Opening – The Warrior Emperor and China’s Terracotta Army @ Montreal Museum of Fine Arts

The Terracotta Warriors have been China’s best ambassadors, regularly touring the world and best exemplifying the might of Chinese culture and historical grandor. The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts will open on Feb 12 an exhibition of these archaeological artifacts that were discovered by accident in 1974 with the tomb of Emperor Ying Zheng, possibly the greatest archaeological discovery of the 20th century after King Tut’s tomb in Egypt. Ten larger-than-life terracotta sculptures will be the star attraction of this exhibition, including two high-ranking officers, four soldiers, a civic official, an acrobat and two horses. Of course, such show can’t have the visual impact of the hundreds of soldiers packed together in Xian, but the exhibition goes beyond the terracottas and include rare bronze sculptures and never-before-exhibited relics, many funerary figurines, ornaments in jade and gold, swords, coins and adornments from the imperial tombs of the Emperors Gaozu and Jing of the Han Dynasty. This is an interesting way of learning the history of ten centuries of funeral rites in China. Singapore's Asia Civilization Museum is also planning to have a Terracotta Warriors show in May. More on this later...