Queensland Art Gallery Presscuttings Book 10 : Record of press coverage, March 1982 - May 1984

~- _, ,r --- The Courier-Mail 3 June 1983 Television With PFTER DEAN Another look at the Entombed Warriors THE program I am about to discuss will not be news to thousands of people - either when it was telecast before as part of John Laws World, or when seen during a visit to the Queensland Art Gallery. Bearing in mind that he En- tombcd Warriors exhibition at the galled closes next Sunday after a recor attendance, Channel O has decided to repeat the Film Australia documentary on the discovery of the figures tomorrow evening at 6.30. It begins, as so many documenta• ries about China do, on the Great Wall, one of the wonders of the world and another of the achieve- ments of the first Chinese Emperor, Qin Shihuang. His short-lived dynasty even gave China its name. As host Dr Alan Thorne explains, despite unifying the vast country, in- troducing centralised government, standardising weights, measures, coinage, the law and writing1 and building a comprehensive communi- cations system, Qin was ob~essed with immortality and fear of death. Thus, he ordered that an army of more than 6000 be buried with him; an army of terracotta figures, many modelled on real soldiers. Visitors to the art gallery arc studying seven soldiers and two horses from that army, incarcerated more than 2000 years ago. Thorne. of the Australian Nation- al University, wanders abou t thoughtfully and muses: "Almost anywhe re you go in this ancient country, history is being unearthed somewhere . In 1974, near Sian, north-west China, a group of peas- ants stumbled on a truly amazing find ..." The terracotta, lifcsize army was, Thorne says. the greatest single monument andi man has ever built to himself. Buil ing the burial palace and tomb required 750,000 men. Nine years ago peasants were sinking a -Nell when they stumbled on a vault. Subsequent excavation revealed the warrior pits, one of the most important archaeological finds of the century. As work proceeded, a huge en- closil structure was built over the pits. horne hovers outside the cen• tral chamber and points out that this is as far as we can go. Even the cen- tral Chinese TV service is barred. The only film - parts of which arc incor~ratcd in this documenta• ry - to shot there was made by · the city of Sian's own local film unit. It shows that the Chinese have little to learn from thr West about film- making. Only an estimated one-sixth of the terracotta figures had been ex- cavated when Thorne was at the site last year. He goes to Sian, capital of China for I O dynasties and situated on the western approaches to the Chinese heartland, one of the country's more cosmupoli tan cities. It has 60,000 Moslems and its inhabitants are ex- am.f:'es of various Chinese stock. hey go about their business, ·staring at the cameras aimed at them by the documentary makers, showin$ none of the supposed in- scrutab1lity. With the cultural revolution so far behind present-day China, histo- i is no longer despised, says orne. Sadly, some of the results of that chaos remain - a group of fig- ures stand forlornly minus their heads. An array of stone tablets, contain- ing poetry and historical accounts, attract quietly studious visitors. Meanwhile, Thorne shows us a bronze sword, found with the terra- cotta army. Others like it - those not ransacked by ,ebelling subjects a few years after the great Qin Shihuang died - were sharp enough after two millennia to cut a hair. Striding about atop the mound, beneath which is Qin's tomb, Thorne says: "There's more to come when other excavations are under- taken. Perhaps the emperor's great• est treasures . .. " It's a notable effort, particularly by cameraman Paul Tait, writer-as- sociatc producer John Edwards and director Bob Kingsbury. And by host Thorne, who corn- bines scholarliness with an obvious fascination with his subject. He is strong compcre material. , . r . •·