All language subtitles for IMAX.Mysteries.of.Ancient.China.2016.1080p.BluRay.x264-DON

Welcome
to one of the most fabled

and mysterious places on Earth.

The world's oldest
continuous civilization.

China, today,
is a vision of the future.

It has the fastest growing
economy on Earth,

symbolized by
architectural wonders

and technological advances.

Long a closed society,

China is now the third most
visited country in the world.

New China...
bold and forward looking...

is also interwoven with a China

whose roots go back
more than four millennia.

It has endured
as a single nation

for more than 2,000 years.

How could a large
and diverse country

remain unified for so long?

And who created it?

Ancient texts
described a first emperor

who initiated
the nation's long series

of ruling dynasties.

But there were almost
no surviving artifacts

from that era to study.

His name was Ying Zheng.

Originally, he was the leader
of a region called Qin,

one of China's
seven states of the time.

The states had been at war
for more than 200 years

by the time the young king
was 29, in the year 230 BC.

He unleashed a campaign

to dominate
all of his enemy states

and end the centuries of war.

History mentions
the emperor's wartime exploits,

but there were
many facts about him

that remained hidden
for more than 2,000 years.

But in 1974,
that all changed.

A long drought had parched

the central province
of Shaanxi.

Grain was dying in the fields,

local villagers
decided to dig a well.

What they discovered would
change the course of history...

The villagers wondered

if it could be
the head of a Buddha,

or would they be punished
for taking it?

Or, was it a relic they could
sell at the marketplace?

After this first find, farmers
discovered more clay fragments,

as well as bronze arrowheads.

Months later,
archaeologists arrived.

Their leader was Yuan Zhongyi.

Yuan
I didn't expect anything major.

I thought
I would be there a week.

But that week
turned into months.

We started to find more
and more of these clay statues.

The condition and the nature
of the clay pieces

suggested
they were extremely old.

We had never seen
anything like this.

Pieced together,
the broken shards

formed a life-sized
ancient warrior.

Then another, and another.

We were looking at faces
from the deep past.

Why were these objects made?

Why was there nothing
written about them

in the ancient history scrolls?

The first bronze sword
unearthed at the site

was miraculously untarnished...

And not artwork,

but an actual weapon
from antiquity.

It was hard to tell
the age of the sword.

Then, there it was.

An inscription
at the hilt of the sword

that stated it was made
for Qin Shi Huangdi,

the fabled
First Emperor of China.

More than 2,000 years ago.

With great excitement,
we continued to carefully dig

and discover more and more
of these clay figures,

bronze swords,
and arrowheads.

We found the relic site

much, much larger
than we had expected.

It took us about half a year
to find the edge of the site.

Little did we know
that beneath our feet

was perhaps the greatest
archaeological discovery

of all time.

After 2,200 years,
the Emperor's clay warriors

would once again
see the light of day.

Eventually,
researchers would unearth

almost 2,000
warriors and horses

in a pit more than twice
the size of a soccer field,

far beyond anything
the archaeologists had imagined.

Two more pits
were discovered in 1976.

More warriors,
horses, chariots,

and bronze weapons
were dug up.

The third pit, the smallest,

is believed to be
the army "headquarters",

filled with terracotta
generals and officers,

leaders of the warriors
in the other two pits.

Researchers believe

this pit was broken into
at some point

and the heads were destroyed.

The soldiers are
six feet tall,

taller than most people
of that time.

Each warrior
has a unique face,

all hand-carved
by hundreds of craftsmen

who imbued the faces
with emotion,

some happy,
some sad or angry.

Captivating
as the clay figures are,

there were once
colorful as well,

painted brilliant hues
to make them more lifelike,

one thing that time
has diminished.

Imagine how they must've looked
2,000 years ago,

before they were buried
and forgotten.

A formidable
and resplendent army,

whose ancient mission
remained a puzzle

to the first
archaeological teams.

We now know
that they were created

at the order
of the First Emperor.

He commanded craftsmen
to fashion an immense clay army.

It was an unprecedented feat,

even by today's standards
of mass production.

Today, excavating
and piecing together

the thousands of clay figures
is a staggering challenge.

Though countless pieces
have been recovered,

they are a fraction
of what remains buried.

The original archaeologists
have retired.

Zhang Tianzhu
and Mrs. Lixiu Zhen

continue their work.

Zhang We will be
working for generations

to uncover all that
the First Emperor buried here.

Every day is filled
with anticipation.

Based on recent findings,

we have begun
a new excavation in this part

of pit number two.

Though smaller
than the first pit,

we believe it will prove
to be even richer

in archaeological value.

This is very exciting.

Lixiu
We believe there may be

nearly 100 war chariots
hidden here

and more than 100 warriors
mounted on horses

which could give us
important new insights

into the First Emperor's
military strategies.

Zhang
We are also hoping to find

and preserve figures

that still have a lot of the
original painted color on them.

When I say this to people
from the outside world,

I always get
the same questions:

"What was the purpose
of all these soldiers?"

"Why in the world
go to so much trouble?"

One answer is that they were
not for THIS world

but rather a ghostly army
meant to protect

the First Emperor
in the afterlife.

