Terracotta Army of Xi'an: The King and the after life...

Last Saturday we had the glimpses of the Terracotta Army (TerracottaArmyHistoricalFacts) in an exhibition in Belgium. The work accomplished in the 2nd century BC was not only impressive but also massive. Every soldier sculptured was unique endorsing their hierarchy in the Army. The adeptness of the sculptures was enormously apparent.

Different personalities: Everybody is different, so true?

Soldiers in Terracotta Army

While I don't hesitate pay Kudos to all the artists for their creation, two fundamental and one secondary question trouble me.

First question came after reading:

"It is also believed that Qin ordered that the tomb workers and supervisors involved in its design be buried alive to protect its secrets."

Why did the King have to assassin all the artists that were instrumental in creating such a beautiful world for him? If you look into the history, this seems to be the trend for many creations. To cite another example, Shahjahan is known to have done the same to the architects of Taj Mahal - A world wonder today. I find this trend not only atrocious but also loatheful and find no compelling reasons to bolster the deed. Hypothetically assuming that the King wanted his sponsored creation to be the best ever protecting the secrets as claimed, I believe he could be imaginative enough to think that it would be impossible as he would have no control over future generations. On the contrary, he could have sponsored the same artists to better their creation and created challenges for the artists in the future generations? Did he ever think about it?

Another thing that puzzled me is the objective of the King in this particular case. As per records, he wanted to carry the same world to his tomb in a "Life After Life". Pyramids in Egypt testify another case depicting the same objective. Didn't he (and many others) have better things to do in his (their) life than to think about his (their) Life after Life??

Secondary question came after reading this piece:
"Emperor Qin ordered the construction of his tomb when he was only 13 years old, an order that involved hundreds of thousands of workers and thirty-six years to complete."

Can you imagine a 13 year ordering such a construction....may it be a King? When I took this thing up for discussion with Ashwin, he summed it up beautifully: "As a 13 yr. old, he wanted to create some toys to play". I agree with the theory.