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East Asia, 230 B.C.
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After centuries of bloodshed,
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a warrior king rises to unite
seven warring kingdoms into one empire.
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The king of Qin forges a civilization that
endures 2,000 years...
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and bears his name... China.
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Follow me!
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Fight for victory!
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It takes nine years of brutal combat
for the warrior to achieve his goal...
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and become China's first emperor.
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The first emperor's story
has passed into legend.
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But the truth lies hidden
inside the greatest tomb on Earth.
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That is the first emperor's tomb.
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And it's at the center
of what is thought to be
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the largest burial complex in the world.
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Covering 22 square miles,
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this Chinese archaeological site is bigger
than Egypt's Valley of the Kings
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and packed with treasures
richer than Tutankhamen's tomb.
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My name's Albert Lin.
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I'm a National Geographic Explorer,
and I specialize in using technology
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to discover what lies
below the earth's surface.
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The emperor's tomb
is right beneath my feet.
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My surveying drone can reveal
this place as never seen before.
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Today, the tomb is surrounded
by top-secret Chinese military bases,
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and the army is nervous about
what the drone might pick up.
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All right.
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Nobody's ever been allowed to fly here.
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This is unprecedented access.
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The first emperor is under this mound,
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but the entire site
is the size of Manhattan.
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A mile east is a huge hangar protecting
the world-famous terra-cotta army.
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It's just one of 600 pits
at this extraordinary tomb site.
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Here, archaeologists are making
explosive new discoveries.
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Military technology, a skull
that might belong to an executed prince,
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and even mutilated concubines.
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Finds that could rewrite the history books.
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That's how huge this site is.
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Can you imagine building this for yourself?
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For your afterlife?
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I'm going to investigate
every inch of this site
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and discover the truth
about the man buried beneath it.
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I'm starting my investigation
into China's founding father
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at the most famous part of his tomb site.
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Wow, wow.
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This is huge!
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It's so much bigger
than I thought it would be.
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This is the terra-cotta army.
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8,000 warriors buried over 2,000 years ago.
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One of the greatest wonders of the world.
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This is the first emperor's army.
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He ordered his real army
to be re-created in clay
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and buried with him, ready to fight
his battles in the afterlife.
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Each face is individual and unique.
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Look at the scale of this place.
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It tells you a lot about the guy.
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About his ego, his vision
for his afterlife.
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What an experience.
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These warriors are set for battle,
exactly like the emperor's real army.
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A light infantry at the front.
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Then heavy infantry,
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and even cavalry at the rear.
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520 life-sized horses.
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It's a really incredible feeling
to be here,
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standing in a place
where nobody really gets access.
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I mean, we're at the center,
at the heart of this unbelievable
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World Heritage Site,
which is, in a lot of ways,
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the symbol of my own
cultural heritage, my ancestry.
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I've been fascinated by the first
emperor ever since I was a child.
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And our knowledge
mostly came from one place.
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For over 2,000 years,
the Chinese have learned
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about their founding father from a book.
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The official history of his reign,
called the Shiji,
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was written 100 years after his death.
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This book tells of his epic battles.
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How he built an empire,
how he created this place,
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but some of the achievements
described here are so extraordinary
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that they become hard to believe.
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I'm gonna investigate this tomb site
to prove if these legends are true.
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I'm starting with the legend of his army.
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A ruthless, organized killing machine.
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And in 221 B.C., the final bloody battle
for unification is playing out.
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The Shiji says, "The king of Qin had
the heart of a tiger and a wolf.
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He killed men as though he thought
he could never finish."
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The future emperor rules six kingdoms.
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Only one remains defiant.
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Are the chariots in position?
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The chariots are ready.
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We must win this battle.
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All kingdoms must be unified!
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The enemy king
has no idea what's about to strike.
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The future emperor has spent years
training his soldiers...
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equipping them
with state-of-the-art weapons...
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to create China's first professional army.
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He is a courageous military leader,
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and for nine years, his men
have fought ferociously for him.
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The enemy force of conscripted peasants
and farmers are completely outgunned.
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Weakened defenses are no match
for his most powerful weapon...
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a cavalry force, 10,000 strong.
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He treated his enemies with little mercy.
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You animal.
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From now on
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the world belongs to all of us!
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Long live, long live, long live!
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To his men and to the people
in his kingdom, he is a hero.
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Everything in China is now his...
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its titles, its treasures, its people.
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What are you doing here?
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I'm here to serve you.
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The legend describes
the future emperor as a peerless warrior
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with an unstoppable army.
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But is the legend really true?
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Right now teams are unearthing
new treasures across the tomb site
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that reveal more about
the man and his army.
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What a privilege.
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Very few people have been down here.
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All of this... it's stone armor
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intricately woven together.
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Look at that. You've got
all the little chains tied together,
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almost like chain mail.
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And nobody really knows what they're for,
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but they think that it's the armor
that would have been worn
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by the soldiers that would
follow him into the afterlife.
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It's really cool.
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So far, they've discovered
87 suits of armor,
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painstakingly assembled
from tiny pieces of stone.
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If they find things like this here,
30 feet below the surface...
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you've got to wonder what else lies beyond.
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Other storerooms on-site hide further
evidence of his high-tech army...
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Look at that.
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because few realize that
originally the terra-cotta warriors
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carried lethal weapons.
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A select number of the soldiers
would have swords,
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but they were real, functioning weapons.
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00:14:45,269 --> 00:14:50,349
Even though it was buried over
2,000 years ago, it is still razor-sharp.
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You could almost shave with it.
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In the years that followed the burial
of this terra-cotta army,
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the site was looted,
and a lot of the weapons were taken.
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They were taken for actual use in battle,
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00:15:03,908 --> 00:15:07,108
and that's why they only found about...
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so far, 20 or so of these... these swords.
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You know, the first emperor,
he spent his whole life
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conquering the six warring states
to create one single empire...
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using weapons just like this.
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And he built this army to take
into his afterlife
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and you realize that he was still at war,
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he was still preparing himself for battle.
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The technology buried here
is so extensive, so state of the art.
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Clear physical evidence supporting
the legend of a supreme warrior king
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who equipped and organized
his army like no other.
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But the army is just the start...
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because here he also buried
his entire world.
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- On this side you also dug?
- Mm.
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I'm working with
the Chinese archaeologists.
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Mm-hmm.
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Combining my drone data
and their site maps,
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we can reveal what lies
within this megatomb complex.
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At the center is the emperor.
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In front of him, the living quarters...
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next to which archaeologists
are making truly gruesome discoveries.
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To the east, his army.
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Southeast is a pit containing a body
that could be his son and heir.
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Closer to the man himself
is a pit containing
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mysterious semi-naked statues.
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And further out,
grisly evidence of mass graves.
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Now the brutal evidence
emerging from this tomb site
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will revolutionize what we know
about the man who made China.
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In my quest to discover the truth
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about the bloody legend
of the first emperor,
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I've discovered how he conquered
the whole of China.
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But how did he control such a vast land?
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The Shiji says that in 220 B.C.,
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after a tour of inspection,
bumping along terrible roads,
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the emperor ordered the construction
of a set of speedways
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radiating out from the capital.
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It describes a vast road network
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built across his newly
conquered territories.
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Superhighways to connect his empire.
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If the legend is true, he could be
a greater road builder than the Romans.
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To prove it, we need hard evidence.
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Until recently, data was limited.
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Hello.
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Wow.
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But now archaeologist professor Jiang
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has made an intriguing discovery
10 feet underground.
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First impression is, it's quite narrow,
and I'm wondering what it is.
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But then Jiang shows me the surface.
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This is the road.
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Carts passed through this road.
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These are tracks of carts
that have pressed down in the earth
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over 2,000 years ago.
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00:19:18,973 --> 00:19:23,293
What's surprising is, the tracks
don't run lengthways, but across.
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Oh, yeah. Oh. Yeah,
you really get a sense of it here.
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When I first came in here,
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I thought that they were excavating
the length of the road.
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00:19:32,932 --> 00:19:35,492
I mean, you know, it looks
about the size of a road,
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but what we're seeing from the tracks is
that actually the road is going this way
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and they're just doing a cross section
of the whole of this...
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00:19:44,931 --> 00:19:49,491
of this mega highway,
which goes and spans a distance
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in width of nearly 66 meters,
or approximately 200 feet.
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00:19:54,891 --> 00:19:57,211
So the width of the road is 200 feet.
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It's the size of a modern 16-lane freeway.
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That's incredible that you found this.
203
00:20:08,730 --> 00:20:11,610
There's got to be more roads out there.
A whole series of roads.
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I want to find more evidence
that the road network
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the official history mentions
really existed.
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00:20:23,089 --> 00:20:26,569
But on a site this big,
that's not gonna be easy.
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00:20:33,528 --> 00:20:38,328
I'm using my high-tech thermal
imaging camera, mounted on a drone.
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00:20:38,408 --> 00:20:42,408
It collects and processes information
from a specific part
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00:20:42,488 --> 00:20:44,488
of the electromagnetic spectrum,
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00:20:44,568 --> 00:20:47,888
which will allow us to detect
roads beneath the ground.
