Emperor Qin Shihuang's Mausoleum is situated 5km east of Lintong County in Yan Zhai village.The original name of the mausoleum was"LiShan".The site was chosen which fulfilled the geomagnetic requirements with mountains as the backdrop and a river in front,and the tomb was therefore placed between the Li Mountain to the south and the Wei River to the north.
Emperor Qin Shihuang began to build the mausoleum for himself since he came to throne at the age of 13.After the unification of the country in 221B.C.the project grew large in scale.Over 720,000 convicts from all parts of the empire wcre conscripted as laborers. The work continued even after the emperor's death,taking,in total,38 years.The fact that one of the satellite pits of the terra-cotta army,Pit NO.4,was unfinished and remained empty,suggests that the planned work was not completed.
Emperor Qin shihuang's Mausoleum is very large,covering the total area of 56.25sqkm.it is rectangular in shape and enclosed by two walls-the inner city wall and the outer city wall,forming the shape of the Chinese character"回".
The inner wall measured 1,355m in length from north to south and 580m in width from east to west with a circumference of 3,870m,The area was 79sqm.The outer wall was 2,186m in length from north to south and 976m in width from east to west with a circumference of 6,321m.The area was 213 sqm.The walls no longer exist but the foundations halved remained.
In the north east part of the inner city,a small was built with 670m long from north to south and 330m wide from east to west.Both the inner and outer walls had a gate with gate tower on eath side ,apart from the north side lf the inner wall which had two gates.Both the inner and outer walls had watchtowers at the four corners.The large tomb lies in the south part of the inner city at the point of intersection of six gates.
So many buildings that were above ground have been reduced to ruin or have simply vanished without a trace that it is difficult to determine what the original mausoleum might have looked like.But the number of unusually well-preserved relics beneath the ground have provided archaeologists with a good idea as to the design and overall layout of the mausoleum of Emperor Qin shihuang.
The mausoleum builders got the surprising achievements by their hard work ,however their life lived in poor condition, Rebellious peasants pillaged and burnt those buildings connected with the Qin dynasty, which was hated for its cruelty. The palaces and other buildings within the walls of the mausoleum were destroyed. Only the huge pyramid of the mound survived the devastation, although it is not known whether later grave robbers have plundered the tomb. In 1987 the mausoleum was by UNESCO as a World Heritage site. |
