An emperor who conquered a world he could not keep — and built a second one to rule forever.
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Each new word is hidden in a sentence. Read it aloud and say what you think the bold word means from the rest of the sentence — then reveal it and see how close you were.
Read each part. After it, there's a quick comprehension check (try the questions from memory first), then one thing to discuss.
He was born in 259 BC and named Ying Zheng, the son of a king of Qin, one of seven states that had been at war with one another for centuries. He became king of Qin as a boy of thirteen. For the next twenty-five years, his armies fought their way across the land, swallowing rival after rival, until in 221 BC the last of them fell. For the first time in its history, China was one country, and one man ruled all of it.
He gave himself a new title to match: Qin Shi Huang — the First Emperor. And he ruled as ruthlessly as he had conquered. He standardised the writing, the coins, the weights and even the width of cart axles, so that the whole empire ran the same way. He linked together the northern walls of the old states into an early version of what would become the Great Wall. He also burned books he disliked and crushed anyone who questioned him. China was united, but it was held together by fear.
1. How did Ying Zheng change China by 221 BC, and what new title did he take?
2. Name two things he standardised across the empire.
1. His armies conquered the six rival states and united China into one country for the first time; he took the title Qin Shi Huang, the First Emperor.
2. Any two of: the writing system, the coins, the weights, the width of cart axles. (He also joined up the northern walls.)
Having won everything a man could win, the First Emperor wanted one thing more: never to lose it. He became obsessed with living forever. He sent expeditions out to sea in search of a magical island said to hold the secret of immortality, and he swallowed potions his physicians promised would keep death away. Some of those potions, it is thought, contained mercury — the very poison that may have been quietly killing him.
If he could not live forever in this world, he would rule forever in the next. So, from almost the moment he took the throne, he had begun preparing a tomb on a scale no one had ever attempted. Beneath an artificial hill near his capital, an underground palace was dug out, large enough to be a city of the dead. According to the historian Sima Qian, writing a century later, the tomb held a model of his whole empire, with the great rivers and the sea recreated in flowing mercury, and the heavens painted on the ceiling above. To guard this buried kingdom, the emperor ordered an army — not of men, but of clay.
By the time the emperor died in 210 BC, an estimated 700,000 labourers had been working on his tomb for nearly forty years. He was buried inside it, in secret. To keep its layout hidden, many of those who had built it are said to have been sealed in with him.
1. What did the emperor do to try to escape death?
2. According to Sima Qian, what was inside the tomb?
1. He sent expeditions to find a magical island and the secret of immortality, and took potions meant to keep death away — some thought to contain mercury.
2. A model of his whole empire: the rivers and sea made of flowing mercury, the heavens painted on the ceiling, and an army of clay to guard him.
For more than two thousand years the army stood in the dark, forgotten. The dynasty the emperor had built to last "ten thousand generations" collapsed within four years of his death. The location of the tomb faded out of memory, and the fields above it were ploughed and planted like any other.
Then, in March 1974, a group of farmers digging a well near the city of Xi'an struck something hard. As they cleared the earth, they began to unearth pieces of fired clay — and then a head, staring up at them out of the ground. Archaeologists who came to investigate could hardly believe what they found. The figures had been standing in the dark for over two thousand years before those farmers stumbled on them. Pit after pit was opened, revealing an entire army: an estimated 8,000 life-sized soldiers, along with horses and wooden chariots, drawn up in battle formation.
What astonished the world was the detail. From a distance the ranks looked uniform, but no two faces are the same. Each soldier has his own features, his own expression, his own hairstyle and rank. Once, they had been brightly painted; much of the colour faded within minutes of meeting the air. The central tomb itself, under its hill, has still never been opened — partly out of respect, and partly because soil tests around it show dangerously high levels of mercury, just as the ancient historian described. The emperor who longed to rule forever did, in a sense, get his wish: 2,200 years on, his silent army still stands guard, and the world has never stopped staring back.
