Why "Terra Cotta Statues"?

I've been neglecting this blog a bit recently, which is regrettable.  Unfortunately schoolwork had been taking up a good bit of my time, sapping my energy for writing anything that wasn't absolutely essential to complete my courses.  Nevertheless, I'm back in the cockpit, this time to explain something that my faithful readers (both of you) have been wondering.

Long, long ago, I read somewhere about the Terracotta Army in the tomb of Chinese Emperor Qin Shi Huang, best known as the first emperor of a unified China and for laying the foundations for its Great Wall.  Upon his death, his subjects prepared an elaborate mausoleum for his remains, including an "honor guard" of thousands of meticulously hand-crafted terra cotta soldiers.

I don't remember the exact thoughts that went through my head when I first read about this, but I'm sure that one of them was something along the lines of "What exactly compelled this man to expend so much time, effort, and manpower on making all of these statues that no one was supposed to see ever again?"

This, of course, led me to read up on the man himself.  Qin Shi Huang was a fascinating man, though also a very very horrible one.  On the one hand, he was a very charismatic figure who managed to conquer the feudal kingdoms of China and sought to unify them by building a stable economy, a merit-based government, and a system of military fortifications.  On the other hand, he ruled with an iron fist, destroying countless books (which I personally consider to be a capital offense) and sacrificing millions of workers in his construction projects.  It's telling that he had the builders of his tomb executed so that no one could reveal the location of his body or the treasures he was buried with.

Another striking series of facts concerned the terra cotta soldiers themselves.  Despite the fact that they numbered in the thousands, each one had its own unique features.  Furthermore, they had all been assembled in formations according to standard military doctrine of the time, and each had been equipped with its own authentic weapon.  All this pointed to a great measure of meticulousness and professional pride going into the creation of this massive army.

All told, the information I got from my reading painted the picture of a cruel and proud man who strove for exactitude in all things and who took great pride in his military prowess.  He was able to mobilize the resources of his entire empire to provide for his extravagant demands for his own final resting place, undoubtedly a calculated display of power meant to show that his authority transcended life and death itself.  Of course, I was too young to really articulate my impressions all that well at the time, nor did I really sit down and consciously think about it as such; it was more a series of impressions that I received which gradually molded, adjusted, and reinforced one another until a coherent picture began to take shape in my mind.

My choice of Qin Shi Huang's Terra Cotta Statues to represent my blog serves a number of purposes:

1. First, I have always had something of a passion for history - especially military history - and archaeology.  I have read a great many books on ancient societies ever since I was very young.  In some ways, seeing how people thousands of years ago sought to deal with many of the same questions we are faced with, and seeing how the answers they gave to these questions affected how their societies unfolded, has shaped many of my own personal views.
2. It also stands as a testament to the interest I have had in the Orient since I was very young.  I have taken a great deal of interest in China, Japan, and Korea in particular, especially in how they have responded to Western culture and influence (the spread of Christianity, the Chinese republican and communist movements, Commodore Perry's Black Ships, the Pacific Theater of World War II, and the ongoing crisis with North Korea being key among them).  I've also taken an interest in some of their contemporary culture (of which Japanese anime occupies a significant, though not dominant, amount of my time).
3. In some respects, my fascination with terra cotta statues symbolizes my own diverse and eclectic range of admittedly unusual and sometimes dated personal tastes, including music, literature, and movies.
4. I like to ramble on and on about the things I like.  Unfortunately, very few people have either the stamina or the passion to discuss these things in the detail that I like to, so I feel that it is better to commit my thoughts on matters to writing so that anyone with a passing interest in what I'm saying can comment on it or spark a discussion at their leisure.
5. Finally, I'm hoping to use this blog in part as a tool for my own self-examination.  A number of thoughts go through my head at all times; unfortunately, even some of the most intriguing ones often simply vanish into the fog of lost memories from day to day.  I'm hoping that by taking the time to write them down when they occur and discuss them in public, I can have a record of the things I think of so I can better figure out how my own mind works, as well as see how my own thoughts and opinions may or may not change over time.

 ...And now you know -- and knowing, as they say, is half the battle.