Tag: Qin shi huang

Chief Archaeologist: New discoveries show First Emperor’s Mausoleum influenced by foreign ideas

Acrobats from Burma, workers from Central or West Asia, and a mausoleum design inspired by work in the Middle East the Mauseoleum of Chinas First Emperor was a cosmopolitan place says Dr. Duan Qingbo, the man in charge of excavating it.

The mausoleum was created about 2,200 year ago and served as a tomb for Qin Shi Huang the first emperor of China. While the emperors tomb is largely unexcavated, archaeologists have found thousands of life-size terracotta figures nearby. Its believed that this army was created to serve the emperor in the afterlife.

Dr. Duan (Duan is his family name) discussed this idea at a lecture last Thursday at the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto Canada. The museum is hosting a Terracotta Warriors exhibit until January 2, 2011. He doesnt speak English so his words were translated by Dr. Chen Shen, a museum curator and Chinese archaeology expert.

East meets West

Traditionally scholars have marked the 2nd century BC as the starting point of Chinas relationship with the west. The Silk Road was opened for trade at that time,opening upwhat would become a booming trade.

Now the evidence shows that the cultural exchange or influence from the western world begins as early as the time of the First Emperor, said Dr. Duan. In fact the emperors burial structure is probably inferenced from west.

The First Emperors Mausoleum uses a step up structure that allows the soul to escalate to the top. Duan pointed out that the Mausoleumat Halicarnassus in Turkey is quite similar, gradually rising up in levels and was built only 100 years before the First Emperors life.

The structure of this tomb mound is very similar to what we find inside the First Emperors tomb mound, said Duan. Also, on top of this structure (at Halicarnassus) theres a chariot driven by four horses, we all know that (at) the First Emperors tomb complex there also is a chariot with four horses, he said.

DNA Evidence and foreign bricks designs

A few years ago Dr. Duans team unearthed 120 skeletons of workers who were buried near the Mausoleum. Among the finds were three skulls that were definitely not Chinese. Theres three skulls that are different from the rest of them which represents the Mongolian type of people, he said through a translator. The nose protrude (is) very extensive.

The first time DNA tests were performed they indicated that the individuals were from west Eurasia probably like a white people, however the second DNA test showed they were more similar to Mongolian.

Duan has an idea as what these workers might have been used for. His team discovered that the Terracotta Warriors pits used an interlocking rectangular brick pattern that had not been used in China before the time of the First Emperor. This kind of bricks has never been found in China, it was the first time used in the Terracotta Warrior pits, he said. The style used in the Terracotta Army pits of these rectangular brick (is) probably also inference from West Asia.

This means that these foreigners may have served as skilled labour bringing knowledge of this technology from Central or West Asia allowing the First Emperors officials to implement it.

Acrobats & Terracotta Entertainers

Another discovery that adds weight to Dr. Duans theory is a pit of terracotta entertainers, including strongmen, wrestlers and acrobats.

The acrobats were created in a lifelike way with their carving conveying a sense of movement. One example, that is now on display in Toronto, has an index finger pointing up, indicating that the figure is trying to perform a balancing act.

Dr. Duan believes that the acrobats the terracotta figures are modelled on,were probably not from China. According to the way they perform we speculate they are not indigenous to central China, but probably come from the south probably Burma area. This is an idea that if proven true will add another ethnic layer to what appears to have already been an ancient cosmopolitan project.

Chocolate Terracotta Warriors to Tour Taiwan

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.

“Chocolate is not only edible – it can be used as a material in art.”

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.

ROM Lecture Series to Accompany Terracotta Warriors Exhibition

On June 26the Terracotta Warriors will be coming to the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto, Canada.

Curated by the museums own Dr. Chen Shen,the showincludes 16 human terracotta figures, a terracotta horse and, yes, a terracotta dog (albeit from the Han period). In total there are about 250 artefacts -making it the largest warriors show ever to come to North America.

Accompanyingtheexhibitionwill be a lecture series, the details of which the museum has just announced.

Therewill be14 lectures in total, allof whichstart at7pm in the Eaton theatre, inside the museum itself.

