The world was astonished when 8000 terracotta soldiers were unearthed in 1974 by Chinese farmers digging a well; the warriors opened a window to the first dynasty of China unlike anything seen before.

Dan travels to the mausoleum of the First Emperor Qin Shi Huang in China to discover what this clay army and his enormous mausoleum can tell us about life in the court of the First Emperor. Dan also goes in search of the mass graves of the workers who toiled to their deaths to build the mausoleum and traces the chaotic fall of the Qin and how the Emperor's pursuit of eternal life led to a gruesome and premature death.

This episode was produced by Mariana Des Forges and edited by Dougal Patmore. The translator was Ellen Xu and the fixer was Chao.

Enjoy unlimited access to award-winning original documentaries that are released weekly and AD-FREE podcasts. Sign up HERE for 50% off for 3 months using code ‘DANSNOW’.

We'd love to hear from you - what do you want to hear an episode on? You can email the podcast at [email protected].

You can take part in our listener survey here.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.