Here is my starting paragraph for the essay:
—-
Ancient China believed that there is life after death and when someone important dies, such as an emperor, their daily comfort and objects were buried alongside with them. “During the Shang and Zhou dynasties, people were buried alive in tombs with the deceased as sacrifices”[1] but were gradually replaced with sculptures and clay figures. One important historical figure that took this new form of tomb art to an extreme was China’s First Emperor, Qin Shihuang of the Qin dynasty, whose mausoleum was known to have begun as early as when Qin Shihuang was thirteen and continued after his death in 210 BC but was never fully completed[2]. Emperor Qin Shihuang’s mausoleum have “about 6,000 life sized pottery figures”[3] in the shape of soldiers and horses were buried in just one of the discovered pits. It is astounding just how realistic the terracotta figures are as every single warrior figures have their own unique appearance. This characteristic represents a kind of ‘Chinese Realism’[4] with great details going into their uniforms and physical features such as hair and facial expressions. One example this essay aims to explore Qin’s Chinese Realism is through the General and Heavy Infantry terracotta figures.
[1] Zhao Wenbing, Chinese Sculpture (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2012), 38-39.
[2] Zhang Wenli, The Qin Terracotta Army: Treasure of Lintong (London: Scala Books & Cultural Relics Publishing House, 1996), 14-15.
[3] Zhao, Chinese Sculpture, 40-41.
[4] Ibid., 47.
—-
Bibliography
Fiskesjö, Magnus. Spring 2015. “Terra-cotta Conquest: The First Emperor’s Clay Army’s Blockbuster Tour of the World.” Verge: Studies in Global Asias (University of Minnesota Press) Vol. 1 (No. 1): 162-183. doi:10.5749/vergstudglobasia.1.1.0162.
Jessica Rawson, et al. n.d. China. Grove Art Online. Oxford Art Online. Oxford University Press. Accessed February 22, 2016. http://www.oxfordartonline.com.ezlibproxy1.ntu.edu.sg/subscriber/article/grove/art/T016513pg9.
United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. 1992-2016. Mausoleum of the First Qin Emperor. Accessed February 22, 2016. http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/441.
Portal, Jane. 2007. Terra Cotta Warriors: Guardians of China’s First Emperor. Washington, D.C.: National Geographic Society.
Wenbing, Zhao. 2012. Chinese Scupture. Translated by Wang Wenliang, Kang Jian, Han Huizhi and Xiao Ying. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Wenli, Zhang. 1996. The Qin Terracotta Army: Treasures of Lintong. London: Scala Books & Cultural Relics Publishing House.
Excellent funnel-shaped introduction! It just needs a little editing (avoid long sentences!)
Where is your thesis statement?
Your argument begins to take shape starting from this sentence: “It is astounding just how realistic the terracotta figures are as every single warrior figures have their own unique appearance.”
Then, you expand on this observation by bringing in a quote as well as some details.
“This characteristic represents a kind of ‘Chinese Realism’[4] with great details going into their uniforms and physical features such as hair and facial expressions.”
Can you please add another sentence on these details. What are all the reasons why they look so real?
“One example this essay aims to explore Qin’s Chinese Realism is through the General and Heavy Infantry terracotta figures.” Please expand on this plan–give us a sense of your paragraphs. Are you talking about size? painting? facial details? action? Remember that you can only have 2-3 body paragraphs.