The Terracotta Army: 8,000 Soldiers Nobody Knew Existed Until 1974

In March 1974, farmers drilling a well near Xi’an broke through into a chamber containing life-sized clay soldiers. Not one soldier, not a dozen: approximately 8,000 warriors, 130 chariots, 520 horses, and 150 cavalry horses, all buried with the First Emperor of Qin, Qin Shi Huang, who died in 210 BCE. Each face is individually modelled; no two are alike. The entire enterprise coordinated an estimated 700,000 workers over 38 years.

The main tomb mound itself has never been opened. Historical texts describe rivers of mercury flowing through the burial chamber, and soil tests have confirmed elevated mercury concentrations in the ground above. Archaeologists are waiting for conservation technology to improve before proceeding. That patience is the right call, and it’s worth thinking about while you walk the pits: the most extraordinary discovery may still be sealed underground.

The Museum

The site sits 35km east of Xi’an. Bus 914 or 915 from Xi’an East Bus Terminal runs the route in about 90 minutes for around CNY 8. A taxi covers the same distance in 45 minutes for CNY 100-130.

Admission runs CNY 150 during high season (March through November) and CNY 120 in low season (December through February), with half-price for students with valid ID. The ticket includes all three pits, exhibition halls, and the free shuttle between the mausoleum park and the warrior pits. Since 2024 the museum has required real-name advance reservation through the official website or WeChat, so walk-up purchases at the gate are no longer reliable.

Pit 1 is the main hall: 230 metres long, infantry formations in battle order, scale that takes a moment to register before you can properly focus on individual figures. Most warriors visible have been restored from fragments. The colour they were originally painted has largely faded since exposure to air; newly excavated warriors retain vivid pigment for only minutes before oxidation destroys it. A small display section shows original painted fragments and gives you a sense of how the army actually looked.

Pit 2 holds cavalry, archers, and chariots in a more complex arrangement. Pit 3 is the smallest, interpreted as the command headquarters of the buried army.

Allow at minimum 3 hours; 4 is more realistic if you want to look properly. Go when the site opens at 08:30, and do the pits in reverse order: Pit 3 first, then 2, then 1. You see the command post and cavalry when the crowds are thinnest, and arrive at the main hall as the day tours build rather than after they’ve already overwhelmed it.

Xi’an’s Muslim Quarter

The Huimin Jie (Muslim Quarter) near the Drum Tower is one of the better street food concentrations in China, though the main drag has become intensely commercialised. The alleys running off it are more honest. Biangbiang noodles, named for the sound the dough makes when slapped, come wide and thick with chilli oil, cumin-spiced lamb, and vinegar; a large bowl costs CNY 18-25. Yang rou pao mo is lamb broth with flatbread broken into it by hand: substantial, warming, worth the 30-45 minutes the process takes at a proper restaurant.

The Giant Wild Goose Pagoda, 4km south of the city centre, is undervisited compared to the walls and the Muslim Quarter, and it shouldn’t be: a Tang Dynasty structure from 652 AD, you can climb to the seventh floor for a view across the entire Xi’an basin.

Staying in Xi’an

The Bell Tower area in central Xi’an puts you within walking distance of the Muslim Quarter and the city walls. Sofitel Xi’an on Renmin Square has doubles from around CNY 900 in peak season. For mid-range, Xi’an Hantang Hostel near South Gate offers private rooms from CNY 250 with genuinely useful English-speaking staff who know the sightseeing logistics inside out.

The City Walls

Xi’an’s Ming Dynasty city walls are the best-preserved ancient city walls in China: 14km around, 12 metres high, with a wide walkway on top. Bicycle rental at the gate costs CNY 45 for the full 3-hour circuit; wall admission is CNY 54. The walls are worth doing either the morning before or the afternoon after the terracotta army visit. Trying to fit both into the same day is possible but leaves you properly exhausted and without enough time at either site.