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00:20:51,407 --> 00:20:52,967
We'll do kind of slow passes.
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Professor Jiang and I are going
to do a flyby of an area
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on the edge of the tomb site.
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00:21:01,847 --> 00:21:04,767
And we're looking for a change
in the temperature.
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00:21:04,847 --> 00:21:07,486
The blue area is where
it's a little bit colder.
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00:21:07,566 --> 00:21:09,266
The red area
is where it's a little bit warmer.
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And we're talking very subtle amounts here.
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00:21:19,166 --> 00:21:22,286
Back in the lab,
I'm comparing the aerial data
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with the latest satellite imagery.
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It should pick up indications of roads
buried in the earth.
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So what's really cool
is that this is the most advanced
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00:21:33,525 --> 00:21:35,585
commercial earth imaging satellite
out there right now,
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00:21:35,605 --> 00:21:39,725
and it has never been used at this site,
so we're gonna see things in this imagery
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that, hopefully, will stand out
in a way that it hasn't before.
225
00:21:44,284 --> 00:21:46,604
This is the future of exploration...
226
00:21:46,684 --> 00:21:48,844
the most advanced technologies in the world
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00:21:48,924 --> 00:21:52,724
doing the forensic study of something
that happened 2,000 years ago.
228
00:21:52,804 --> 00:21:54,924
It's like CSI for archaeology.
229
00:21:56,284 --> 00:22:00,043
What I'm looking for is
any indication of lines in the landscape.
230
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Wow, look at all these fields, right?
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00:22:04,843 --> 00:22:07,803
You see this long line
that runs through all these fields.
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It's really faint.
233
00:22:09,523 --> 00:22:11,683
But it's nothing to do
with the rest of this farm.
234
00:22:11,763 --> 00:22:15,122
But the craziest part about it is,
when you link it up,
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it continues across many farms,
236
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right to the northern extent
of the mausoleum site.
237
00:22:20,082 --> 00:22:22,362
And when you look and say,
"Okay, let me draw a line
238
00:22:22,442 --> 00:22:24,842
down the middle
of this whole mausoleum site,"
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00:22:24,922 --> 00:22:27,222
and you mirror it, and you say,
"What would be on the other side?"
240
00:22:27,242 --> 00:22:29,962
and, sure enough, there's another line,
pfft, right there.
241
00:22:33,641 --> 00:22:37,001
It looks like there's two
perfectly symmetrical straight lines
242
00:22:37,081 --> 00:22:39,601
leading right to the mausoleum site.
243
00:22:39,681 --> 00:22:41,601
So on this side...
244
00:22:42,761 --> 00:22:46,001
I've asked Professor Jiang to see
if I could be onto something.
245
00:22:50,560 --> 00:22:52,240
So you're saying that, basically,
246
00:22:52,320 --> 00:22:57,160
if we can prove that it's Qin Dynasty,
then it's a new find.
247
00:22:58,000 --> 00:22:59,800
It's all about the ground truthing now.
248
00:23:07,639 --> 00:23:10,679
I'm heading to the location
of the line I found on the map.
249
00:23:17,359 --> 00:23:20,439
Where we're standing right now
is right here.
250
00:23:20,519 --> 00:23:24,318
And what it is, is this massive trench
251
00:23:24,398 --> 00:23:28,998
over 6 feet below the surface
of the rest of these farms
252
00:23:29,078 --> 00:23:31,798
with no real explanation for its existence.
253
00:23:31,878 --> 00:23:33,918
There's no reason to have
this huge trench here.
254
00:23:33,998 --> 00:23:35,418
There's no river here.
There's nothing else.
255
00:23:35,438 --> 00:23:39,798
What I'm standing on right here could be
one of the roads of the network of roads
256
00:23:39,878 --> 00:23:42,157
built by the first emperor.
257
00:23:42,237 --> 00:23:45,037
The physical evidence from across the site
258
00:23:45,117 --> 00:23:50,597
suggests that the legend was right about
the sheer scale and size of those roads.
259
00:23:53,357 --> 00:23:56,597
According to historical records,
these white lines
260
00:23:56,677 --> 00:24:01,396
show the emperor's superhighways
radiating out from his new capital.
261
00:24:03,436 --> 00:24:08,596
Like the Romans, the emperor of China
is unifying his people with roads.
262
00:24:09,916 --> 00:24:13,036
And he also builds walls
to protect his empire.
263
00:24:13,116 --> 00:24:17,155
Thousands of miles of defensive
fortifications to the northern border.
264
00:24:19,315 --> 00:24:22,275
This is what early sections of the wall
would have looked like.
265
00:24:22,355 --> 00:24:24,395
Just trampled earth.
266
00:24:24,475 --> 00:24:28,635
Today, what we're left with is this.
267
00:24:30,755 --> 00:24:32,434
The Great Wall of China.
268
00:24:39,754 --> 00:24:43,394
And he doesn't just unite China
with walls and roads.
269
00:24:43,474 --> 00:24:45,714
He also integrates its people.
270
00:24:49,073 --> 00:24:51,673
So here's what the official history says...
271
00:24:51,753 --> 00:24:54,593
"The first emperor did all
he could to stamp out
272
00:24:54,673 --> 00:24:59,033
the memory of the warring states
and to weld the people into one nation."
273
00:25:00,433 --> 00:25:02,753
So the real challenge for the first emperor
274
00:25:02,833 --> 00:25:05,192
was to truly unify his people.
275
00:25:06,192 --> 00:25:08,912
A people who had,
until his war of conquest,
276
00:25:08,992 --> 00:25:13,272
been fighting each other for 250 years.
277
00:25:16,432 --> 00:25:18,912
He introduces a common language.
278
00:25:18,992 --> 00:25:21,112
One that is still written today.
279
00:25:23,911 --> 00:25:26,071
He creates a single currency.
280
00:25:28,871 --> 00:25:33,151
And he will change the way China
and its people are ruled forever.
281
00:25:54,950 --> 00:25:58,989
Shortly after uniting China,
he summons his court to his capital
282
00:25:59,069 --> 00:26:00,989
to announce his new political vision.
283
00:26:09,629 --> 00:26:15,948
Riding with him, his eldest son and heir,
and also his youngest son.
284
00:26:22,188 --> 00:26:25,148
They might expect to share power
with their father.
285
00:26:36,587 --> 00:26:41,387
But he's about to spark a chain of events
that will destabilize his new nation...
286
00:26:43,547 --> 00:26:45,787
and threaten to destroy it.
287
00:27:01,706 --> 00:27:06,345
I'm investigating one of
the most enigmatic leaders in history...
288
00:27:06,425 --> 00:27:08,345
China's first emperor.
289
00:27:12,585 --> 00:27:15,305
The legend tells us that he tears up
the way this land
290
00:27:15,385 --> 00:27:19,185
has been ruled for centuries,
and he creates this dictatorship
291
00:27:19,265 --> 00:27:23,624
in which everyone must bow down
to his ultimate authority.
292
00:27:33,784 --> 00:27:36,384
221 B.C.
293
00:27:36,464 --> 00:27:39,623
The warrior king prepares to announce
his radical new plan.
294
00:27:43,183 --> 00:27:45,423
His prime minister and right-hand man
295
00:27:45,503 --> 00:27:48,863
is the architect
of this new system of government.
296
00:27:50,063 --> 00:27:52,023
They are ready for you.
297
00:27:53,183 --> 00:27:55,702
They have planned for this moment
for years.
298
00:28:12,821 --> 00:28:17,501
He believes he has the God-given right
to rule all under heaven.
299
00:28:29,660 --> 00:28:31,620
And to reflect this power,
300
00:28:31,700 --> 00:28:36,300
he declares that he will be
forever known by a new title.
301
00:28:40,300 --> 00:28:46,899
I am the first and most divine
Emperor in the history of China.
302
00:28:50,139 --> 00:28:54,139
This declaration alarms the court
and its high priests.
303
00:28:55,619 --> 00:28:59,859
But what comes next
shocks them to their core.
304
00:28:59,939 --> 00:29:05,178
We will not give land, rank and power
to you
305
00:29:05,778 --> 00:29:12,418
to create your own little empires.
306
00:29:26,977 --> 00:29:28,337
Silence.
307
00:29:30,457 --> 00:29:32,257
Silence!
308
00:29:34,897 --> 00:29:40,656
There will be new laws to govern all life
309
00:29:40,736 --> 00:29:47,096
and everyone will be bound to them.
310
00:29:50,936 --> 00:29:55,095
The ruling class
expected rewards of wealth and lands.
311
00:29:58,055 --> 00:30:01,495
Instead he seizes everything for himself.
312
00:30:04,455 --> 00:30:06,975
They dare not challenge
the emperor directly.
313
00:30:08,535 --> 00:30:13,814
Instead, they seek help from
the oldest force in the land...
314
00:30:13,894 --> 00:30:15,334
the high priests.
315
00:30:17,214 --> 00:30:19,694
This is a disaster.