1. How was the army rediscovered, and when?
2. Give two reasons the central tomb has still never been opened.
1. In March 1974, farmers digging a well near Xi'an struck the buried figures and unearthed the first pieces of clay, including a head.
2. Out of respect for the burial, and because soil tests show dangerously high levels of mercury around it (matching Sima Qian's account).
This story is full of things that went on for a very long time before something else happened — labourers working for forty years, soldiers standing in the dark for twenty centuries. To say that cleanly in English, you reach for the past perfect continuous: had been + -ing.
Put the verb into had been + -ing. Notice the duration each sentence is pointing to.
1. By 221 BC the states of China (fight) one another for centuries.
2. When he finally died, the emperor (search) for the secret of immortality for years.
3. The clay soldiers (stand) underground for over two thousand years before anyone found them.
4. Before the well was dug, the farmers (work) the same fields for generations.
1. had been fighting ("for centuries" → duration up to 221 BC)
2. had been searching ("for years" up to the point he died)
3. had been standing ("for over two thousand years" before being found)
4. had been working ("for generations" up to the moment of digging)
Choose the form the meaning needs — duration of the activity, or the completed result.
1. By the time the tomb was sealed, the workers (build) it for nearly forty years.
2. By the time the tomb was sealed, the workers (make) some 8,000 figures.
3. The colour faded fast because the paint (dry) underground for two thousand years.
4. Archaeologists realised the farmers (uncover) something no one had ever seen.
1. had been building (how long? → continuous)
2. had made (how many / finished total → simple)
3. had been drying (duration of the activity → continuous)
4. had uncovered (a completed discovery → simple)
Fill each gap with the past perfect continuous or the past perfect simple, whichever the meaning needs. Read it aloud once you've finished.
By the time Qin Shi Huang came to the throne, the warring states (tear) China apart for hundreds of years. Once he was emperor, he (already / decide) how he wanted to be buried. For decades his labourers (dig) and shaping the underground city, and by 210 BC they (complete) an army of clay. The figures (wait) in the dark for over twenty centuries before a farmer's spade finally (find) them.
had been tearing (duration) · had already decided (completed) · had been digging (duration) · had completed (finished result) · had been waiting (duration) · found (the single later event — past simple)
Notice the pattern: when you want the length of an ongoing action, use had been doing; when you want a finished result, use had done; and the moment that ends it is usually plain past simple.
Hold on to this — you'll need it in the Speak tab, where you'll describe things that had been going on for a long time before a turning point.
You've read the story and you have the words — so now the real thing is within reach. There's a full podcast episode that tells this story in much greater depth, in natural, real-speed English. It's optional: the lesson stands on its own without it.
From the Noiser podcast network. Hosted by historians, roughly 50 minutes. It plays in the page on the Noiser site, or search "Short History Of The Terracotta Army" on Spotify.
Play on Noiser →Prefer Spotify? Open the show and find the Terracotta Army episode.
This is the heart of the lesson — do all of it out loud. The timer is there to keep you going: fill the time with detail rather than escaping it.
Tell the story of the Terracotta Army in your own words, as if to someone who has never heard of it. Move through the arc: the boy-king who united China → the First Emperor's fear of death → the vast buried tomb and the army of clay → the dynasty's collapse and the long silence → the farmers' discovery in 1974 → the army still standing today.
Use the past perfect continuous for the long ongoing efforts ("the labourers had been working for forty years") and work in at least five key words (emperor, immortality, artisan, mausoleum, effigy, entomb, afterlife, uniform, unearth, mercury).
The First Emperor spent the wealth of a country and the lives of thousands trying to control what happened after his death. How far do you think powerful people today still try to shape how they'll be remembered? Build an argument, using examples you know — from politics, business, art or your own family.
Tell a story of your own choosing in the same spirit. It might be a huge project that took years, something kept hidden and later found, or a leader who wanted to be remembered. Use the past perfect continuous for what had been going on for a long time before the turning point.
Stuck for an idea? Pick one of these and run with it: