Greek craft workers may have helped inspire the most famous Chinese sculptures ever made – the 8,000 warriors of the Terracotta Army who have been watching over the tomb of the first emperor of China for more than 2,000 years. Archaeologists and historians working on the warriors say they now believe that the figures’ startlingly lifelike appearance could have been influenced by the arrival in China of ancient Greek sculptures, and even that Greek sculptors made their way there to teach their designs. China's mighty terracotta army gains 100 soldiers Read more“We now have evidence that close contact existed between the first emperor’s China and the west before the formal opening of the Silk Road. Many other pits of terracotta soldiers have been found, but the older ones are small and usually very stylised. Chinese historians recorded the arrival of Roman traders; by the time of the emperor Augustus Chinese silk was streaming into Rome and many of its wearers were being denounced as effete and immoral by commentators including Seneca.

Source: The Guardian October 12, 2016 18:11 UTC