Have you seen the clay soldiers (士兵) in Xi'an's terracotta museum? Do you know the true colors of them?
More than 2, 000 years ago, Qin Shihuang, the first emperor of China, ordered people to build the Terracotta Army. He hoped that the army would guard him after he died.
In 1974, some farmers found several clay soldiers by accident in Xi'an. After that, about 8, 000 more were found by archeologists (考古学家). Today, the clay soldiers in Xi'an's terracotta museum are light brown. But they weren't always this color. When they were made, they had the colors of white, green, blue, red, purple and yellow. Sadly, most of the colors disappeared today.
An area with more than a hundred clay soldiers was discovered by archeologists a few years ago. Many of them still had black hair, pink faces and black or brown eyes when they were found. If they were not protected well, their colors would disappear, too. After a clay soldier was found, archeologists used two steps to keep its color. First, they sprayed (喷) a special "water" on it. Then, they covered it in plastic.
Archeologists are facing a new challenge now. They are going to find a way to put the colors onto the clay soldiers again. If they succeed in doing it, people will be able to see what the clay soldiers originally (最初) looked like. It must be very amazing.