# Terracotta Army of the Great Helmsman

Игорь Исаев

The Wikipedia article presents the Chinese Terracotta Army as a historical artifact from the 3rd century BC, emphasizing that in 1987 UNESCO included it in the World Heritage List as part of the complex of the "Tomb of the First Emperor of the Qin Dynasty" [1]. However, the author of the article does not mention that the Chinese government did not allow international experts to examine the artifact to assess its authenticity, as is customary in such cases [2]. Thus, UNESCO included the Terracotta Army in the World Heritage List solely on the honest, noble word of China.


A satirical depiction of the Terracotta Army equipped with modern weapons, created by me using artificial intelligence.


The Terracotta Army scandal occurred in 2007 at an exhibition of Chinese terracotta warriors in Hamburg. Experts at the Hamburg Museum discovered that the terracotta warriors were modern fakes. German art historians called it the "art crime of the decade". China's State Administration of Cultural Artifacts tried to justify itself by saying that it had mistakenly sent illegal copies to Germany instead of the original exhibits. [3]


The next blow to the Terracotta Army came from French Sinologist Jean Levy. In his book "China is a Horse, the Universe is an Idea" [4], he defined the Terracotta Army as a forgery from the last years of the Cultural Revolution (1966-76), initiated by the "Red Emperor" Mao Zedong (1893-1976). In an interview on May 3, 2010, Levy said the following:


"These famous clay warriors do not date back to the 3rd century BCE, when the Great Emperor was buried, but to the end of the Cultural Revolution, when factional fighting with the Gang of Four raged. Surprisingly, this "new wonder of the world" was included on the UNESCO World Heritage List without the evaluation of international experts, as is usually the case when a country formally requests the inclusion of an artistic or architectural site. The Chinese authorities refused to allow UNESCO experts access to the archaeological site." [2]


The Terracotta Army represents an anomaly in the style and aesthetics of Chinese funerary terracotta sculptures, Levy explains:


"I am neither an archaeologist nor an expert on ancient Chinese sculpture; I have not had access to the statues, nor have I conducted physical or chemical laboratory tests. My judgment is based solely on stylistic and aesthetic criteria. If we consider the evolution of funerary terracotta sculpture (for a large number of such objects have come down to us), it becomes obvious that the terracotta warrior statues stand in sharp contrast to everything that preceded them and everything that followed them. They stand out for their gigantic size, their realistic quality, and the expressiveness of their body language and facial expressions. From the Warring States period (5th to 3rd centuries BCE) to the Tang period (7th to 9th centuries CE), funerary figurines are recognizable by their reduced size, stylization, hieratic quality, and rigor of technique. Chinese funerary figurines, or mingqi, were created to accompany the dead in the afterlife; they are stylized, sophisticated representations of real objects that are not meant to be realistic copies, lest the dead be confused with the living." [2][5]


Reference: Jean Levy (1948) is a French orientalist, specialist in ancient China and Chinese thought. He is the author of several essays on Taoism and popular religion, as well as translations of great Chinese classics. He has taught as a professor at the universities of Paris, Bordeaux, Geneva and Montreal. He is the director of research at the National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS) of France.


DETERMINING THE AUTHENTICITY OF HISTORICAL ARTIFACTS


There is a presumption of guilt with regard to historical artifacts. An artifact is not considered authentic until various examinations prove otherwise. Depending on the type of artifact, examinations may include:


analysis of size and proportions;

analysis of style, aesthetics, and craftsmanship;

analysis of material;

analysis of creation technology;

dating. [7]


If an artifact is found during archaeological excavations, then the location and methods of excavations are also checked, and the artifact matches the location where it was found. An artifact cannot be considered authentic if it has not undergone any examination.


The rigor of the expert checks is demonstrated, for example, by the fact that only 83 of the 2,000 pre-Hispanic and pre-Columbian artifacts in the collection of the Mexican Museum in San Francisco were recognized as authentic by independent experts who arrived from Mexico City.[8]


CONCLUSION


The above facts allow us to draw the following conclusions:


1. According to scientific standards, the Terracotta Army is not a genuine historical artifact.


2. The Wikipedia article misleads the unsuspecting public by presenting the Terracotta Army as a genuine artifact of ancient Chinese history, despite the lack of international expert review and despite negative expert assessments.


3. The UNESCO World Heritage List cannot be considered a scientific source, since it includes artifacts of dubious authenticity.


LINKS

[1] Wikipedia: Terracotta Army.

[2] Interview with Sinologist Jean Levy: "The Terracotta Army is a Fake" (03.05.2012).

[3] The Guardian: "German museum says terracotta warriors are fake" (12.12.2007).

[4] Jean Levy. "China is a Horse, the Universe is an Idea" (2010).

[5] Wikipedia: Mingqi.

[6] Wikipedia: Jean Levy.

[7] International Observatory against Illicit Trafficking in Cultural Property: "Authentication".

[8] Archaeology Wiki: "Most of the exhibits at the Mexican museum have not been authenticated" (14.06.2017).