A Chinese shopkeeper dusts a statue of China's first Emperor Qin Shi Huang at a souvenir shop in Xian. Making replicas of the Terracotta Warriors and the emperor is a lucrative industry for people living on the harsh and barren plains of Shanxi province, where 26 years ago, Chinese farmer Yang Zhifa accidentally unearthed three of the 7,000 life-sized Terracotta Warriors guarding the tomb of China's first emperor. Although his discovery kicked off one of the greatest archaeological digs in history, local officials awarded him 10 yuan (US $1.20) for each of the three 2,200-year-old statues in 1974. Today, 1.5 million tourists a year visit Xian, a grimy industrial city that once vied with ancient Rome and Constantinople as the greatest metropolis on earth. Credit: Andrew Wong/Reuters

A Chinese shopkeeper dusts a statue of China’s first Emperor Qin Shi Huang at a souvenir shop in Xian. Making replicas of the Terracotta Warriors and the emperor is a lucrative industry for people living on the harsh and barren plains of Shanxi province, where 26 years ago, Chinese […]

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