316
00:30:19,774 --> 00:30:23,054
Find a way to tell him it won't work.
317
00:30:29,373 --> 00:30:31,493
What happens next is the trigger
318
00:30:31,573 --> 00:30:34,893
for one of the bloodiest periods
in China's history.
319
00:30:40,933 --> 00:30:45,492
The first emperor is obsessed
with spiritual power.
320
00:30:45,572 --> 00:30:47,892
We know this from his tomb complex,
321
00:30:47,972 --> 00:30:51,252
which is perfectly aligned
with a pathway to heaven.
322
00:30:54,532 --> 00:30:57,212
The legend tells that he travels
to the base of the mountains
323
00:30:57,292 --> 00:31:00,212
to hear the prophecy for his rule
from the spiritual leaders.
324
00:31:00,292 --> 00:31:03,131
But he thinks
that he's a divine son of heaven
325
00:31:03,211 --> 00:31:05,371
so he expects that these omens for his rule
326
00:31:05,451 --> 00:31:08,011
are gonna be extremely auspicious.
327
00:31:41,649 --> 00:31:43,209
Well?
328
00:31:45,369 --> 00:31:47,729
Heaven sends us an omen.
329
00:31:49,609 --> 00:31:52,529
The blackest rain.
330
00:31:54,208 --> 00:32:00,208
Only darkness can come
from your dangerous venture.
331
00:32:02,128 --> 00:32:06,688
There is no future in what you do.
332
00:32:08,848 --> 00:32:12,407
It is written.
333
00:32:20,207 --> 00:32:24,287
If the people learn of this bleak
warning, it could spark an uprising.
334
00:32:26,367 --> 00:32:29,326
What is this worth?
335
00:32:29,406 --> 00:32:31,246
Nothing.
336
00:32:41,526 --> 00:32:42,526
Ahh!
337
00:32:47,805 --> 00:32:49,685
In my nation
338
00:32:49,765 --> 00:32:51,485
nothing is written
339
00:32:51,565 --> 00:32:53,725
unless I write it.
340
00:33:01,125 --> 00:33:05,364
The legend tells us that the emperor
wipes out anyone who defies him.
341
00:33:07,404 --> 00:33:11,084
All his subjects must now obey
the laws that he writes.
342
00:33:18,244 --> 00:33:21,403
But is the tale of this ruthless
power grab really true?
343
00:33:25,683 --> 00:33:29,243
One 2,000-year-old clue holds the answer.
344
00:33:30,883 --> 00:33:33,523
In the grave of an imperial official,
345
00:33:33,603 --> 00:33:37,562
a vast cache of bamboo scrolls
has been found.
346
00:33:42,362 --> 00:33:44,642
And at Peking University,
347
00:33:44,722 --> 00:33:48,362
Professor Chen is cataloguing
the legal cases they contain.
348
00:33:50,642 --> 00:33:54,841
Hidden inside,
the brutal truth of what happened.
349
00:33:54,921 --> 00:33:59,641
This is a window into the day-to-day life
of what law
350
00:33:59,721 --> 00:34:02,921
was like in the world of the first emperor.
351
00:34:03,001 --> 00:34:08,401
The scrolls explain both laws
and punishments that apply to everyone,
352
00:34:08,481 --> 00:34:10,840
whether a lord or a peasant.
353
00:34:12,320 --> 00:34:13,660
These punishments are a bit extreme.
354
00:34:13,680 --> 00:34:17,520
I mean, we're talking about things
like tattoos on your face,
355
00:34:17,600 --> 00:34:19,840
there's castration in here.
356
00:34:25,320 --> 00:34:26,600
They cut his head off?
357
00:34:26,679 --> 00:34:28,699
- They cut his head off.
- Yes, cutting his head off.
358
00:34:28,719 --> 00:34:31,999
So, this is interesting.
359
00:34:32,079 --> 00:34:36,719
If you said something nice about
the enemy, it was considered treasonous,
360
00:34:36,799 --> 00:34:41,399
and if you're praising them, then the
punishment was something called "lu."
361
00:34:41,479 --> 00:34:42,479
- Is that right?
- Yes.
362
00:34:42,559 --> 00:34:45,918
And what that was, was you were dragged
in front of the public
363
00:34:45,998 --> 00:34:52,438
in a public space, shown to the people
as a treasonous criminal,
364
00:34:52,518 --> 00:34:56,558
and subsequently beheaded right there
in front of everybody.
365
00:34:57,678 --> 00:34:58,798
Pretty gruesome.
366
00:35:00,318 --> 00:35:02,077
What's interesting about this for me
367
00:35:02,157 --> 00:35:05,957
is that you get a clear sense
that you know what to expect.
368
00:35:06,037 --> 00:35:09,197
It's written down here
on a set of bamboo strips.
369
00:35:09,277 --> 00:35:13,357
There's a law. It's not like you're just
at the whim of some random feudal king,
370
00:35:13,437 --> 00:35:14,857
of whether or not he likes you or not.
371
00:35:14,877 --> 00:35:16,357
There's rules here.
372
00:35:18,556 --> 00:35:24,236
But these are just individual cases,
so how extensive was the crackdown?
373
00:35:26,076 --> 00:35:30,236
Tales tell of murdered families,
mass graves,
374
00:35:30,316 --> 00:35:32,756
and hundreds of thousands of slaves.
375
00:35:34,316 --> 00:35:37,195
And the proof lies in the emperor's tomb.
376
00:35:49,115 --> 00:35:52,034
The legend says the first emperor used laws
377
00:35:52,114 --> 00:35:54,634
to eradicate any opposition to his power.
378
00:35:57,754 --> 00:36:03,354
That he turned academics who challenged
his authority into enemies of the state.
379
00:36:11,193 --> 00:36:16,233
Come on children, help me prepare the food.
380
00:36:16,313 --> 00:36:19,473
You search those houses, you over there!
381
00:36:23,153 --> 00:36:27,432
The official history says
that the emperor killed 400 scholars.
382
00:36:30,192 --> 00:36:32,272
Arrest them all!
383
00:36:32,352 --> 00:36:35,952
He burned the books
of a hundred schools of philosophy
384
00:36:36,032 --> 00:36:38,032
in order to make the people ignorant.
385
00:36:45,031 --> 00:36:48,871
Scholars writing
anything critical of his regime
386
00:36:48,951 --> 00:36:51,191
are about to experience his wrath.
387
00:37:11,430 --> 00:37:13,150
These are the banned scrolls.
388
00:37:13,230 --> 00:37:15,550
The architect of this cultural cleansing
389
00:37:15,630 --> 00:37:17,389
is the emperor's prime minister.
390
00:37:22,149 --> 00:37:23,989
Tie him up.
391
00:37:24,069 --> 00:37:25,949
He sends a clear message to the people.
392
00:37:27,349 --> 00:37:31,269
Entire families will be held accountable
for the actions of one man.
393
00:37:34,468 --> 00:37:36,388
Kill that woman.
394
00:37:45,028 --> 00:37:47,508
Do it quickly.
395
00:38:00,387 --> 00:38:05,067
The legend tells us that hundreds of
thousands of people are made criminals.
396
00:38:26,145 --> 00:38:30,105
Like the scholar,
many become forced laborers
397
00:38:30,185 --> 00:38:32,505
on the emperor's vast
construction projects...
398
00:38:34,585 --> 00:38:38,425
the road networks, the Great Wall,
399
00:38:38,505 --> 00:38:41,185
and now the largest tomb on earth.
400
00:38:49,664 --> 00:38:53,184
The official history says,
"When the emperor first came
401
00:38:53,264 --> 00:38:56,944
to the throne, he had over 700,000 men
402
00:38:57,024 --> 00:39:00,863
from all over the empire
transported to the tomb site."
403
00:39:06,423 --> 00:39:07,423
Oh!
404
00:39:09,543 --> 00:39:12,783
Conditions are harsh, punishments severe,
405
00:39:12,863 --> 00:39:14,743
and lives short.
406
00:39:22,902 --> 00:39:25,782
The tomb will take
another 10 years to build.
407
00:39:26,862 --> 00:39:30,142
And forced laborers
will be lucky to survive.
408
00:39:40,181 --> 00:39:43,061
If the first emperor
really used brutal repression
409
00:39:43,141 --> 00:39:46,061
and mass slavery to build his mausoleum,
410
00:39:46,141 --> 00:39:49,461
then the tomb site
must contain physical evidence.
411
00:39:57,740 --> 00:40:00,260
I've come to the Shaanxi Institute,
412
00:40:00,340 --> 00:40:03,260
where excavated remains
of the workers are stored.
413
00:40:08,299 --> 00:40:11,939
Access is rarely given,
and the site is heavily guarded
414
00:40:12,019 --> 00:40:15,419
due to the sensitive nature
of the materials it contains.
415
00:40:20,899 --> 00:40:26,138
One of the archaeologists, Dr. Sun,
has invited me to see a recent discovery.
416
00:40:35,618 --> 00:40:38,298
Wow. Oh, it's heavy.
