I was slightly suprised to hear from today's CCTV news that a number of European genes were detected when archeologists sent samples of some Terracotta Warriors at Emperor Qin Shi Huang's Mausoleum for DNA testing.
I believe in Science and strongly believe the discovery of DNA has facilitated our lives in many ways. However, I am not convinced and it simply does not make sense that these European labourers travelled all the way to China to be soldiers for a foreign ruler (implication: there was no report ever been documented that Emperor Qin was a generous ruler that paid all his soldiers well in order to attract foreign soldiers to the Land of the Dragon. If he did, then there won't be Terracotta Warriors in the first place) and this all happened around 246 BC.
The Terracotta Warriors and Horses are the most significant archeological excavations of the 20th century. It was listed by UNESCO in 1987 as one of the world cultural heritages.
2 comments:
This is truly surprising.
My Chinese history is really bad. If Emperor Qin was foresighted and good relations with other countries. Then, it could be true. The Terracota warriors could be the 'invited troops' to China or perhaps they were sent to to China for a mission, subsequently became Chinese citizens.
Whatever it is, Terracota warriors fought for China not Europe. Their roots belonged to China. The gene or hereditary units produced in their bodies was merely representation of races [if they were really Europeans}.
CCTV news reported yesterday that not all of them, some of them were Europeans. I am busy these two days. When I find time next week, I'll check more info on DNA ie. what are the primary factors that determine racial groupings in DNA test.
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