The price for one lecture is $28, going down to $25 for members and students. Package deals are also available – $84 for four lectures (going down to $75 for members and students). You can even purchase tickets for all 14 lectures.If you want to see them all it costs $252 for non-members and $225 for members and students.

If you want to buy a package I would suggest getting a ROM membership first. An individual membership costs $90 a year and you get free admission, to the museum, year round. Also the museum has said that members can see the Terracotta Warriors show as often as they wish – for free!

Schedule

Lets look at some of the lecture highlights:

For nearly 20 years Dr. Duan Qingbo has been the chief archaeologist in charge of the First Emperors mausoleum leading the excavation work. His archaeological team has been responsible for the recent major archaeological discoveries at this site, including the stone armour pit, the civil official pit, the acrobat pit, and many others, said the museum in a release. On October 21 Dr. Qingbo will come to Torontoto talk abouthis work. The lecture is in Mandarin but an English translation will be provided.

One lecture Im particularly interested in will be given by Professor Robin Yates of McGill University, who has been studying the laws used in the time of the first emperor. In 1975 legal documents were found buried with a low-ranking Qin official.The museum said in their release thatthese fascinating legal documents are only known by specialists.

Dr. Roberto Ciarla will be talking about Chinese Philosopher Han Fei, who lived 280-233 BC. He lived in the first emperors lifetime but died before the unification of China in 221 BC. Dr. Ciarla will be discussing how his ideas influenced Qin Shi Huang.

114 Terracotta Warriors Discovered in the Mausoleum of Qin Shi Huang

114 Terracotta Warriors, and several artefacts, have been discovered in the mausoleum of Chinas first emperor, Qin Shi Huang. The warriors were discovered in No 1 pit, the largest pit, and retained some of the richly-coloured paint that all of the warriors would have displayed originally. They also showed signs of man-made fire damage, prompting speculation about who may have harmed the warriors.

In an article by China Daily News, Xu Weihong, head of the excavation team, said: “The total area of the excavation was some 200 sq m and we were pleasantly surprised to find rich colors on Terracotta Warriors.”

Photos of the warriors, which are mostly infantrymen, have not yet been released, but the researchers describe them as between 1.8 and 2 metres tall, and brightly coloured. Their eyes and hair colour were naturalistic most had black hair and either brown or black eyes. Interestingly, their faces varied between white, pink and green, and archaeologists have noted that the different face colours are matched to different costumes.

Who Destroyed the Terracotta Warriors of Xi’an?

Despite retaining their original paint, the warriors were not in a perfect state of preservation most were broken into pieces. Liu Zhanchang, Director of the Archaeology Division of the Museum of Qin Shihuang Terracotta Warriors and Horses, also revealed that the warriors, and the walls of the museum, showed burn marks, suggesting that the mausoleum may have been set on fire. Archaeologists believe that the fire was man-made.

The warriors, and the walls of the museum, showed burn marks, suggesting that the mausoleum may have been on fire

The mausoleum was vandalised after the death of the much-hated emperor, and many warriors were smashed to pieces by Qin Shi Huang’s angry subjects. Its possible that these newly-discovered figures could have been damaged in the same way, and that the vandals even attempted to burn the whole pit of warriors. Global Times reports that researchers are considering the possibility that the figures were damaged by General Xiang Yu, who purportedly raided the mausoleum less than five years after the death of the First Emperor.

Fortunately, researchers have been able to salvage the broken warriors. “It was hard work to restore the clay warriors as they were broken into pieces. It took us at least 10 days to restore one,” Xu said.

See the Warriors (but not the Tomb)

A number of other relics including weapons, chariots, drums and painted wooden rings were also found during the excavation, as well as a well-preserved box, the purpose of which remains a mystery.

The mausoleum was discovered in the 1970s near the ancient city of Xi’an in China’s Shaanxi Province, and contains the un-excavated tomb of Chinas first emperor. It is thought that the tomb may contain toxic levels of mercury, the substance that the emperor believed would make him immortal, and there are no plans as yet to continue the excavation into the actual tomb. The third excavation project began at the site in June 2009 (see video footage of the excavation here), and has resulted in a number of important finds, including the discovery of teenage soldiers amongst the ranks in October 2009.