417
00:40:39,538 --> 00:40:41,677
What we're looking at
is the skull of one of the workers
418
00:40:41,697 --> 00:40:44,017
that was found in this pit.
419
00:40:44,097 --> 00:40:45,737
All of them were quite young.
420
00:40:45,817 --> 00:40:48,577
So this is a young male
who was forced into building
421
00:40:48,657 --> 00:40:51,057
- the tomb of the first emperor?
- Right.
422
00:40:51,137 --> 00:40:54,657
Is there any idea
of how these individuals died?
423
00:40:54,737 --> 00:40:58,336
Someone might be killed
for not performing well enough.
424
00:40:58,416 --> 00:41:02,536
Oh, wow. Okay, so you're saying
that if you didn't build properly,
425
00:41:02,616 --> 00:41:05,616
if you did something incorrect,
then you would be killed?
426
00:41:05,696 --> 00:41:06,736
- Is that right?
- Dui.
427
00:41:06,816 --> 00:41:08,536
Look at all this stuff.
428
00:41:08,616 --> 00:41:11,136
- This is from the site of the pit?
- Dui, dui, dui.
429
00:41:12,216 --> 00:41:13,296
Wow.
430
00:41:13,376 --> 00:41:15,655
Wow. What is that?
431
00:41:15,735 --> 00:41:18,455
These are some
of the tools used during that time.
432
00:41:18,535 --> 00:41:20,375
- Oh, these are tools. Okay.
- Tools.
433
00:41:20,455 --> 00:41:22,935
So they were buried with their tools.
434
00:41:25,895 --> 00:41:27,895
So you think this is a chisel?
435
00:41:27,975 --> 00:41:30,655
- Yes.
- Look how sharp this is.
436
00:41:30,735 --> 00:41:32,654
- Dui.
- Wow.
437
00:41:34,254 --> 00:41:36,374
And there are disturbing clues emerging
438
00:41:36,454 --> 00:41:39,694
that reveal the conditions
the workers endured here.
439
00:41:44,414 --> 00:41:45,414
What is this?
440
00:41:45,494 --> 00:41:52,253
This is a shackle, it was found
2km east of the Emperor's tomb.
441
00:41:52,333 --> 00:41:53,893
So these are the shackles
442
00:41:53,973 --> 00:41:56,493
- of a worker, right?
- Dui.
443
00:41:57,653 --> 00:42:00,493
These were used to shackle arms and feet.
444
00:42:00,573 --> 00:42:01,493
Wow, look at this.
445
00:42:01,573 --> 00:42:05,093
These iron shackles
that were used around the wrist
446
00:42:05,173 --> 00:42:07,052
or probably around the ankles.
447
00:42:07,132 --> 00:42:08,692
Right.
448
00:42:08,772 --> 00:42:10,332
When I hold something like this,
449
00:42:10,412 --> 00:42:14,092
and you start to realize that somebody
wore this around their neck,
450
00:42:14,172 --> 00:42:16,252
that somebody was forced to wear this
451
00:42:16,332 --> 00:42:21,692
as they were conscripted to build
this massive tomb complex,
452
00:42:21,772 --> 00:42:24,131
and you put the person in mind
453
00:42:24,211 --> 00:42:27,971
when looking at this, it becomes very real,
454
00:42:28,051 --> 00:42:31,971
and the fact that their bodies
were just thrown into this pit
455
00:42:32,051 --> 00:42:34,931
with the shackles still around their neck,
456
00:42:35,011 --> 00:42:37,571
it sends chills up my back.
457
00:42:42,130 --> 00:42:45,690
120 skeletons were found in this one pit.
458
00:42:55,530 --> 00:42:58,449
And they've discovered
more graves across the site.
459
00:43:02,249 --> 00:43:04,369
Some containing numerous bodies.
460
00:43:07,489 --> 00:43:12,689
The archaeologists now think there
could be many thousands buried here.
461
00:43:24,568 --> 00:43:29,408
The Shiji tells us that there were nearly
3/4 of a million workers on the site.
462
00:43:32,327 --> 00:43:36,927
Conditions were horrific, and
the skeletal evidence is physical proof.
463
00:43:42,087 --> 00:43:45,407
You really get a sense
of the man's megalomania.
464
00:43:45,487 --> 00:43:48,007
He'll stop at nothing to achieve his goal,
465
00:43:48,087 --> 00:43:50,886
regardless of the human cost.
466
00:43:50,966 --> 00:43:55,206
You know, and it makes you wonder
what else about the legend is true.
467
00:43:55,286 --> 00:43:58,366
And the Shiji also talks about
what's buried inside the tomb...
468
00:43:58,446 --> 00:44:04,766
treasure, rivers of mercury,
you know, even concubines.
469
00:44:04,846 --> 00:44:06,605
Could that be down there too?
470
00:44:17,125 --> 00:44:19,485
I'm on the trail of new evidence
471
00:44:19,565 --> 00:44:22,884
emerging from the biggest tomb on earth...
472
00:44:26,164 --> 00:44:30,284
revealing the truth
about the man who built it...
473
00:44:30,364 --> 00:44:33,004
China's first emperor.
474
00:44:43,283 --> 00:44:49,803
The legend tells us that his vision
for the tomb grew to epic proportions.
475
00:44:58,362 --> 00:45:01,322
It's too small.
476
00:45:04,202 --> 00:45:09,882
I must have my world with me.
477
00:45:12,722 --> 00:45:17,521
Everything exactly the same.
478
00:45:29,561 --> 00:45:33,440
He built an entire city underground.
479
00:45:33,520 --> 00:45:34,880
It sounds crazy.
480
00:45:34,960 --> 00:45:37,040
But there is this belief in China
481
00:45:37,120 --> 00:45:40,280
that you brought with you
what you needed into the afterlife,
482
00:45:40,360 --> 00:45:44,760
and he thought he needed his entire world.
483
00:45:44,840 --> 00:45:50,439
I mean, how do you build a city
the size of Manhattan underground
484
00:45:50,519 --> 00:45:55,119
with nothing more
than iron tools and hard labor?
485
00:46:04,318 --> 00:46:05,838
One piece of evidence reveals
486
00:46:05,918 --> 00:46:09,278
that the mausoleum was planned
with absolute precision.
487
00:46:11,518 --> 00:46:13,318
So...
488
00:46:13,398 --> 00:46:17,438
Recently, a huge stone was uncovered
on the bed of a river.
489
00:46:20,118 --> 00:46:22,197
Wow.
490
00:46:22,277 --> 00:46:24,317
Look how big this thing is.
491
00:46:24,397 --> 00:46:26,597
It's perfectly crafted by hand,
492
00:46:26,677 --> 00:46:30,997
almost two meters long,
and weighs over 3 tons.
493
00:46:33,477 --> 00:46:36,317
I don't know how you could lift
something like this.
494
00:46:38,396 --> 00:46:43,116
This stone was found by workers
when they were digging through the river,
495
00:46:43,196 --> 00:46:45,276
and what's really incredible
about this is that
496
00:46:45,356 --> 00:46:48,996
while nobody has been inside
the first emperor's tomb,
497
00:46:49,076 --> 00:46:52,476
the actual mausoleum, we're looking at...
498
00:46:52,556 --> 00:46:54,876
we're actually touching
a piece of the material
499
00:46:54,956 --> 00:46:58,715
that was meant for
the burial chamber potentially,
500
00:46:58,795 --> 00:47:00,995
for some part of the interior of this tomb.
501
00:47:06,475 --> 00:47:11,195
Each stone has its own unique label,
like a modern-day barcode,
502
00:47:11,275 --> 00:47:15,034
giving its exact place
within the tomb complex.
503
00:47:17,034 --> 00:47:20,034
So this was built by a guy named Huan.
504
00:47:20,114 --> 00:47:20,914
Huan.
505
00:47:20,994 --> 00:47:24,314
And there's very precise measurements
and location instructions
506
00:47:24,394 --> 00:47:28,754
written over here in this section
of this inscription.
507
00:47:28,834 --> 00:47:30,513
Everybody was accountable.
508
00:47:30,593 --> 00:47:32,873
The person who made this stone
was accountable
509
00:47:32,953 --> 00:47:36,753
for its dimensions and its quality,
but it never made it there,
510
00:47:36,833 --> 00:47:40,593
and I can only imagine what happened
to the person that was responsible.
511
00:47:40,673 --> 00:47:42,473
It wouldn't have been good.
512
00:47:49,752 --> 00:47:52,072
The emperor was preparing for his afterlife
513
00:47:52,152 --> 00:47:56,632
in the same way he ruled his nation...
with military precision.
514
00:48:03,272 --> 00:48:05,391
But there's a mystery.
515
00:48:05,471 --> 00:48:08,671
His vast workforce could create
mega structures
516
00:48:08,751 --> 00:48:11,951
and build a huge mountain over his tomb.
517
00:48:13,591 --> 00:48:18,391
But no one in China had ever made
life-sized statues before.
518
00:48:19,671 --> 00:48:24,550
So how did they suddenly create these
8,000 lifelike terra-cotta warriors?
