Terra-Cotta Figures in Xi'an

Recently an interesting phenomenon has been discovered: the looks of terracotta warriors closely resemble those of modern Chinese people. Examined closely, almost every facial variation of modern Chinese man can be found amongst the warrior figures. Out of great astonishment, some people may guess the artisans practiced divination, by which they could predict the appearance of Chinese people living over 2,000 years later.

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Experts don't agree by holding that the accidental discovery contains inevitability. The plastic art of terracotta warrior basically covers all Chinese people's facial shapes, which can be classified into eight types similar to the strokes of certain Chinese characters. Observe carefully, and you will find the face shapes of terracotta warriors are no more than these eight types.
'国' shape-face: characterized by rectangle face, high cheekbone, wide forehead and cheek. '用' shape-face: marked by oblong face and flat cheek and chin. '目' shape-face: narrow and long face with small features. '田' shape-face: near square shape. '甲' shape-face: wide top and narrow bottom, like the shape of a melon seed. '由' shape-face: long face with narrow forehead and wide chin. '申' shape-face: wide cheekbone and narrow ends of the face, and oval face.
Besides grasping the characteristics of these eight face shapes, the Qin's artisans also learned that different face shapes should match with unlike facial features. For example, the plump '由' shape-face matches with small eyes, nose and mouth.
What's more, the Qin artisans were good at using tiny detail varies to express people's different characters and mental states. A person's temperament is often showed in his eyes, which is no exception to the Qin Terracotta Warriors. A canny clay warrior is recognized by his graceful eyebrow and eyes, a brave soldier's eyes are wide and staring while a simple and honest soldier often has big head, wide face, bushy eyebrows and big eyes.

All the eyeballs of the Qin Terracotta Warriors are simply a convex body. Eyes are regarded as the man's window of heart. The Qin artisans carved different eyes to show the inner world of different soldiers. Some squint eyes, with a tender smile, to show their confidence to win the war; some soldiers open the eyes widely in a fury, filled with hate to the enemies; some soldiers look downwards, shy and quiet. Besides, the soldiers who look forward have their eyeball convex in the center of the eyelids, and those who look upward have the eyeball convex up slightly. Also, the eyes of Qin Terracotta Warriors are mostly single eye-lid, which is a tally with the real situation of the Qin people.
On seeing the terracotta warrior figures, we could not help praising their lifelike appearance, reflecting the deep and thorough observation on life of the artisans living in the Qin Dynasty. The wisdom of Chinese ancient people is embodied in this magnificent group of terracotta warriors. The Qin Terracotta Warriors are a great plastic art, and even at today, it still has high value of generalization and aesthetics.