The Mausoleum of Qin Shi Huang

The mausoleum of Qin Shi Huang lies beneath a man-made hill near Xi’an in Shaanxi Province. Construction began in 246 BCE, when the future emperor was thirteen years old, and continued for over thirty years using a labor force estimated at 700,000 workers.

The Terracotta Army

In 1974, farmers digging a well near the mound broke through into a pit containing thousands of life-sized clay soldiers. Excavation revealed three main pits holding approximately 8,000 warriors, 130 chariots, and 670 horses. Every soldier has a distinct face. They were originally painted in bright colors that faded within minutes of exposure to air.

The Sealed Chamber

The burial chamber itself has never been opened. The historian Sima Qian, writing about a century after the emperor’s death, described rivers of mercury flowing through a miniature model of the empire, with the ceiling decorated to represent the heavens. Modern geophysical surveys have confirmed mercury concentrations in the soil above the chamber at levels far exceeding the surrounding area. Whatever Sima Qian described, something containing mercury is still down there.

The Emperor

Qin Shi Huang unified China, standardized its writing system, built the first version of the Great Wall, and burned books he considered dangerous. He spent his final years consuming mercury-laced elixirs prepared by court alchemists who promised immortality. He died in 210 BCE, likely of mercury poisoning, on a tour of eastern China. His ministers concealed the death until they could secure the succession.