Mass Production under China’s First Emperor
Attempts to optimize the function, value,and appearance of mass-produced goods-goals associated with modern industrial design-date to as early as China’s first emperor, Qin Shi Huang, who harnessed the power of design and mass production in the name of conquest. He is remembered for unifying by force China’s warring states in 221 B.C. into the most powerful country the world had ever seen. He was also responsible for building the Great Wall of China to protect his new nation’s borders from raiding Mongolian invaders. He is even better known, certainly in archaeological circles, for the Terracotta Army that was made to honor him and to protect him in the afterlife. This collection of ceramic funeral sculptures depicting the emperor’s army is estimated to have included 8,000 life-sized statues of soldiers and 670 horses, as well as depictions of other members of his vast following, from officials and servants to musicians, singers, and acrobats. Although this army should probably be considered collections of statues rather than expressions of manufacturing design, the figures were essentially factory-pro-, using systemized methods of production similar to those used to make serially manufactured functional objects. The figures were also buried with weapons, and around 40,000 bronze spears, swords, crossbows, halberds, and staffs have been recovered by archaeologists so far.
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