If you missed the latest tour of the famed clay army, there will be a chance to visit a number of the Terracotta Warriors at The Warrior Emperor and China’s Terracotta Army in Torontos ROM museum from 26th June 2010 the largest exhibition of the warriors ever to be held in North America.

Four New Museums Planned in Xi’an City Wall Renovation

The famous city walls surrounding the ancient Chinese capital of Xian could be in store for a major makeover. Last week, the city publicized a plan to invest about $1.75 billion to renovate the already well-preserved walls, which have stood for centuries.

The plan is meant to better restore the walls and beautify the area. It will also feature the construction of four new museums at the walls main entrances. Each of the museums will center on four different dynasties that include the Zhou, Qin, Han and Tang. (Pictures of the proposed plan can be found here.)

Wang Tian, a representative for the projects developers, said the plan comes as the city walls have been widely recognized as a protected cultural site. At the same time, the walls are also a display of Chinas heritage and a major attraction for tourists and the local people.

Still, the plan is only in its early stages, with no firm date of when construction might begin. Nothing has been finalized and we are still working to receive the input from the people, Tian said.

Home of the Terracotta Warriors

“This project will eat from the rice of Xians history. But in doing so, the renovation will also destroy the plate from which this history comes from”

Xian is a former imperial capital of China and has become a major tourist destination, most famous for the incredible terracotta army discovered in the mausoleum of China’s First Emperor, Qin Shi Huang. The Shaanxi History Museum, Bampo Museum, and Big Wild Goose Pagoda all draw a great number of tourists.

The existing walls that stand today were constructed during the Ming Dynasty (1368 to 1644) and built on the ruins of the Tang Dynasty (618-907) capital Changan. The walls themselves are about 12 meters tall (39 feet) and surround the inner city of Xian to a length of 13.7 kilometers (8.5 miles).

But even as the publicized plan is not meant to damage the walls, not all think the proposed renovation is a good idea. Some Chinese netizens have said on Internet forums they are impressed with the plan and wish to see it move forward. Yet others say they see little need for the renovation.

I hope I dont see the walls become too commercialized, one user worried.

This is not necessary, another user said. Cultural artifacts should look as how they originally did.

One article from the Chinese media also pointed out that Xian may be going too far to capitalize on the citys history.

Some netizens believe the citys economy has thrived off its history. So this project will eat from the rice of Xians history. But in doing so, the renovation will also destroy the plate from which this history comes from.

Thinking of visiting Xi’an? Check out insiders’ visitor guide, as well as our top picks for stunning sites off the beaten track, and swot up on your knowledge of the Terracotta Warriors before you go.

Life in the Afterlife: Four Day Symposium During Toronto’s Terracotta Warriors Exhibit

The Royal Ontario Museum will host afour day symposium called Life in the Afterlife at the same time that a giant Terracotta Warriors show will be on display at the museum.

Life in the Afterlife will explore ideas on life after death across different cultures. Speakers will be talking about the afterlife in numerous places, including Ancient China, Egyptand the Near East. The symposium also examines China during the rule of Qin Shi Huang, the first emperor.

The event is aimed at a popular audience. The keynote lecture will be given by journalist Simon Winchester who will be discussing Joseph Needham, an English chemist who studied ancient Chinese science and published several volumes on the topic. Needham died in 1995 and Winchester wrote a book on him called The Man who Loved China. That lecture takes place on Thursday October 14 at 7 pm.

Professor Edward (Ted) Banning gave an interesting interview with Heritage Key about the discovery of a Neolithic landscape in Syria that has stone circles, alignments and (what appears to be) burial cairns. At the museum symposium hes going to be talking about the use of skulls during the Pre Pottery Neolithic Period in the Near East (ca. 8500 5500 BC).

Xiuzhen Janice Li is Senior Curator of the Museum of Emperor Qin Shi Huang’s Terracotta Army in Xian.She is also adoctoral candidate at University College London. She will be discussing the weapons shown on the Terracotta Warriors and how they were created and standardized – after all, arming a terracotta army of this size is no mean feat!

