Historic Sites China

They were made by the thousands to guard a dead emperor in his afterlife. For two millenniums, these figures of fired clay--every face different, every man painted in full battle dress--lay buried under tons of rock and soil. But since the first one was unearthed by accident 27 years ago, China's terra cotta warriors have become one of the country's top tourist attractions. And the famous underground army finds itself going mano a mano against a mundane, but insidious, enemy: mold.

They were made by the thousands to guard a dead emperor in his afterlife. For two millenniums, these figures of fired clay--every face different, every man painted in full battle dress--lay buried under tons of rock and soil. But since the first one was unearthed by accident 27 years ago, China's terra cotta warriors have become one of the country's top tourist attractions. And the famous underground army finds itself going mano a mano against a mundane, but insidious, enemy: mold.