Who was Qin Shi Huang?

0:00 Welcome to History's Not Boring by kiddubly.com. I'm Mira. And I'm Finn. Before we begin, we have some very special shout-outs. A massive thank you to G-Wen, who wrote in asking for an episode about today's topic. This one is for you, G-Wen. Wait until you hear about the Clay Army.

0:20 And a big hello to eight-year-old Ezra and his dad James, who listened together all the way from Berlin.

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0:39 Alright, Finn. Picture this. You're digging in the dry dirt, just trying to find water for your crops, and suddenly, your shovel hits a face.

0:49 A face? Like a real person?

0:52 A clay face! And as you keep digging, you don't just find one clay person, you find an entire army of 8,000 life-size clay soldiers buried in the ground for over 2,000 years. Whoa! 8,000? Are you serious? Who put them there? That's exactly what we're going to find out. Today, we are travelling back to ancient China to meet Qin Shi Huang, the very first Emperor of China, and uncover the mind-blowing mystery of his terracotta army.

1:24 Let's go! I want to know everything about this hidden army. Okay, so when exactly are we travelling back to?

1:31 We're heading to the year 259 BCE. That's over 2,200 years ago. This is when a boy named Ying Zhang was born.

1:41 Was he the emperor when he was born?

1:44 Not at all. Back then, China wasn't one big country. It was divided into seven different kingdoms, and they didn't get along at all. Wait, seven different kingdoms? What were they doing? Fighting constantly. This era was literally called the Warring States period. The kingdoms battled for over 200 years using fast chariots and sharp bronze swords.

2:10 200 years of fighting? That sounds exhausting.

2:14 It was. Millions of soldiers were involved. Ying Zhang was a prince in the Kingdom of Qin. And get this, Finn, he became the king of Qin when he was only 13 years old.

2:26 Thirteen? When I was thirteen? Wait, I'm only seven. But thirteen is still just a kid.

2:34 Exactly. But he was incredibly smart, tough, and determined. As he grew up, he built a massive, highly organized military. His goal wasn't just to defend his kingdom. He wanted to conquer the other six kingdoms and unite them all. Did he actually do it? He did! It took years of fierce and clever battles, but by the year 221 BCE, he had defeated every single rival kingdom.

3:02 For the very first time in history, China was one unified country. Wow!

3:08 So he went from being a kid king to ruling everything?

3:11 Yes, and because he ruled such a massive territory, he decided the old title of king wasn't grand enough anymore. So he invented a brand new title, Huang Di, which means Emperor. He became Qin Shi Huang, the first emperor of China.

3:29 But wait, how do you even rule seven different kingdoms that used to fight all the time? That was his biggest challenge.

3:36 To keep everything together, Qin Qi Huang realized he had to make everything exactly the same. It's called standardization. What do you mean by exactly the same? Well, before him, each kingdom had its own money, its own writing system, and its own weights and measurements. Imagine going to a store one town over, and your money doesn't work, and you can't even read the signs.

4:02 That would be so confusing. I wouldn't be able to buy anything. Right. So, he created one single currency for everyone: a round copper coin with a square hole in the middle called the Ban Liang. He also created one single written language called Small Seal Script.

4:20 That's actually really smart. People could finally understand each other.

4:25 He even made a law that all the wheels on every cart had to be the exact same distance apart, the same axle length.

4:34 Why did he care about cartwheels?

4:36 Because of the roads. Carts would leave deep grooves in the dirt. If your wheels were a different size, your cart would literally get stuck in the tracks. He built a massive network of thousands of miles of new roads to connect his empire. That's genius! Did he build anything else? Oh yes. To protect his new empire from invaders in the north, he ordered hundreds of thousands of workers to connect older, smaller walls together.

5:03 Wait, are you talking about the Great Wall?

5:06 Yes, this became the very first version of the Great Wall of China. It stretched for thousands of miles across mountains and deserts. The scale of his building projects was just unbelievable. But as Qin Xiao Huang got older and more powerful, he developed a terrifying fear. He was absolutely terrified of dying.

5:29 Really? The most powerful guy in the world was scared of that.