519
00:48:29,550 --> 00:48:34,030
Most scholars believe that the
Chinese developed them independently.
520
00:48:34,110 --> 00:48:37,429
But art historian Lukas Nickel
has studied the terra-cotta army
521
00:48:37,509 --> 00:48:40,989
in great detail, and he has
an astonishing new theory.
522
00:48:41,069 --> 00:48:43,589
Yeah, thanks for meeting me here.
523
00:48:43,669 --> 00:48:45,309
Well, we have a problem here.
524
00:48:45,389 --> 00:48:49,349
The terra-cotta warriors,
they are totally exceptional and unique
525
00:48:49,429 --> 00:48:50,589
in Chinese history.
526
00:48:50,669 --> 00:48:52,749
You're saying that there is
nothing like this before,
527
00:48:52,829 --> 00:48:55,588
it just showed up right
with this one particular...
528
00:48:55,668 --> 00:48:57,048
- Absolutely.
- moment in history here?
529
00:48:57,068 --> 00:49:01,108
They have occasionally small figurines,
but that's absolutely not comparable
530
00:49:01,188 --> 00:49:03,188
with what we find
in the first emperor's tomb.
531
00:49:03,268 --> 00:49:07,268
But these kind of really highly
complex human figures, life-size,
532
00:49:07,348 --> 00:49:09,948
that's something we haven't
seen before in China.
533
00:49:12,147 --> 00:49:17,107
These 10-inch figurines were
made in China hundreds of years earlier,
534
00:49:17,187 --> 00:49:20,827
but there is nothing like this
from the time of the emperor.
535
00:49:20,907 --> 00:49:26,187
Then, suddenly, the terra-cotta army
mysteriously appears.
536
00:49:29,266 --> 00:49:32,386
They just do it overnight,
and that is highly surprising.
537
00:49:32,466 --> 00:49:33,786
Have you found an explanation?
538
00:49:33,866 --> 00:49:37,226
Well, if we can't explain this
as part of Chinese history,
539
00:49:37,306 --> 00:49:39,746
we have, of course,
to look for a foreign source.
540
00:49:39,826 --> 00:49:41,186
- Right.
- We also have this.
541
00:49:41,266 --> 00:49:42,386
Have a look at that.
542
00:49:42,466 --> 00:49:43,686
- Whoa.
- These are sculptures...
543
00:49:43,706 --> 00:49:47,825
Lukas believes that the source
was the Greeks.
544
00:49:47,905 --> 00:49:52,905
He has brought photographs of Greek
statues that were found in Central Asia,
545
00:49:52,985 --> 00:49:56,865
statues dated to the same era
as the first emperor.
546
00:49:58,265 --> 00:50:02,105
This is what the Greeks
left in Central Asia, yeah.
547
00:50:02,185 --> 00:50:05,384
That is just north of the Oxus River
in southern Uzbekistan,
548
00:50:05,464 --> 00:50:08,384
just across the border from Afghanistan.
549
00:50:08,464 --> 00:50:09,584
Look at those features.
550
00:50:09,664 --> 00:50:10,504
It's the same idea.
551
00:50:10,584 --> 00:50:14,064
They tried to make a totally believable
human face.
552
00:50:14,144 --> 00:50:15,644
When you look at the different
features here,
553
00:50:15,664 --> 00:50:18,064
like the hair, and you compare it
to the hair up there.
554
00:50:18,144 --> 00:50:21,583
- Right.
- And the emphasis on facial realism.
555
00:50:21,663 --> 00:50:24,583
Geographically,
the Chinese and Greek cultures
556
00:50:24,663 --> 00:50:26,943
came very close to each other at this time,
557
00:50:27,023 --> 00:50:28,783
so communication was actually possible.
558
00:50:28,863 --> 00:50:30,383
They may have talked to each other.
559
00:50:30,463 --> 00:50:33,063
We have to look towards
our actual understanding
560
00:50:33,143 --> 00:50:36,982
of the timeline of East-West communication
and rethink that.
561
00:50:37,062 --> 00:50:38,462
Absolutely, that's right.
562
00:50:38,542 --> 00:50:44,622
These warriors force us to reconsider
how East-West contact started.
563
00:50:50,662 --> 00:50:54,821
The historical texts
shed more light on this mystery.
564
00:50:57,061 --> 00:51:00,261
We're told, in 221 B.C.,
565
00:51:00,341 --> 00:51:05,141
12 foreign statues appear
at China's western border.
566
00:51:10,381 --> 00:51:12,940
100 years earlier, Alexander the Great
567
00:51:13,020 --> 00:51:16,740
had used statues to unify
his newly conquered Greek empire.
568
00:51:19,140 --> 00:51:21,980
The statues were a propaganda tool.
569
00:51:23,820 --> 00:51:26,700
And the suggestion is
that the first emperor
570
00:51:26,780 --> 00:51:28,979
also recognizes their power.
571
00:51:35,219 --> 00:51:38,859
He is magnificent.
572
00:51:38,939 --> 00:51:40,459
According to the legend,
573
00:51:40,539 --> 00:51:44,738
he orders 12 giant statues
for his new capital city.
574
00:51:46,058 --> 00:51:49,058
But he also finds another use for them.
575
00:51:50,698 --> 00:51:54,938
This should be used in building my tomb.
576
00:51:55,018 --> 00:51:58,898
Thousands, exactly the same.
577
00:51:58,978 --> 00:52:02,457
I will lead them to rule in the next world.
578
00:52:02,537 --> 00:52:06,977
Your Majesty, how many do we need?
579
00:52:07,057 --> 00:52:08,777
I want thousands.
580
00:52:10,217 --> 00:52:12,657
I want my army.
581
00:52:12,737 --> 00:52:14,377
Yes, Majesty.
582
00:52:24,736 --> 00:52:27,816
But who exactly was making these statues?
583
00:52:31,576 --> 00:52:33,376
In the third century B.C.,
584
00:52:33,456 --> 00:52:37,255
the Greek and Chinese civilizations
were much closer than you might think.
585
00:52:42,255 --> 00:52:45,815
So, were Greek statue makers
traveling to the new Chinese empire
586
00:52:45,895 --> 00:52:49,175
and working there?
587
00:52:49,255 --> 00:52:53,614
If Lukas is right, then the first
direct contact between East and West
588
00:52:53,694 --> 00:52:57,454
would have happened up to 1,500 years
earlier than we tend to believe.
589
00:52:57,534 --> 00:52:59,654
It's an explosive theory
590
00:52:59,734 --> 00:53:03,614
and, if correct, it would be
rewriting the history books.
591
00:53:10,613 --> 00:53:13,893
There's a controversial
new theory that China's first emperor
592
00:53:13,973 --> 00:53:18,653
was importing ideas and people
from the West to build his tomb.
593
00:53:20,213 --> 00:53:22,053
Forensic evidence is coming out of the site
594
00:53:22,133 --> 00:53:25,613
that I'm keen to investigate.
595
00:53:25,693 --> 00:53:30,732
Archaeologists have found
a mysterious skull in one mass grave.
596
00:53:31,892 --> 00:53:34,692
It could be key to our investigation.
597
00:53:41,412 --> 00:53:44,491
Now, to the untrained eye,
it looks like any of the other skulls
598
00:53:44,571 --> 00:53:45,971
that we've seen here,
599
00:53:46,051 --> 00:53:48,611
but I've been told
that this one is different.
600
00:53:48,691 --> 00:53:52,251
They're not typically Chinese features.
601
00:53:52,331 --> 00:53:54,571
Could this be the smoking gun?
602
00:53:54,651 --> 00:53:58,731
A Westerner buried
at the first emperor's tomb site?
603
00:54:00,571 --> 00:54:02,570
I've sent detailed measurements
of the skull
604
00:54:02,650 --> 00:54:05,770
to experts at Scotland's Dundee University.
605
00:54:05,850 --> 00:54:09,450
They're going to reconstruct
the head and trace its origins.
606
00:54:17,370 --> 00:54:20,249
In the meantime, I've heard
about another excavation
607
00:54:20,329 --> 00:54:21,729
that I want to investigate.
608
00:54:24,809 --> 00:54:28,009
200 meters from the emperor's burial mound,
609
00:54:28,089 --> 00:54:31,889
archaeologists are discovering
millions of terra-cotta fragments.
610
00:54:41,928 --> 00:54:45,528
Using cutting-edge technology
and 3D scanning,
611
00:54:45,608 --> 00:54:48,488
they are painstakingly
piecing them together
612
00:54:48,568 --> 00:54:50,968
and rebuilding a group of statues.
613
00:54:58,127 --> 00:55:01,247
They are known as the acrobats,
614
00:55:01,327 --> 00:55:05,287
circus performers built to entertain
the emperor in the next world.
615
00:55:17,766 --> 00:55:24,406
They are seminaked, incredibly lifelike,
and each one has been made by hand.
616
00:55:24,486 --> 00:55:28,165
You can even see the fingerprints
of the men who made them.
617
00:55:30,125 --> 00:55:31,385
They're different than
the terra-cotta warriors.
618
00:55:31,405 --> 00:55:35,685
They have a different feel.