The ancient Chinese believed

that life continued after death

and it was
not all that different

from what they had known
while alive.

They would spend their time

doing what they
had always done,

depending on their place
in the social hierarchy.

A farmer would still farm
in the afterlife.

An emperor would still rule.

To reign supreme after death,

the monarch would need to take
the entire apparatus

and all the trappings of power
with him into the hereafter.

Like Egyptian pharaohs,

Ying Zheng had begun
planning his tomb

shortly after taking the throne
as King of the Qin state.

His rule would continue
in an underground palace

outfitted as grandly

as his royal residence
during life.

It would be
an immense mausoleum

covered by a great mound.

Twenty-five stories tall,

its size would rival
the Pyramids of Egypt.

Since an emperor
had many enemies,

he would need an army
standing guard before his tomb

throughout eternity.

The warriors were not
mere decorations.

They were meant to serve
the Emperor in the afterlife

as real soldiers had
during life.

At age 29, Ying Zheng
had already survived a coup

and assassination attempts.

The young Qin king had become
a commanding presence

with a towering ambition.

He would conquer the rest
of China's major states,

in a devastating
series of battles

lasting almost a decade.

Some rival armies
were so intimidated

by the fierceness
and size of his Qin army,

they surrendered.

Some were tricked,
others crushed.

Ying Zheng's secret?

A massive number of warriors,
well trained,

with superior weapons
and attack strategies.

How did the Qin army compare
to some of the greatest armies

of the past?

Alexander the Great,

who conquered
most of the western world,

commanded only 47,000 troops
at any one time.

Genghis Khan,
brilliant Mongol warrior,

had an army 100,000 strong,

most mounted on horses.

Napoleon, who conquered
all of Europe,

amassed a huge army
combining allied forces.

At their peak,
they were 680,000 strong.

The First Emperor,
according to ancient writings,

conquered the warring states
by organizing an army

of a million warriors!

Battles were enormous clashes

that could leave
100,000 fatalities

and countless wounded.

But the clay army reveals

that it was not
by superior numbers alone

that the Qin forces prevailed.

It was also
through shrewd strategy

and superior technology.

The terracotta warriors
amount to "time capsules"

revealing secrets we thought
were lost to the ages.

The terracotta army mirrored

the formations
of his real army.

One of the keys
to the invincibility

of the Qin military
turns out to be

right in the first three rows
of the battalion.

Though rotted away now,
or stolen over the centuries,

technologically advanced
crossbows, real ones,

were once held
by the clay warriors

in the first three lines.

Under the First Emperor,

the Qin had devised
an innovative crossbow design

that could shoot arrows
half a mile,

and with great accuracy.

A triggering device
made the weapons

easier to hold steady,
and fire.

Infantry and chariots
were arrayed in 38 columns,

backed by more columns guarding
their flanks and the rear.

The Qin army went
largely undefeated.

Ying Zheng had replaced
traditional peasant armies

with the first professional
military in China's history.

The exploits of
the REAL Qin army

led to a stunning achievement.

The first ever unification
of all China,

celebrated by thousands
who could not have imagined

how long
their empire would endure.

With the conquest
of the six warring states,

Ying Zheng and his Qin army

controlled much of what is now
modern day China.

Many historians believe
that the English word "China"

comes from the word "Qin".

It was a vast countryside,
full of natural riches.

From inner Mongolia
to the north

to the boundaries
of the Yellow River to the West.

East to the Yellow
and East China Sea,

and as far south
as modern day Guangzhou.

This was the land
that the First Emperor unified.

The year is now 221 BC.

The King of Qin,
at the age of 38,

has unified the nation.

He gives himself a new name,
Qin Shi Huangdi,

literally,
"First Emperor of the Qin".

So communities across his
new empire could communicate,

the First Emperor standardized
many aspects of life.

All citizens would have
the same currency,

weights and measures,
and use the same writing system.

The result?
A more cohesive country,

which has stood
the test of time.

With the various territories
now unified,

the Emperor knew that
if his new empire was to last,

he had to secure its borders.

The greatest threat came
from the warring nomadic groups

that could attack
from the north.

Qin Shi Huangdi began a massive
construction project,

rebuilding
earlier defensive walls

in the states he had conquered,

and connecting them
into a barrier

stretching
more than 3,000 miles.

It cost a fortune,

and cost as well the lives
of untold thousands of laborers.

Some 1,600 years
after Qin Shi Huangdi,

the Ming Dynasty
re-built and expanded

his long, mainly earthen barrier
into the colossal,

stone-and-brick
Great Wall we know today.

To speed the movement
of troops and supplies,

and to improve
public transportation as well,

the First Emperor built
a network of canals.

Some are still used today.

The Lingqu Canal,
near modern day Guilin,

connects the branches
of the Yangtze River

and the Pearl River.

It was the first canal
in the world

to connect two river valleys,
and enabled ships to travel

1,200 miles from inland China
to Hong Kong.

The massive infrastructure
of roads and waterways

built by the Emperor
was one of the keys

to the success of his dynasty.

Soldiers, weapons,
food and supplies

could all be dispatched quickly

to quell uprisings
throughout the country.

