I would like to do my final project on the terracotta warriors. While everything that I have learned so far in this course has been interesting, the information I learned about the terracotta warriors is the only topic I discussed with people outside of class. I was genuinely enthusiastic to call my mom right after class and impress her with my new knowledge on this topic. Another reason why I want to choose this topic is because I had the chance to see a few terracotta warriors in person. I went to a museum in Philadelphia a few years ago that had a traveling exhibit of a number of terracotta warriors on display. Of course touching them was forbidden and they were behind glass, but it was amazing to see them in real life. I considered choosing other topics such as the concept of yin and yang or fangshih, but it is much harder for me to relate to those topics. The terracotta warriors are tangible objects that for me, as an American who is not familiar with Chinese culture, can relate to.
I am excited about the possibility of learning more than just the basic facts about the terracotta warriors. Many people know that they were buried in the tomb of the first emperor of China, but I want to go beyond that. I want to know what the worker’s day to day lives were like when they were making these warriors, how much training artists received for this project, and so much more. I am not yet sure what aspect of the terracotta warriors I am going to focus on, but at this moment I definitely want to include a paragraph or so about the workers lives making these warriors. I currently do not see a chapter on the terracotta warriors and would love to have this topic included in the open textbook.
