AP Features, December 31st, 2007
An exhibit of the famed Chinese terra cotta warriors is scheduled to open May 18 at the Bowers Museum in Santa Ana.
Advance tickets for "Terra Cotta Warriors: Guardians of China's First Emperor" at the Bowers are on sale now.
The exhibit consists of 20 figures and dozens of artifacts from the tomb of Qin Shi Huang, who is considered the first emperor of a unified China and whose rule began in 221 B.C. Since his tomb was discovered in 1974, nearly 1,000 figures have been excavated, but experts believe that the tomb may contain as many as 7,000 of the statues.
The traveling exhibit includes 10 warriors, court officials, an acrobat, a bare-chested strongman, musicians, a stable boy, chariot horses and bronze water birds. The museum said it is the largest collection of the figures to ever leave China.
The U.S. tour moves from the Bowers to the High Museum in Atlanta in November; to the Houston Museum of Natural Science in May 2009; and to the National Geographic Society Museum in Washington from November 2009 through March 2010.
The life-size figures are currently on display at the British Museum through early April, where advance tickets have sold out for most dates. The museum has also been making 500 same-day tickets available first-come, first-serve to accommodate the crowds.
Bowers Museum president Peter Keller said in a statement that he expects similarly strong ticket sales for the California show.
Tickets for the Bowers show are $20 for weekdays (students and seniors, $14), and $22 for weekends (students and seniors, $16). Children under 6 are free. Tickets can be purchased through the Bowers Admission Desk, 714-567-3600; Ticketmaster, 877-250-8999, or through http://www.museumtix.com.
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