Well of course there aren’t 8000 terracotta statues – that is the number at the site itself, Xi’an, in the first pit! There is just 10 of them at the exhibition (there were to be 14, but as the director of the museum, William Thorsell, told us a few weeks later, the Chinese central government eventually intervened with the local provincial authorities to limit the number of statues to be borrowed, as per central rules!) People somewhat disappointed? Some believed that the publicity was misleading…personally I believe people were misled by their imagination!
A great didactic exhibition! Yes, for the army statues themselves - you see them "up close & personal", well displayed, with all the details, and great explanations. They constitute the main attraction. Everybody (or I may be exaggerating here…) knows by now about the Terracotta Army in China (the tomb of the emperor – Qin Shi Huangdi – that unified China more than 22 centuries ago, discovered accidentally by a peasant in the mid seventies, etc.) What is less known is the story of the Qin, the family and the state that led to the unified country over 4 centuries, and which culminated with the conquest of the 5 other reigning surrounding states. That is what the first, and largest part of the exhibition, focuses on; with artifacts and maps – one very original, digital, showing the evolution of China’s territory over its history and various ruling dynasties. The exhibition borrows from several museums in the Xi’an region (Shaanxi province); many items never shown before apparently outside of China. I am also led to believe that the exhibition is going to tour elsewhere in Canada (don’t know when and where though).
A very original way also of introducing the visitor: a presentation on film by an impersonator, almost “grandeur nature”, of Sima Qian, an historian that chronicled, among other things, the life and history of Qin Shi Huangdi, only less than a century after the death of the Emperor. Done with humour, and appearing a few more times throughout the exhibition.
Aside from “unifying” China, the Emperor is also, and probably for a more deserving reason, remembered for introducing standards and norms throughout the “new” empire: currency, measures, language, administration, governance, etc. He wasn’t shy either of drastic, if cruel, means to achieve his goals: to ensure the prevalence of a “unified” culture, he killed all the intellectuals of the day, and burned all of their books – a sort of “Cultural Revolution” before our times (actually, I don’t think that Mao had anything very different in mind in the sixties!)
Qin Shi Huangdi requisitioned much of the available workforce of the day (all serfs) to complete major infrastructure projects, such as patching and extending the Great Wall; and he moved around: 5 tours of the empire during his short reign. It was short indeed (the Qin dynasty lasted only from 221 to 206BC) because people revolted and overthrew it shortly after the Emperor died (in 210). It was followed by the Han dynasty, which “let up” on labor conscription and infrastructure projects, while keeping the reforms, standards and norms that the Emperor had introduced – many of them still defining China today. They "struck a balance”, as we would say today, and to their advantage: the dynasty lasted for the next 400 years!
One of the defining exhibitions of this summer: to be seen. At the ROM, until the end of the year. See www.rom.on.ca
(Note to myself: see again Zhang Yimou’s film, The First Emperor)
Toronto, July 3, 2010
