LONDON, Feb. 8 (UPI) -- Visitors to the British Museum can view the ancient Chinese afterlife in a fall exhibit that includes terra cotta bureaucrats counting beans for eternity.
Treasures from the Chinese site provide the basis for the museum's largest show since its Tutankhamun exhibition had visitors lining up around the block for entry, the Times of London said.
The eight life-size figures include bureaucrats, musicians and acrobats connected to the First Emperor's civilian administration.
"Since China is famous for inventing bureaucracy, it is appropriate that the First Emperor felt the need for officials in his afterlife," museum curator Jane Portal said.
Because they wore no armor, Portal said the figures were identified as bureaucrats. On their belts were knives and knife-sharpeners for eliminating mistakes on wooden tablets used for keeping records before paper was invented, she said.
The figures were created by order of Qin Shihuang, the First Emperor of the Qin Dynasty and the man who created the state of China 2,000 years ago.
The figures were discovered in 1974 and about 1,000 terra cotta statues have been unearthed so far. Estimates indicate another 7,000 may be below ground.