Also archaeologist Roberto Ciarla will be travelling to Toronto from the Museo Nazionale dArte Orientale in Rome, to talk about the lives of the common people of China during the rule of Qin Shi Huang and what their view of the afterlife was. In 2005 he published the book Eternal Army: The Terracotta Soldiers of the First Emperor.

Registration and Full Schedule

If you register before May 1 you get the early bird fee of $300 for members and $325 for non-members. After that it goes up to $325 and $350 respectively. It may sound a bit expensive but there are numerous lectures and the fee does include some meals. To register, and find out more information, visit the symposium website.

There is more news to come about the Terracotta Warriors show. The Museum will be announcing a series of lectures and debates that will accompany the event.They have also just announced thatthe exhibitwillopenonJune 26.

Schedule of lectures courtesy of the ROM

Thursday October 14

OPENING NIGHT, COCKTAIL RECEPTION & KEYNOTE ADDRESS
3:00 5:00pm SYMPOSIUM REGISTRATION

3:30 5:00pm DOCENT TOURS OF WORLD GALLERIES

5:00 7:00pm COCKTAIL RECEPTION
All Level 2 Bronfman Hall

7:00pm KEYNOTE ADDRESS – SIMON WINCHESTER

Followed by book signing
Joint presentation with ROM Director’s Signature Lecture Series

Samuel Hall Currelly Gallery

Friday October 15

THE AFTERLIFE AROUND THE WORLD

8:00am CONTINENTAL BREAKFAST
Level 2 Bronfman Hall

9:30am OPENING REMARKS

9:45am Archaeological Perspectives
of the Afterlife in Ancient China
Chen Shen | ROM

10:30am Going Forth by Day: The Afterlife in Ancient Egypt
Gayle Gibson | ROM

11:00am Death as Life’s Ambition: Funerary Rites in Madagascar
Sarah Fee | ROM

11:30am Afterlife in South Asian Art and Architecture, From Past to Present
Deepali Dewan | ROM

12:00pm BUFFET LUNCH
Level 2 Bronfman Hall

1:00pm Images of Life, Death, and Resurrection in Late Medival Art
Corey Keeble | ROM

1:30pm The Onkwehonweh Ganohsesgehono Longhouse Civilization and its View of the Afterlife
Amos Key Jr. |

2:00pm The Afterlife of Skulls in the Pre-Pottery Neolithic of the Near East
Ted Banning | University of Toronto

2:30pm The Most Important Journey: Burial traditions Among the Ga of Ghana
Silvia Forni | ROM

3:00pm CLOSING REMARKS

3:30pm ROM Docent Tour of The Warrior Emperor and China’s Terracotta Army (included with buffet dinner)
OPTIONAL

5:00pm BUFFET DINNER (requires separate registration)
Level 2 Bronfman Hall
Menu inspired by The Warrior Emperor and China’s Terracotta Army exhibition

7:30pm Departures, An Academy Award winning Japanese film, is a “delightful and sensitive journey” into perceptions of the afterlife. (included with buffet dinner)

Saturday October 16

QIN SHIHUANGDIS CHINA

8:00am CONTINENTAL BREAKFAST
Level 2 Bronfman Hall

9:30am OPENING REMARKS

9:45am Faith and Thought in the Time of China’s First Emperor
Vincent Shen | University of Toronto

11:00am Life and Afterlife of the Common People at the time of Qin Shihuangdi
Roberto Ciarla | Archologist, Museo Nazionale dArte Orientale, Rome.

12:00pm BUFFET LUNCH
Level 2 Bronfman Hall

1:00pm Standardisation and Labour Organisation in the Qin. Bronze Weapons of the Terracotta Army
Xiuzhen Janice LI | Senior Curator
of the Museum of Emperor Qin Shihuang’s
Terracotta Army, Xian, China;

2:00 pm Art in the time of China’s First Emperor
Klaas Ruitenbeek | Director of
Museum fr Asiatische Kunst, Berlin.

3:00 pm CLOSING REMARKS
OPTIONAL

3:15 pm Afternoon Tea with speakers, c5
(requires separate registration)

Sunday October 17
OPTIONAL

2:00 pm ROMwalk guided tour of Mount Pleasant Cemetery (2 hours; requires separate registration)
Meet at Southwest entrance,
Yonge Street, north of St. Clair Ave.

