Terracotta Army Terracotta Army The Terracotta Army is a collection of terracotta sculptures depicting the armies of Qin Shi Huang, the first Emperor of China. It is a form of funerary art buried with the emperor in 210–209 BCE with the purpose of protecting the emperor in his afterlife. The figures, dating from approximately the late third century BCE, were discovered in 1974 by local farmers in Lintong District, Xi'an, People's Republic of China, Shaanxi province. The figures vary in height according to their roles, with the tallest being the generals. The figures include warriors, chariots and horses. Estimates from 2007 were
Xi Jinping on the world stage. His political program calls for a China more united and confident of its own value system and political structure. Under Xi China has also taken a more critical stance on North Korea, while improving relationships with South Korea. China–Japan relations have soured under Xi's administration; the most thorny issue between the two countries remains the dispute over the Senkaku/Diaoyu islands. In response to Japan's continued robust stance on the issue, China declared an Air Defense Identification Zone in November 2013. Xi has called China–United States relations in the contemporary world a "new type of great-power relations",