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army had survived.
    Tang stared at the sea of warriors.
    Each wore a coarse tunic, belt, puttees, and thonged, square-toed sandals. Eight basic faces had been identified, but no two were exactly alike. Some had tightly closed lips and forward-staring eyes, revealing a character of steadiness and fortitude. Others displayed vigor and confidence. Still others evoked a sense of thoughtfulness, suggesting the wisdom of a veteran. Amazingly, the still poses, repeated innumerable times in a given number of defined postures, actually generated a sense of motion.
    Tang had visited before and walked among the archers, soldiers, and horse-drawn chariots, smelling the rich Shaanxi earth, imagining the rhythmic beat of marching feet.
    He felt empowered here.
    Qin Shi himself had walked this hallowed ground. For 250 years, ending in 221 BCE, seven ruling kingdoms--Qi, Chi, Yar, Zhao, Han, Wei, and Qin--had fought for dominance. Qin Shi ended that conflict, conquering his neighbors and establishing an empire with all authority centered in himself. Eventually, the land itself acquired his name. A perversion of the way Qin would come to be pronounced by foreigners.
    Chin.
    China.
    Tang found it hard not to be impressed by such grand accomplishments, and though Qin Shi had lived long ago, the man's impact still resonated. He was the first to divide the land into prefectures, each composed of smaller units he named counties. He abolished the feudal system and eliminated aristocratic warlords. Weights, measures, and currencies became standardized. A uniform code of laws was enacted. He built roads, a wall to protect the northern border, and cities. Even more critical, the various and confusing local scripts were replaced with one written alphabet.
    But the First Emperor was not perfect.
    He enforced severe laws, imposed heavy taxes, and requisitioned people by the thousands for both military and construction services. Millions died under his reign. To begin an enterprise is not easy, but to keep hold of success is even more difficult. Qin Shi's descendants failed to heed the First Emperor's lesson, allowing peasant revolts to ferment into widespread rebellion. Within three years of the founder's death, the empire crumbled.
    A new dynasty succeeded.
    The Han.
    Whose descendants continued to dominate even today.
    Tang was a Han, from Hunan province, another hot, humid place in the south, home to revolutionary thinkers, Mao Zedong its most prominent. He'd attended Hunan's Institute of Technology, then transferred to Beijing's School of Geology. After graduating, he'd worked as a technician and political instructor on the Geomechanics Survey Team, then served as head engineer and chief of the political section for the Central Geological Bureau. That's when the Party had first noticed him and he was assigned positions in Gansu province and the Tibet Autonomous Region, gaining a reputation as both a scientist and administrator. Eventually, he returned to Beijing and rose from assistant to director of the general office of the Central Committee. Three years later he was elevated to the Central Committee itself. Now he was first vice premier of the Party, first vice president of the republic, one step away from the tip of the political triangle.
    "Minister Tang."
    He turned at the sound of his name.
    The museum's curator approached. He could tell from the man's clipped stride and polite expression that something was amiss.
    Tang stood on the railed walk that encircled Pit 1, fifteen meters above the terra-cotta figures. The 16,000-square-meter exhibit hall was closed for the night, but the overhead lighting in the hangar-like space had been left on, per his earlier instruction.
    "I was told you had arrived," the curator said. Eyeglasses dangled like a pendant from a chain around the man's neck.
    "Before going to Pit 3, I wanted a few moments here," Tang said. "The sight of these warriors never disappoints me."
    Outside, six more halls stood in the