From Xinhua:
A Chinese history academic is refuting the modern interpretation of the First Emperor’s terracotta army, saying the figures are servants and bodyguards, instead of warriors as many people believe.
“The clay figures should be taken as copies of the emperor’s guards and servants,” said Liu Jiusheng, associate professor of history at Shaanxi Normal University. “Their layout in the pits, with chariots and horses, represented grand ceremonies with the emperor’s presence.”
Many people believe the 2,200-year-old terracotta army, buried around the mausoleum of Qin Dynasty’s first emperor about 35 km east of Xi’an, indicated the emperor had wanted the clay warriors to help him rule in the afterlife.
The army is known to most Chinese people as the “terracotta warriors and horses”.
Liu, an expert on Qin (221-207 B.C.) history who has been studying the terracotta army for more than 20 years, ruled out the hypothesis.
“It’s against the Chinese tradition and value systems to bury clay warriors in imperial mausoleums — the Chinese traditionally value peace in the afterlife,” Liu said.
In his April, 2009, publication on terracotta research, Liu said the clay figures were most likely modeled after imperial court officials, servants and bodyguards, all of whom were people of high social status. “Men of humble origin or ordinary soldiers couldn’t have got so close to the emperor, even in his mausoleum.”
“It’s against the Chinese tradition and value systems to bury clay warriors in imperial mausoleums — the Chinese traditionally value peace in the afterlife,” Liu said. ”
Maybe this guy is right about the Terracotta Warriors but statements like this just make me wonder how people like this become “experts.” I want to hear highly nuanced, very detailed statements, not blanket remarks about what “is” and “isn’t” the “Chinese traditition.”
This could also be Xinhua’s fault.