They're not so rigid in their stance.
619
00:55:35,765 --> 00:55:37,225
And what's really interesting about this
620
00:55:37,245 --> 00:55:40,525
is that you could make out
the tendons of your arm.
621
00:55:40,605 --> 00:55:45,644
You've got a collarbone here.
You've got an Adam's apple.
622
00:55:45,724 --> 00:55:48,524
I mean, you can see the toenails here.
623
00:55:48,604 --> 00:55:50,724
Only the Greeks were creating
624
00:55:50,804 --> 00:55:54,804
realistic seminaked human statues
at this time.
625
00:55:54,884 --> 00:55:59,803
Then, overnight, these are made
in China for the first emperor.
626
00:56:03,763 --> 00:56:05,243
Some think that this is evidence
627
00:56:05,323 --> 00:56:08,363
that they could have been
inspired by Greek sculpture.
628
00:56:10,043 --> 00:56:14,483
But were Western craftsmen actually here,
creating the acrobats themselves?
629
00:56:21,242 --> 00:56:25,682
This skull, with its unusual features,
could provide further evidence.
630
00:56:30,562 --> 00:56:33,961
Experts at Dundee University
have spent weeks analyzing it.
631
00:56:40,241 --> 00:56:42,401
I'm about to find out
what they've discovered.
632
00:56:47,921 --> 00:56:48,921
Okay.
633
00:56:52,080 --> 00:56:54,600
- Hey, Chris.
- Hi. How's it going?
634
00:56:54,680 --> 00:56:58,040
Chris, you sent us a model of what
you've made,
635
00:56:58,120 --> 00:57:01,240
and I haven't seen it yet,
so let's take a look.
636
00:57:06,920 --> 00:57:10,759
It's a little creepy, you know,
I mean, staring at this person who...
637
00:57:10,839 --> 00:57:13,279
It's so lifelike.
638
00:57:13,359 --> 00:57:16,119
So where would you place him,
in your expert analysis?
639
00:57:16,199 --> 00:57:18,919
There's so many shape features
of the skull that are East Asian,
640
00:57:18,999 --> 00:57:22,519
and then there's this sort of bridge
to the nose and this brow ridge.
641
00:57:22,599 --> 00:57:26,238
It's not common
in an East Asian population.
642
00:57:26,318 --> 00:57:30,198
This is actually a Chinese skull
from a medical specimen.
643
00:57:30,278 --> 00:57:34,998
So you can see the difference
between this...
644
00:57:35,078 --> 00:57:37,478
nose and this.
645
00:57:37,558 --> 00:57:38,878
Oh, yeah, so...
646
00:57:38,958 --> 00:57:42,437
Yeah, we're talking this brow ridge
and nose here.
647
00:57:42,517 --> 00:57:44,077
So the analysis that you're describing
648
00:57:44,157 --> 00:57:47,117
is basically the facial features
around the brow ridge and the nose
649
00:57:47,197 --> 00:57:50,757
are nontypical Asian features.
650
00:57:50,837 --> 00:57:54,157
The skull overall is East Asian
in appearance
651
00:57:54,237 --> 00:57:57,717
but with a stronger-than-normal brow ridge
652
00:57:57,797 --> 00:58:01,756
and more projecting kind of nose than
you'd... than you'd normally expect.
653
00:58:05,156 --> 00:58:09,036
This isn't conclusive proof,
but it is plausible evidence
654
00:58:09,116 --> 00:58:13,196
that there may have been outsiders
at the tomb site.
655
00:58:14,756 --> 00:58:16,755
And it supports the controversial theory
656
00:58:16,835 --> 00:58:20,955
that the first emperor
imported foreigners and foreign ideas.
657
00:58:23,115 --> 00:58:26,275
In conservative China,
that would have been shocking.
658
00:58:34,154 --> 00:58:36,154
This is the first time a Chinese ruler
659
00:58:36,234 --> 00:58:39,594
has created lifelike statues for his tomb.
660
00:58:48,594 --> 00:58:49,674
Mm.
661
00:58:58,513 --> 00:59:01,473
This is powerful magic indeed.
662
00:59:07,992 --> 00:59:10,312
What's wrong, are you afraid?
663
00:59:26,231 --> 00:59:28,911
His eyes watch me.
664
00:59:28,991 --> 00:59:32,671
I think he's going to come alive.
665
00:59:32,751 --> 00:59:35,071
Mm.
666
00:59:35,151 --> 00:59:40,591
He will, he will.
667
00:59:51,630 --> 00:59:55,670
The first emperor's legacy seems secure.
668
00:59:55,750 --> 01:00:00,749
But according to legend, his iron rule
now pushes his people to breaking point,
669
01:00:00,829 --> 01:00:04,349
triggering bloodshed and murder.
670
01:00:04,429 --> 01:00:05,949
And I want to find out the truth.
671
01:00:15,748 --> 01:00:21,708
In 213 B.C., China's first emperor
is at the peak of his powers.
672
01:00:26,188 --> 01:00:28,788
But the legend tells us that
his brutal reign
673
01:00:28,868 --> 01:00:35,227
would soon just spiral into chaos
and madness and murder.
674
01:00:35,307 --> 01:00:38,027
Within three years, he'd be dead.
675
01:00:39,907 --> 01:00:41,267
So how did it all go so wrong?
676
01:00:45,387 --> 01:00:48,667
It's a tale so dark, so insane,
677
01:00:48,747 --> 01:00:51,666
that it's hard to believe
it could possibly be true.
678
01:01:03,146 --> 01:01:06,785
According to legend,
the emperor's downward spiral
679
01:01:06,865 --> 01:01:08,945
begins with an assassination attempt.
680
01:01:23,384 --> 01:01:26,264
There are at least
three attempts on his life.
681
01:01:39,744 --> 01:01:42,943
The most daring is an attack
on the royal carriage.
682
01:01:50,183 --> 01:01:55,223
If these offenders are caught, they and
their families will pay with their lives.
683
01:01:59,142 --> 01:02:02,142
But for many, the possibility
of freeing the country
684
01:02:02,222 --> 01:02:04,702
from the emperor's dangerous
and oppressive regime
685
01:02:04,782 --> 01:02:06,702
is a risk worth taking.
686
01:03:20,498 --> 01:03:24,937
According to legend, the emperor
grows increasingly paranoid.
687
01:03:28,137 --> 01:03:32,457
Fearing death, he orders his court
to find the secret of immortality.
688
01:03:37,857 --> 01:03:40,776
And what they give him is mercury.
689
01:03:44,416 --> 01:03:47,816
His medics believe that
it's the elixir of life.
690
01:03:50,416 --> 01:03:53,656
Mercury can make you eternal.
691
01:04:06,335 --> 01:04:08,855
In fact, mercury is a poison
692
01:04:08,935 --> 01:04:13,334
that will slowly destroy
the very fabric of a person's brain
693
01:04:13,414 --> 01:04:15,174
and drive them insane.
694
01:04:41,013 --> 01:04:44,373
Sliding into madness,
the emperor orders that no one
695
01:04:44,453 --> 01:04:48,532
is to know where he is,
including his ministers.
696
01:05:07,051 --> 01:05:08,291
Prime Minister?
697
01:05:08,371 --> 01:05:10,451
Majesty.
698
01:05:13,891 --> 01:05:15,491
Who are these people?
699
01:05:18,651 --> 01:05:20,731
Who told you I was here?
700
01:05:20,811 --> 01:05:22,770
Who did it?
701
01:05:22,850 --> 01:05:26,250
It is our duty to attend you at all times.
702
01:05:31,450 --> 01:05:35,570
Someone is spying on me.
703
01:05:35,650 --> 01:05:40,649
Arrest them and kill them all!
704
01:05:44,489 --> 01:05:50,569
The first emperor's mental decline
threatens the future of China.
705
01:05:57,008 --> 01:05:59,648
And the prime minister decides to act.
706
01:06:06,568 --> 01:06:11,688
He plots to put the emperor's
youngest son, Huhai, in power.
707
01:06:22,967 --> 01:06:24,487
He's insane.
708
01:06:25,647 --> 01:06:28,807
He'll kill us all.
709
01:06:29,966 --> 01:06:33,886
Has he chosen a successor?
710
01:06:35,726 --> 01:06:37,646
Not yet.
711
01:06:40,046 --> 01:06:45,246
We must make sure it's you.
712
01:06:48,965 --> 01:06:50,125
According to legend,
713
01:06:50,205 --> 01:06:53,805
what happens next will tear apart
the emperor's family
714
01:06:53,885 --> 01:06:58,085
and plunge his empire into bloody warfare.
715
01:07:01,245 --> 01:07:06,004
I want to find physical evidence
and discover what really happened.
716
01:07:17,404 --> 01:07:19,804
I'm on the trail of a recent discovery
717
01:07:19,884 --> 01:07:23,123
that reveals how the reign
of China's first emperor
718
01:07:23,203 --> 01:07:26,043
ended in bloodshed and brutality.
