The figures were made for China's first emperor, who wanted a whole clay army to keep him company after he died. Every soldier is life-sized, between 1.7 and 2 metres tall. They stand in rows, facing the same way, ready as if for a parade.
What is most amazing is that every face is different. Out of around 8,000 soldiers, no two faces are alike. They have different noses, different ears, different hairstyles. Historians think the sculptors based them on real people who lived at the time.
When they were first made, the soldiers were brightly painted in reds, blues and greens. Over 2,000 years underground, most of the paint has flaked away, so today they are the colour of the clay they were made from. Some still have a few patches of colour left.
The discovery in 1974 was a complete accident. Local farmers were digging a well during a dry summer and uncovered a clay head. They had no idea they had just found one of the most important discoveries of the century. Today, three huge pits have been excavated, and visitors come from all over the world to see them.