All symposium lectures will be held in the
Signy and Clophe Eaton Theatre, on Level B1.
please note: No recording devices are permitted.

Life in the Afterlife runs from October 14-17 at the Royal Ontario Museum. Click here for more details.

The Warrior Emperor and China’s Terracotta Army Exhibition: Toronto, Calgary and Victoria Look Likely Venues

The official announcement is coming a week today (January 27) but news continues totrickle 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.

Last week we learned that the Toronto show is going to be the largest Terracotta Warrior’s showever to hit North America. We also learned that it will likely be one of four Canadian stops -with Toronto coming up first.

There will be a Canadian tour, Montreal has already signed up on the tour (and) were waiting for two other venues to finish negotiations and sign as well, said Dr. Dan Rahimi, vice-president of Gallery Development for the Royal Ontario Museum.

Today we have learned that the Glenbow Museum in Calgary, Alberta and the Royal BC Museum in Victoria, British Columbia appear to be the other two stops. We know that because the ROM sent out a media invitation today -for the January 27 announcement -with the Glenbow and Royal BC listed as “Canadian national tour partners.”

The invite also stated in the fine print:

This exhibition was organized by the Royal Ontario Museum in partnership with the Shaanxi Provincial Cultural Relics Bureau and the Shaanxi Cultural Heritage Promotion Center, People’s Republic of China, with the collaboration of the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, the Glenbow Museum, Calgary, and the Royal British Columbia Museum, Victoria.

This is pretty strong evidence that the Terracotta Warriors, at some point, will be making their way to Western Canada.

Asecond bit of news from theinviteis that this exhibition now has a name The Warrior Emperor and Chinas Terracotta Army. Catchy I daresay!

Only one week till the announcement….

Are Beardless Terracotta Warriors Evidence of Teenage Soldiers in Qin Empire?

Although each of the Terracotta warriors was sculpted to be unique, one common physical trait they all share is a beard. But a new discovery has found that a handful of statues bear no facial hair, suggesting that the Terracotta army had teenaged soldiers enlisted in its ranks.

The Terracotta Army was built at the behest of China’s first emperor more than 2,000 years ago, when beards were a must for all adult males. To have one was a matter of respect, and one way of dealing with criminals at the time was cutting off their beards as a form of punishment.

So to find statues beardless likely indicates that they were of a young age said Yuan Zhongyi, an honorary curator of the Museum of the Terracotta Warriors.

In a news article Yuan said, “Some warriors have no beards, but for ancient Chinese, facial hair was part of the culture, so those warriors could be considered to represent soldiers under 17 years old.”

During the rule of the first emperor, the military age for males was 17, and child soldiers were not common. But there is some evidence in historical documents that say males older than 15 were enlisted in a battle to defeat the Zhao kingdom.

More than 1,000 Terracotta warriors have been discovered. But of those, less than 10 have faces sculpted without beards. The find was presented during a 35th anniversary commemoration of the Terracotta Army’s discovery near Xi’an, China.

A Hundred new Terracotta Warriors? Better Make it Ten

China’s media will be scratching its collective head this week, as a cache of 100 new Terracotta Warriors it claimed to have been unearthed may be ten at best. The embarrassing shortfall comes two months into excavations of ‘pit three’ of the First Qin Emperor‘s Mausoleum in Xi’an. And while officials at the (officially named) Xi’an Terracotta Warriors and Horses Museum are keeping tight-lipped about their discoveries, they admit the haul is nowhere near state-controlled Xinhua’s predictions. “It is impossible, the pit is only 200sq m,” says Chao Wei. “If you were here and saw the site you would see it was not possible to have a hundred figures in the pit. Potentially there are maybe ten figures, but work has only just begun.” The museum’s vice director gave a similar response: “We are not allowed to discuss this too much with outside sources,” says Liu Zhancheng. “I think there has been a discovery, but there is no way there are so many figures.” An estimated 5,000 warriors and horses are still thought to be hidden in the mausoleum, which was attacked following the emperor’s demise.