Qin Shi Huangdi
is one of history's

most contradictory figures...

a monarch
of great achievements,

but also,
according to some accounts,

a ruthless and brutal tyrant.

He supposedly ordered
the burning of all books

but those on
farming and medicine.

When intellectuals protested,

the Emperor
had them buried alive.

With his empire under control,

the Emperor became
obsessed with the idea

that he might live forever.

He sent subordinates out
to all corners of his empire

in search of an elixir
that would make him immortal.

Alchemists of the time believed
mercury could help extend life.

Until an elixir could be found,
he was fed balls of mercury,

unaware that it was
actually poisonous.

No one found
that immortal elixir

and the mercury tablets
gradually destroyed

the Emperor's body and mind.

He became ever more erratic
and paranoid.

Having survived at least
three attempts on his life,

he became convinced

assassins were again
plotting to kill him.

To escape them,
he spent more and more time

away from the palace,
traveling in the countryside

with his closest advisor
and son.

His health declined rapidly
on the road.

The First Emperor
of a united China,

the most powerful man
of his time,

died from the mercury
he took to avoid death,

killed by his own ambition
to live forever.

He never returned
to the palace alive.

He was sealed
into his royal casket

and, across millennia,
while hundreds of emperors

and many dynasties
followed him,

Qin Shi Huangdi's vast
underground tomb complex

was forgotten.

The mound has never
been excavated.

It remains one of the last

great historical mysteries
on Earth.

Lixiu
The only written record

of what may be inside
Qin Shi Huangdi's tomb

is a book written
200 years after his death.

In Records
of the Grand Historian,

Sima Qian describes the lavish
interior of the mausoleum.

This is what he wrote...

Zhang
They dug through three layers

of groundwater, and poured
in bronze for the outer coffin.

Palaces and scenic towers
were constructed,

and the tomb was filled
with rare artifacts

and wonderful treasure.

Mercury was used to simulate
the hundred rivers,

the Yangtze and Yellow River,
and the great sea,

and set to flow mechanically.

Above were representations of
the heavenly constellations.

Legend has it
the stars were made of

precious jewels and pearls.

Qin Shi Huangdi's body
is said to lie on a map

of the Chinese terrain
he ruled over,

dressed in the grandeur
he hoped would follow him

into the afterlife.

The entire tomb complex

amounts to an underground
city of the dead.

Not only the Emperor's
mound-covered tomb chamber

but an array of pits around it,

including
the terracotta warriors.

How could
this monumental complex

have been forgotten
for more than 2,000 years?

On orders of the Second Emperor,

the principal craftsmen
who built the tomb

were walled inside it

so they couldn't reveal
the tomb's secrets.

In time, there was no one left
who even knew of its existence.

Though we have not yet seen
inside the tomb,

researchers have discovered
that Qin Shi Huangdi

took with him
more than just an army.

It appears he wanted to be
entertained in the afterlife.

Archaeologists have unearthed
acrobats, strongmen, musicians,

as well as terracotta officials
and bureaucrats.

They discovered a replica
of the imperial garden,

with more than
45 bronze waterfowl,

including ducks,
geese and cranes.

People ask me:

Why do you spend
all of your effort

on the pits
around the Emperor's tomb?

Why don't you open
the tomb itself?

The answer is:

The danger of damage
to its contents

is too great now.

We learned a terrible lesson
a few years ago.

We excavated a figure
with the colors still intact.

When we took it outside,
the paint immediately curled up

and peeled off
right before our eyes.

In ten minutes,
the color was gone.

I felt horrible, but
there was nothing we could do.

Lixiu
In the meantime, we're using

remote sensing devices
such as ground-penetrating radar

and different kinds
of tomography

to get a general idea
of what's down there.

Until we can protect
100 percent of whatever lies

beneath the mound,
we have to wait.

That is hard, considering
the incredible wonders

purported to be buried there.

We've confirmed
a large tomb complex.

We also believe
we have identified

an underground palace.

And, amazingly,
above the tomb,

a pyramid-like
ten-story building...

perhaps a kind of pathway

for the emperor's soul
to leave the tomb.

But until we excavate,
we can't know

if the fabulous things
in historical texts are true.

Had it not been
for well diggers

seeking water for their crops,

countless more generations
might have passed

without ever glimpsing
the remarkable relics

the First Emperor left behind.

The Qin Dynasty disappeared,

but advancements
made by the First Emperor

have made possible

the long survival
of the country to this day.

His harsh rule
is well documented.

But he is also the man
who created

a vast infrastructure
of roads and canals.

He secured the borders,

standardized
weights and measures,

currency,
and the writing system.

Qin Shi Huangdi built
the foundation of modern China.

Today, his country is a dynamic
blend of ancient and modern,

one of the most mysterious

and exciting places
on the planet.

China continues to honor
and discover its past,

while also taking
its present and future place

as a major world leader.

First Emperor Qin Shi Huangdi
searched for immortality.

In Emperor Qin's own way,

the relics and monumental
advances he left behind

ensure that his name
will not be forgotten.

In a sense,
he found the immortality

that he so desperately sought.