719
01:07:38,002 --> 01:07:41,042
I've heard about a set
of 2,000-year-old scrolls
720
01:07:41,122 --> 01:07:46,282
that were found by chance
on the Hong Kong black market.
721
01:07:46,362 --> 01:07:49,242
Written a hundred years
after the emperor's death,
722
01:07:49,322 --> 01:07:51,362
they describe his final moments.
723
01:07:53,962 --> 01:07:58,041
To ensure their survival,
they have to be kept in water.
724
01:08:00,441 --> 01:08:01,481
Can I see it?
725
01:08:06,401 --> 01:08:07,401
Wow.
726
01:08:07,441 --> 01:08:12,240
Okay, so the fate of China
came down to this one moment,
727
01:08:12,320 --> 01:08:16,240
the decision of who would
take on the throne
728
01:08:16,320 --> 01:08:18,440
and follow
in the first emperor's footsteps.
729
01:08:18,520 --> 01:08:22,800
And what these scrolls describe
is that it was a coup.
730
01:08:39,879 --> 01:08:43,359
After 11 years on the throne, he is dying.
731
01:08:51,518 --> 01:08:56,518
The prime minister and the emperor's
youngest son, Huhai, act fast.
732
01:09:02,278 --> 01:09:04,557
Father?
733
01:09:04,637 --> 01:09:10,917
You know I've always been
your most loyal son
734
01:09:10,997 --> 01:09:15,957
and Li Si your most loyal servant.
735
01:09:30,476 --> 01:09:33,996
The successor is named just in time.
736
01:09:49,275 --> 01:09:52,995
Father.
737
01:09:53,075 --> 01:09:56,474
Father?
738
01:10:16,793 --> 01:10:19,353
You know what to do?
739
01:10:19,433 --> 01:10:20,793
I do
740
01:10:20,873 --> 01:10:22,793
but I need time.
741
01:10:24,633 --> 01:10:28,552
No one must know
about my father's death yet.
742
01:10:32,112 --> 01:10:35,352
In 210 B.C. the emperor dies.
743
01:10:37,952 --> 01:10:40,592
But the story is far from over.
744
01:10:43,912 --> 01:10:48,191
The prime minister and Huhai
keep the emperor's death a secret
745
01:10:48,271 --> 01:10:50,511
while they plot their next move.
746
01:11:00,671 --> 01:11:06,310
Fusu, the emperor's eldest son
and rightful heir to the throne,
747
01:11:06,390 --> 01:11:09,750
has been at the Great Wall,
defending the empire.
748
01:11:16,190 --> 01:11:20,309
He's the greatest threat
to Huhai's bid for power.
749
01:11:48,468 --> 01:11:49,468
Tell me your name.
750
01:11:49,548 --> 01:11:52,707
He is Prince Fusu, of the Qin Emperor.
751
01:11:55,227 --> 01:11:56,227
Arrest him.
752
01:12:27,385 --> 01:12:30,545
The legend tells us
that Fusu committed suicide.
753
01:12:33,545 --> 01:12:38,025
But the recently discovered
ancient scrolls reveal a shocking twist.
754
01:12:40,305 --> 01:12:43,944
Huhai didn't listen...
755
01:12:46,024 --> 01:12:47,824
did as he wished.
756
01:12:50,264 --> 01:12:53,904
and killed his brother, Fusu,
757
01:12:53,984 --> 01:12:56,664
the rightful heir to the throne.
758
01:12:56,744 --> 01:12:58,024
Incredible.
759
01:12:58,104 --> 01:13:00,344
This is amazing.
760
01:13:00,424 --> 01:13:03,623
And it's also just wild to think
that this actual written word
761
01:13:03,703 --> 01:13:06,223
has been locked away in time
for 2,000 years,
762
01:13:06,303 --> 01:13:07,823
and I'm holding it in my hand now.
763
01:13:07,903 --> 01:13:09,863
Incredible.
764
01:13:16,303 --> 01:13:20,702
The scrolls are a vital clue,
but to prove exactly what happened,
765
01:13:20,782 --> 01:13:23,222
we need hard physical evidence.
766
01:13:32,782 --> 01:13:38,221
And now the archaeologists at the tomb
have revealed an extraordinary find.
767
01:13:43,221 --> 01:13:48,541
We examined all eight graves,
and this skull was found in one of them.
768
01:13:49,981 --> 01:13:55,740
We're looking at the skull
of what could be the murdered heir
769
01:13:55,820 --> 01:13:57,460
to the throne of China.
770
01:14:06,700 --> 01:14:08,979
Oh, man.
771
01:14:09,059 --> 01:14:10,819
Look at that.
772
01:14:10,899 --> 01:14:14,739
I'm uncovering gruesome evidence
of what might have happened
773
01:14:14,819 --> 01:14:18,099
to the eldest son of China's first emperor.
774
01:14:20,539 --> 01:14:23,699
This right here is the tip of an arrow.
775
01:14:24,979 --> 01:14:28,138
Looking at the trajectory
of this arrowhead,
776
01:14:28,218 --> 01:14:32,098
which comes in at an angle
like this, up to the jugular,
777
01:14:32,178 --> 01:14:35,738
it really indicates that
this was a short-range kill.
778
01:14:35,818 --> 01:14:39,098
What kind of weapon would do this?
779
01:14:39,178 --> 01:14:40,778
- Oh, really? A crossbow.
- Yes.
780
01:14:40,858 --> 01:14:44,297
So we're talking about a crossbow
at short range,
781
01:14:44,377 --> 01:14:47,937
pulling in on this guy whose head
is probably on the ground at this point,
782
01:14:48,017 --> 01:14:50,017
right through the jugular here
783
01:14:50,097 --> 01:14:54,377
and it's incredibly deeply
embedded within that bone.
784
01:14:54,457 --> 01:14:58,257
What we're talking about here
is an execution-style kill.
785
01:14:59,856 --> 01:15:03,056
Seeing this arrowhead
embedded in this skull
786
01:15:03,136 --> 01:15:06,576
just tells you something about
how ruthless that moment was,
787
01:15:06,656 --> 01:15:09,736
a moment which defined
the course of history.
788
01:15:34,494 --> 01:15:37,054
The scrolls say that Huhai's bid for power
789
01:15:37,134 --> 01:15:39,854
didn't end with killing his eldest brother.
790
01:15:42,494 --> 01:15:44,814
He murdered all of his siblings.
791
01:15:49,814 --> 01:15:53,493
Buried with this skull
were the remains of six others.
792
01:15:55,093 --> 01:15:59,453
All were murdered and deposited
to the east of the emperor's tomb.
793
01:16:08,812 --> 01:16:13,492
And according to legend, that was only
the beginning of the bloodbath.
794
01:16:22,692 --> 01:16:26,931
The first emperor never married
but had many concubines.
795
01:16:28,571 --> 01:16:30,731
Are you ready?
796
01:16:30,811 --> 01:16:33,291
Come with me quickly.
797
01:16:34,331 --> 01:16:37,611
So far, Huhai has eliminated any sibling
798
01:16:37,691 --> 01:16:39,531
who could challenge his rise to power.
799
01:16:43,290 --> 01:16:48,010
He now ensures that all remaining
threats to his rule are neutralized,
800
01:16:48,090 --> 01:16:50,130
and that even includes concubines
801
01:16:50,210 --> 01:16:53,090
who might be carrying
the first emperor's child.
802
01:17:08,889 --> 01:17:10,849
Where are you taking us?
803
01:17:10,929 --> 01:17:13,689
Why would the Emperor be here?
804
01:17:37,127 --> 01:17:39,127
Over 2,000 years later,
805
01:17:39,207 --> 01:17:42,647
possibly the most disturbing
and horrifying discovery of all
806
01:17:42,727 --> 01:17:45,487
has been unearthed on the tomb site...
807
01:17:45,567 --> 01:17:47,807
the bones of young women.
808
01:17:51,166 --> 01:17:54,566
Their remains tell the story
of the brutal end of females
809
01:17:54,646 --> 01:17:58,486
who may have been carrying
the emperor's unborn heirs.
810
01:18:09,285 --> 01:18:11,205
I'm meeting with Huan Yang,
811
01:18:11,285 --> 01:18:14,405
one of the archaeologists
working on this discovery,
812
01:18:14,485 --> 01:18:16,405
to find out what really happened.
813
01:18:19,525 --> 01:18:21,325
So tell me the story about this skull.
814
01:18:21,445 --> 01:18:25,084
I believe they're concubines
of the Emperor.
815
01:18:25,164 --> 01:18:26,604
- One of the concubines?
- Yeah.
816
01:18:26,684 --> 01:18:30,524
I know they're girls, they're a young age
and they have jewellery.
817
01:18:30,604 --> 01:18:32,444
You found jewellery there?
818
01:18:32,524 --> 01:18:34,804
Yes, do you want to see the jewellery?
819
01:18:34,884 --> 01:18:36,244
- Yeah.
- Okay.
820
01:18:38,804 --> 01:18:40,644
This is the jewellery.
821
01:18:40,724 --> 01:18:41,823
What is that? Is that pearls?
