Empire arises
• Ancestor worship and life after death
II. The First Emperor’s tomb complex (246–207 BC)
• An organized world in the hereafter
• Terracotta warriors protect the emperor
• Research of the Terracotta Army
III. The legacy of the First Emperor (210 BC – )
• Funerary culture of the Han period (202 BC–AD 220)
• The echo of the Qin bells
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