Imperial & Modern China 2026-27

China, a country to discover, changing at breakneck speed.

It is a dream indeed to be able to discover just about every facet of this country: an ancient land in constant evolution, bound to its traditions yet so strongly projected towards the future, with a distinctive architecture into which elements of the most absolute modernity are woven. We will move from Terracotta Warriors, ancient walls, pagodas, gardens and temples to shopping malls, skyscrapers and soaring towers, so as not to leave this tour without having grasped the many sides of this wonderful country, the most populous in the world.

Xi’an, the Terracotta Army.

It is considered one of the most important archaeological sites in the world, as well as one of the greatest discoveries of the 20th century. It lies around 30 km from Xi’an, the first capital of the Chinese Empire. It was built to protect the tomb of the First Emperor of China, Qin Shihuang, and to accompany him into the afterlife. The thousands of life-size soldiers represent the army of the State of Qin (late Warring States period, 476–221 BC), which triumphed over its rivals and enabled the First Emperor to unite China under a single great empire.

The statues were built in sections, fired, assembled and finally painted: a process that took around forty years of work. Qin Shihuang, the First Qin Emperor, from whom China takes its name, commissioned the creation of a great army to protect him and accompany him into the afterlife. He wished to demonstrate his immense power and to preserve his status as first and greatest emperor even in the next world. It was built in the image of the army that triumphed over and conquered all the rival states to unify the territory under a single great empire. Visiting the Terracotta Army, you will notice that some statues are missing their heads, while the body has remained intact. Studies have revealed that the heads, arms and torsos were made separately and later assembled. To join the pieces together, the craftsmen used a further layer of clay, so as to shape the surface and create the details of the face and hair statue by statue. After firing in special kilns to harden the clay, all the statues were painted and coloured. The work occupied some 720,000 craftsmen, who assembled and modelled the details of each statue by hand. The result? You will feel as though you are standing before real warriors, each with his own specific features and characteristics, every one different from the next. After 2,000 years, erosion and humidity have robbed the statues of their original vivid colour, but the details of the armour, hair and faces are still clearly visible. The terracotta warriors are considered one of the greatest archaeological discoveries of the 20th century. The Army lay buried for more than 2,000 years, until 1974, when local farmers digging a well found fragments of statues. The authorities commissioned archaeological excavations which, in 1976, uncovered two further sites around 20 metres from the first find: to identify them, the three areas were named Pit One, Pit Two and Pit Three. The excavations brought to light around 8,000 life-size terracotta warriors in battle formation: an entire army guarding the tomb, around which the archaeological site of the Terracotta Army stands today. In December 1987 the Mausoleum of the First Emperor and the Terracotta Army were declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO. The grand army has thus fulfilled the task for which it was created: to show the world the greatness of Emperor Qin Shihuang, first emperor of the Chinese Empire.