The globalisation and commoditisation of Xi'an's terracotta warriors is well underway. The central Chinese city of Xi'an, where the tomb-guarding Qin Dynasty warriors were unearthed in 1974, has created its own mini terracotta economy. As well as the warriors museum, which draws two million visitors per year, the city's manufacturing industry has been boosted by a thriving trade in replica warriors, which are sold ubiquitously in Xi'an.
Now the world is catching on. Last month, London's British Museum
opened the world's largest overseas exhibition of the Xi'an terracotta
warriors. Fifty thousand pre-opening tickets were sold for the event,
which runs until April, making it the British Museum's most successful
exhibition in decades. Now sport is jumping on the terracotta bandwagon. Australian
portrait painter Charles Bilic has created a collection of paintings
depicting terracotta warriors playing Olympic Sports - look out for
those next summer.
And on show in Madrid last week were
terracotta warrior-style statues of leading tennis players Roger
Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic. The statues were unveiled at
the ATP Masters Madrid tennis tournament, recognising the first three
players to qualify for the season-ending ATP Tennis Masters Cup in
Shanghai. The Madrid tournament was actually won by none of the
"warriors", but by Argentina's David Nalbandian who defeated world
number one Roger Federer in the final.
The terracotta tennis
statues will next be on official display at the ATP Tennis Masters Cup,
held in Shanghai from November 11-18.
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