Terracotta Warrior gets modern ID card

The ID card of an archer in the Terracotta Warriors (Photo/Screenshot from the CCTV series)

A figure of an archer in China’s ancient Terracotta Warriors of the Qin Dynasty (221 BC-206 BC), which were discovered in Xi’an, Northwest China’s Shaanxi Province, now has its own ID card, carrying its name, birth date, gender, residence and ID number like a modern resident.

Chinese comedian Shen Teng presented the ID card in a recent episode of CCTV cultural TV series National Treasure on Sunday.

On the ID card, the name of the archer warrior figure is “Chao,” meaning dynasty, and its birth date is recorded as 221 BC, the year that the Qin Dynasty was established, Zhao Zhen, a cultural relic photographer from the Emperor Qinshihuang Mausoleum Site Museum, also the site of the Terracotta Warriors, said in the show.

The first six digits in its ID number are 610115, the same as the residents in Lintong, and the last four digits, 6155, are its registration number. It now “lives” in the No.2 pit in the museum, as the ID card shows.

Zhao said in the show that each of 1,300 figures excavated has its own file, like an ID card of a real person. He has been taking portrait photos for the warriors to update their files, which he said was like taking photos for their ID cards.

“Just like the seventh population census that is ongoing in our country, we are adding new materials into the files of these warriors,” Zhao said.

So far, Zhao has taken portrait photos for 862 of the 1,300 figures.

"When you see their eyes through the lens, you can feel they are breathing. The moment you stand in front of them, they are not the Terracotta Warriors but our ancestors," Zhao said in the show.