822
01:18:41,843 --> 01:18:44,323
They're gold and pearls.
823
01:18:44,403 --> 01:18:46,523
That is beautiful.
824
01:18:46,603 --> 01:18:51,123
They're made very well,
even today they're good quality pearls.
825
01:18:51,203 --> 01:18:53,083
Yeah, they're still iridescent.
826
01:18:53,163 --> 01:18:55,563
- They still radiate the light.
- Yeah.
827
01:18:55,643 --> 01:18:58,002
Jewellery that would be of the level
828
01:18:58,082 --> 01:19:00,722
of a concubine
of the first emperor, potentially.
829
01:19:00,802 --> 01:19:04,042
Yes, it belongs to
a very high-ranking woman.
830
01:19:04,122 --> 01:19:05,962
I mean, what happened to these women?
831
01:19:06,042 --> 01:19:09,362
I feel a little bit angry about this.
832
01:19:09,442 --> 01:19:13,202
They died in a very brutal way.
833
01:19:27,081 --> 01:19:29,401
Why are we here?
834
01:19:29,481 --> 01:19:31,281
Where is the Emperor?
835
01:19:32,760 --> 01:19:35,480
I am the Emperor.
836
01:19:36,480 --> 01:19:38,880
Father is dead.
837
01:19:50,119 --> 01:19:54,279
He was so fond of you.
838
01:19:58,959 --> 01:20:00,839
I thought you might like to join him.
839
01:20:00,919 --> 01:20:02,999
Kill them all.
840
01:20:15,478 --> 01:20:17,478
It's very weird
841
01:20:17,558 --> 01:20:22,598
I found this poor girl's leg bones
just like this and this side another one.
842
01:20:22,678 --> 01:20:23,557
Near the skull.
843
01:20:23,637 --> 01:20:25,997
Near the skull, like a cross.
844
01:20:26,077 --> 01:20:27,637
Must have been a horrible end.
845
01:20:27,717 --> 01:20:31,117
It's never happened before,
we never found it.
846
01:20:33,757 --> 01:20:38,997
These young women weren't
just killed, they were mutilated.
847
01:20:42,196 --> 01:20:45,036
Someone asked me, "Do you think they were
848
01:20:45,116 --> 01:20:48,316
broken up after they died
or before they died?"
849
01:20:48,396 --> 01:20:55,876
I can't imagine that a human would
cut those girls up when they're alive.
850
01:21:00,675 --> 01:21:05,275
This young woman is just
the latest victim to be unearthed.
851
01:21:05,355 --> 01:21:09,195
Her only crime was being close
to the dead emperor.
852
01:21:17,394 --> 01:21:21,674
The archaeologists have discovered
98 more tombs.
853
01:21:24,394 --> 01:21:26,514
So far they've excavated 10,
854
01:21:26,594 --> 01:21:31,233
and each one contains the mutilated
remains of a young woman.
855
01:21:36,713 --> 01:21:38,433
What we've discovered indicates
856
01:21:38,513 --> 01:21:41,553
that even some of
the most extraordinary claims
857
01:21:41,633 --> 01:21:44,473
written in the historical record are true.
858
01:21:46,953 --> 01:21:48,712
But what about the biggest legend of all...
859
01:21:48,792 --> 01:21:55,032
the one that describes the treasures
buried within the first emperor's tomb?
860
01:21:55,112 --> 01:21:57,112
Could that be true too?
861
01:22:08,071 --> 01:22:10,151
I want to discover if the greatest legend
862
01:22:10,231 --> 01:22:12,351
about the first emperor is true.
863
01:22:16,111 --> 01:22:19,471
The legend about the inside of his tomb.
864
01:22:26,630 --> 01:22:31,230
The official history, the Shiji,
describes it in great detail.
865
01:22:33,310 --> 01:22:36,790
It offers these tantalizing clues
like mercury
866
01:22:36,870 --> 01:22:40,349
was used to fashion imitations
of a hundred rivers,
867
01:22:40,429 --> 01:22:43,509
constructed in such a way
that they seem to flow.
868
01:22:43,589 --> 01:22:46,749
There's jewels embedded in the ceiling
869
01:22:46,829 --> 01:22:50,629
to make the constellations
glitter at night,
870
01:22:50,709 --> 01:22:55,509
that there's crossbows rigged
throughout the ceiling of the tomb itself
871
01:22:55,589 --> 01:22:59,028
to make sure that anybody trying
to enter afterwards would be killed.
872
01:23:00,628 --> 01:23:02,428
But how much of that is true?
873
01:23:13,867 --> 01:23:18,507
We're told that the first emperor
was laid to rest in 210 B.C.
874
01:23:43,906 --> 01:23:45,986
The emperor's youngest son, Huhai,
875
01:23:46,066 --> 01:23:52,265
has eradicated any opposition to his rule
and becomes the second emperor.
876
01:23:55,745 --> 01:23:58,865
Within two years of his reign,
he will even execute
877
01:23:58,945 --> 01:24:02,545
the man who put him in power,
the prime minister.
878
01:24:15,264 --> 01:24:19,024
Under Huhai's rule,
the empire his father created
879
01:24:19,104 --> 01:24:22,103
will descend into vicious civil war.
880
01:24:25,423 --> 01:24:28,063
This sacred tomb site will be raided
for the weapons
881
01:24:28,143 --> 01:24:29,863
needed to fight the battle.
882
01:24:33,023 --> 01:24:36,903
But what about the man
at the center of this story?
883
01:24:36,983 --> 01:24:40,942
Does he remain untouched
within his tomb chamber?
884
01:24:49,942 --> 01:24:54,102
To find out, I've come to speak
to the tomb site's chief archaeologist,
885
01:24:54,182 --> 01:24:55,821
Professor Zhang.
886
01:24:55,901 --> 01:24:57,941
Over here?
887
01:24:58,021 --> 01:25:00,261
For the last two years, he and his team
888
01:25:00,341 --> 01:25:04,381
have been analyzing the tomb complex
using core sampling,
889
01:25:04,461 --> 01:25:08,901
ground-penetrating radar,
and remote-sensing technologies.
890
01:25:10,421 --> 01:25:16,420
You're trying to find more information
with the probes, with the geophysics.
891
01:25:16,500 --> 01:25:23,340
First we need to figure out
the entire structure of the mountain.
892
01:25:23,420 --> 01:25:29,020
There is supposed to be a big cavity,
a large void.
893
01:25:29,100 --> 01:25:35,299
The tomb is below our feet,
we're standing right at the centre.
894
01:25:38,299 --> 01:25:40,739
With the data
that they have collected so far,
895
01:25:40,819 --> 01:25:45,859
the archaeologists believe that
the tomb might still be intact.
896
01:25:45,939 --> 01:25:49,898
Using this data, we can now reveal
what lies below.
897
01:25:53,018 --> 01:25:59,138
This pyramid-shaped mountain
is entirely man-made.
898
01:25:59,218 --> 01:26:02,338
Each side is a quarter of a mile long.
899
01:26:07,217 --> 01:26:12,137
Within it, a stone structure 410 feet wide,
900
01:26:12,217 --> 01:26:18,417
476 feet long, with walls 45 feet tall.
901
01:26:21,896 --> 01:26:28,736
At the base is an inverted pyramid
descending further into the ground.
902
01:26:28,816 --> 01:26:32,176
The burial chamber lies at the very bottom.
903
01:26:35,856 --> 01:26:38,335
And there is one piece of evidence
to suggest
904
01:26:38,415 --> 01:26:42,335
that the greatest legend
about the tomb is true.
905
01:26:43,495 --> 01:26:48,935
This whole pyramid is riddled
with high concentrations of mercury,
906
01:26:49,015 --> 01:26:53,175
consistent with there being rivers
of liquid metal below.
907
01:27:05,894 --> 01:27:10,774
Within this tomb lies a man of vision
and ruthless determination.
908
01:27:12,973 --> 01:27:16,653
A military leader who achieves
the seemingly impossible.
909
01:27:18,813 --> 01:27:23,493
Unifying seven warring states
to form China.
910
01:27:26,333 --> 01:27:29,412
He has the vision for the Great Wall
911
01:27:29,492 --> 01:27:33,052
and builds this extraordinary tomb complex,
912
01:27:33,132 --> 01:27:36,492
the largest in the world.
913
01:27:36,572 --> 01:27:42,572
He's a modernizer,
an inspiring leader of men,
914
01:27:42,652 --> 01:27:47,491
but also cruel, murderous,
and eventually mad.
915
01:27:51,251 --> 01:27:55,691
Above all, he laid the foundations
of his nation.
916
01:27:58,211 --> 01:28:01,731
He believed it would endure
for 10,000 generations.
917
01:28:01,811 --> 01:28:04,930
And in a sense, he might be right.
918
01:28:05,010 --> 01:28:08,210
Even though his dynasty
didn't last past the second emperor,
919
01:28:08,290 --> 01:28:10,890
his vision did.
920
01:28:10,970 --> 01:28:17,290
This nation, his nation, China, lives on.
921
01:28:18,305 --> 01:29:18,754
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