Anticipation has been at fever pitch since the dig began in late June. Team leader Xu Weihong told Xinhua at the time that the greatest discovery thus far was an officer figurine; a rarity among the myriad archers, infantrymen and charioteers which were supposed to accompany Qin Shi Huang into the afterlife. Yet despite working with a German group on ground-breaking methods to preserve the warriors’ colours, Xu said the officer had barely retained any of his former lustre: “The original colours have faded after more than 2,000 years of decay, but a corner of the officer’s robe suggested it was in colours other than the greyish clay.”

The double-whammy of disappointing news isn’t likely to go down well with Xi’an transport chiefs, who this year announced plans to build a special underground station outside the museum. 30km long, the journey from the city to the museum will be cut from an hour to 50 minutes. The museum saw over three million tourists last year, with more expected in the near future.

If you live in America but can’t make it to China, you can catch a Terracotta Army exhibition this year, first at Houston Museum of Natural Science (22 May – 18 Oct) then Washington D.C’s National Geographic Museum (19 Nov – 31 Mar ’10). You could even catch a glimpse of Chi Chang – the human warrior – if you’re lucky.

Green Dam and The Great Firewall of China

The Great Wall of China was an ambitious attempt by The First Emperor Qin Shi Huang to protect the people of China from invasion from warring nations and states. Today, a massive internet boycott will take place in protest against the country’s newest blockade – the Green Dam project.

As a military strategy, The Great Wall of China was simple to say the least, and its efficiency is generally thought to be limited. Guards are rumoured to have let in undesirables in return for bribes, and any army with serious intentions could find a way to breach it.

Interestingly, it is thought that the Great Wall was also intended to prevent evil spirits from entering the country, with some spent builders actually buried in its walls for that purpose. It’s difficult to ascertain how effective it was in this area, although both Margaret Thatcher and Rupert Murdoch have both managed to sneak into the country over the years.

The Great Wall was abandoned in the 1600s when a bunch of Manchu soldiers rode straight through a sentry point and into Beijing, where they established the Qing dynasty. They didn’t think much of the Great Wall (well, it hadn’t exactly thwarted their efforts, had it?), and simply left it to fall into disrepair. A lesson to be learned there, perhaps.

The Green Dam project is the second phase of a large-scale defence strategy implemented by the Chinese government. The first phase, the Golden Shield project – often dubbed the Great Firewall of China – is a large-scale censorship strategy that is set up to halt attackers and evil spirits (porn, violence, wikipedia, BBC…) trying to enter the country via its internet servers.

Like a 5ft wall versus an angry, well-equipped army, it has had limited efficacy. Although a lot of users remain content to have their browsing curtailed (or simply don’t know how to get around the censorship), angry surfers are logging on via a VPN (virtual private network) in order to access banned sites such as wikipedia and the BBC.

Like the bent sentry guards of the Great Wall, the guardians of the Great Firewall are also prone to corruption. The website Murphy’s Law recently reported that: “…a senior official (Yu Bing) of the Golden Shield operation was arrested for taking over $5 million in bribes to help one anti-virus software company put a rival out of business. The rival fought back in the courts, and exposed the corruption within Golden Shield.”

Green Dam was supposed to offer another layer of protection to vulnerable net users. From today, all computer hardware sold in, or exported to, China was supposed to come with Green Dam software, which would protect the user from being attacked by any marauding porn sites that attempt to hijack his or her PC.

Although some nervous net-users were comforted by the little cyber-soldiers, many more people were outraged at the government’s attempt to curb their freedoms. Last night, the government backed down, and announced that the Green Dam project would be delayed (they didn’t say until when).

Outspoken artist, commentator and blogger Ai Weiwei is today inviting users to boycott the web in protest against Green Dam – a move that has infuriated officials. Whether the Great Firewall of China, along with its little sentry of Green Dam guards, will go the same way as the Great Wall of China is yet to be seen. Given the aggressive tactics of viruses, hackers and social protesters, I don’t fancy its chances for long…

Video: Can Bloggers Collapse the Great Firewall of China?

Image (top) of Google sign by grenzfurther. Image of the Great Wall of China (bottom) by saseki.