The First Emperor (China's Terracotta Army), British Museum

The eponymous 'first emperor' is Ying Zheng, - first in the sense that he was the first to unify the vast area that came to form the basis of modern China (whose very name derives from his original kingdom at the centre of it Qin - pronounced 'chin') - first also in the sense of foremost, first and uppermost, which was how he saw himself: as illustrated in his adoption of the religious title Qin Shighuangdi (First August Thearch of Qin) - to be echoed perhaps unwittingly a thousand or so years later in the title of the Holy Roman Emperor one wonders? Ask anyone at random on the street about ... more

***Background*** It doesn't seem six months ago that we heard that The Terracotta Army was to leave the shores of China for the first time and take up temporary residence in The British Museum. This was an opportunity that simply could not be wasted as this exhibition may never find it's way to these shores again. We therefore booked tickets on-line and had a wide choice of availability in terms of time slots/dates given we were booking so far in advance. Tickets cost £12 adults/child under 16 free so for 5 adults and a child it cost £66 including booking fee. Booking was a very simple process ... more

The arrival of a small delegetion from the First Chinese Emperor's terracotta army to the British Museum in London generated great interest. Over the past six months, thousands of tourists have invaded the samll space of the museum's reading room to get a glimpse of elaborate warriors standing on guard. The exhibition, simply entitled The First Emperor: China's Terracotta Army, has been in London since 13th September 2007 and runs until 6th April 2008. Over 100,000 pre-booked date / time tickets have already been sold for the exhibition and approximately 1,000 bought each day at the door. Most ... more