Submitted by Michael Kan on Thu, 01/28/2010 - 16:39
According to archaeologist Liu Qingzhu, trying to name the most important discoveries in China is like facing another, albeit seemingly more simple, question — which one tastes better: dumplings or rice?
“Southerners from China will say rice is better, but northerners will say dumplings,” Liu said. “Then Westerners will say they like French food and that bread is good.”
Listing the most important archaeological discoveries faces similar difficulties, he added. One finding may have had more relevance for one region of China, while not affecting the other. China’s history is also long and not so easy to cover. Still, Liu said there are certain archaeological finds that have not only helped our understanding of China, but also the world.
The rule of the first emperor of China, Qin Shi Huang, represented a bit of an aberration in Chinese art. He is the only emperor, in Chinese history, who insisted that life-size terracotta figures be built.
After the emperor’s death Chinese artists went back to creating small-scale figurines of warriors, civilians and animals. Among these figurines is this terracotta representation of a dog, created for the first emperor of the Han dynasty, Emperor Gaozu (Liu Bang). Dogs were common in China by this point and were presumably used for either hunting or companionship.
Horses were a mainstay of the army of the first emperor of China, Qin Shi Huang. They were used to pull chariots and as mounts for cavalry units. Some of them were fitted with armour to protect them against arrows and melee weapons.
As such when the Terracotta Warriors was created a large number of life-size horses were built to aid them. Like their human counterparts these horses have individual flourishes that distinguish them from each other. War chariots have four horses apiece and horses meant for cavalry units appear to be taller but shorter in length. This particular horse is fitted with a saddle, suggesting that he (or she) is meant to be ridden.
News of this exhibit has been leaking out in bits and pieces for weeks. But today the official announcement of it was made and full details have been released.
The exhibit will be hitting the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto Canada starting in late June. The precise exhibition start/end dates are being arranged.
As reported earlier the exhibit will be stopping at the Glenbow Museum in Calgary and the Royal BC Museum in Victoria BC. A stop in Montreal was announced several months back.
The official announcement is coming a week today (January 27) but news continues to trickle out about the exhibition of the Terracotta Warriors of the First Emperor, Qin Shi Huang, set to hit Toronto in June.
Officials have been tight-lipped about this exhibit so what we've been hearing has been in drips and drabs.
Heritage Key has learned that the Terracotta Warriors exhibition, which is coming to Toronto in June, will be the largest one ever seen in Canada or the United States.
Right now the warriors are at the National Geographic Museum in Washington DC. That show, containing more than 100 objects (including 15 terracotta figures), is billed on its website as being the “largest display of terracotta figures and tomb artifacts ever to travel to the US.”
Dr. Dan Rahimi, of the Royal Ontario Museum, dropped Heritage Key a tantalizing nugget of information today in an interview. In response to a question he said that the Toronto show would be “bigger than Washington.” He’s the Vice-President of Gallery Development for the museum so he’s definitely in the know.
When I was asked to compile a list my ten favourite photographs in the Heritage Key Flickr Pool, I thought to myself "Easy! This will be a doddle!" Wow.. How wrong I was. There are some truly amazing, stunning, incredible images in the Flickr pool which you should definately have a look through - I'm likely to run out of adjectives in this blogpost!
UPDATE 07/01/10 - The CBC is now reporting that "final negotiations are underway to stage an exhibition of the famed Qin dynasty soldier figures." So unless some major problem occurs we should have a warriors announcement on January 27.
Heritage Key has just got confirmation that a major archaeology exhibition on Ancient China will be coming to the Royal Ontario Museum, in Toronto, this June.
Calling it a “very very large exhibition” Dr. Dan Rahimi, the museum’s Vice-President for Gallery Development, confirmed it in an interview with Heritage Key this morning. It will be held in the same gallery that was used for the Dead Sea Scroll exhibit that just wrapped up.
“My own feeling is that in a golden age, how can you make sure you are doing good work?” he added. “We can’t become impetuous. We must keep using our heads.”
News of this exhibit has been leaking out in bits and pieces for weeks. But today the official announcement of it was made and full details have been released.
The official announcement is coming a week today (January 27) but news continues to trickle out about the exhibition of the 
Heritage Key has learned that the 
