Taiwan will get a taste of China’s Terracotta Warriors this Saturday, as 400 chocolate miniatures make their way from a popular show in Beijing. ‘World Chocolate Wonderland’, at Taipei’s National Taiwan Science Education Center, also features a chocolate-hewn Great Wall of China. It attracted over 400,000 visitors in the Chinese capital, not least for the pint-sized ancient warriors, who measure just 35cm each.
Each exhibit at the show must be kept in temperature-controlled rooms to avoid melting. Taiwan baker Lee Kyo-yi battled fine margins to create his chocolate Taipei 101, Taiwan’s, and at one point the planet’s, tallest skyscraper. “The biggest challenge is how to keep the chocolate in perfect condition,” he tellsFocus Taiwan. Chocolate melts at 20C while cracking at anything below 0C.
Artsource Corp, a Taipei-based art management firm, is supplying most of the exhibition’s artwork. Spokeswoman Sherry Wung tells AFP the show aims to change people’s minds about chocolate:”People visiting the exhibition will be able to feel that chocolate is not only edible, but also can be used as a material in art.” Among the show’s ancient exhibits are models of China’s mysterious Mogao Caves, a group of 2,400-year-old Buddhist temples near Dunhuang.
More Terracotta Warriors are excavated each year at the mausoleum of Qin Shi Huang, unified China’s first emperor. Just a few weeks ago 114 more were added to the many thousands on show in China and across the world.