[tony d]

They are truly magnificent to see. The Chinese have built a permanent building/museum around and over the trenches where the warriors stand. At present there are about 1000 rebuilt from the pieces broken many years ago when the pits were plundered. Since the arrival of the exhibits for the British Museum, there have been some interesting articles on the warriors in both the Sunday Times and the Guardian,
There was also an excellent dramatised documentary on tv while we were in China which a friend kindly taped for us. The first emperor became totally mad because his physicians persuaded him that he should take huge quantities of mercury to prolong his life. It had exactly the opposite effect!
We were very impressed with the way that the Chinese have ensured the future of the collection by building a permanent home over the collection, unlike the Greeks who tend to protect their treasures with corrugated iron! Having said that we are great fans of Greece and are off there in several weeks time.