5:34 Yes. He wanted to rule his empire forever. He sent explorers across the Eastern Sea looking for mythical islands of immortals and ordered alchemists to make him magic potions. Did any of the magic potions work? Actually, they did the exact opposite. Some of his supposed elixir of life contained mercury, which is an incredibly toxic liquid metal.

5:59 Historians think the potions meant to keep him alive actually poisoned him, causing him to die in 210 BCE at age 49.

6:10 Oh no, that completely backfired.

6:14 But he was prepared. Just in case he did die, he had spent over 38 years building a tomb the size of a city, and he didn't want to go to the afterlife unprotected. Wait, is this where the clay soldiers come in? Yes. To protect him in the afterlife, he ordered artists to create an entire army out of terracotta, which is baked clay.

6:40 We're talking over 8,000 soldiers, 130 chariots, and more than 500 clay horses.

6:49 That's huge! Were they just little toys?

6:52 Not at all. They were life-size. The soldiers were around six feet tall and weighed nearly 400 pounds each. That's like the weight of a grown lion.

7:04 400 pounds? And 8,000 of them? How did they even make that many?

7:10 They worked like a giant ancient factory. But the craziest part, no two soldiers have the same face. Every single one has a unique hairstyle, facial expression, and armour. They looked exactly like a real breathing army, ready to fight.

7:30 Okay, but how did an entire army of heavy clay soldiers end up buried?

7:35 They were carefully placed in massive underground pits near his tomb, arranged in strict military formations and completely hidden from the world. Wait, so nobody knew they were there? For thousands of years? Nobody. The Qin dynasty actually collapsed just a few years after the Emperor died. The pits were buried under dirt and completely forgotten.

8:00 Until one day, on March 29, 1974.

8:05 What happened in 1974?

8:08 A group of farmers, including a man named Yang Ji Fa and his brothers, were digging a water well in a dusty field near the city of Xi'an.

8:17 Let me guess, they hit a clay face.

8:20 Exactly! They found pieces of pottery, and then a whole head. Soon, archaeologists arrived and uncovered what people now call the eighth wonder of the world.

8:32 That is the best accidental discovery ever! Were the statues painted or just brown clay? That's a great question.

8:40 When they were first dug up, they were covered in bright colours: red, green, purple, and blue. But sadly, when the ancient paint hit the modern air, it dried and faded away soon after they were unearthed.

8:55 Oh man, that's a bummer. But are there any other weird facts about his tomb?

9:00 Oh definitely. The Emperor's actual tomb still hasn't been opened by archaeologists. Ancient historians wrote that inside the tomb, there are rivers and oceans made entirely of liquid mercury, flowing mechanically. Rivers of liquid metal? That is so weird and wonderful. Modern science actually backs this up.

9:21 Soil tests near the tomb show dangerously high levels of mercury. So the stories of metallic rivers might be completely true. Alright, Finn, quiz time. Let's see how much you remember about the first emperor.

9:35 Okay, I'm ready. Bring on the questions.

9:39 First question. What was the name of the prince who became China's first emperor? Next one. How old was he when he first became king of the Qin State? Question three. What kind of toxic metal was in the dangerous magic potions he drank? Here's number four. In what year did farmers accidentally discover the terracotta army?

10:17 Last question. How many clay soldiers are estimated to be buried in the underground pits? Great job! Let's see how you did. The first answer is, his name was Ying Zheng, who became Qin Shi Huan. For question two, he was only 13 years old when he became king. The answer to question three is the potions contained toxic mercury.

10:48 Number four, the army was discovered in 1974 by farmers digging a well. And the final answer is there are over 8,000 soldiers guarding the tomb.

11:00 Wow, I can't believe a 13-year-old Bill and Empire connected the Great Wall and buried an entire underground army. I know!

11:09 The Terracotta Army is one of the greatest mysteries ever solved. But the Emperor's actual tomb is still waiting in the dark.

11:18 I really hope they open it one day to see those Mercury rivers. I want to know what's in there. Me too.

11:24 Hey, if you love learning about epic history mysteries with us, please leave us a five-star review. Tell us if you'd want your own clay army. Just scroll down and tap the stars.

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11:52 See you next time on History's Not Boring.

11:55 Bye!