22 replicas of 2,000-year-old chariots on display in China

This photo taken on Aug. 10, 2023 shows a replica of an ancient chariot on display at the Majiayuan chariot museum in the Hui Autonomous County of Zhangjiachuan, northwest China's Gansu Province. A total of 22 replicas of chariots dating back more than 2,000 years to the late Warring States Period (475-221 BC) were made this year and are now on display in the museum in Gansu Province. Among the replicas, eight are full sized and the others have been scaled down at a ratio of 1:4, according to the museum. (Xinhua/Wang Zixuan)

LANZHOU, Aug. 12 (Xinhua) -- A total of 22 replicas of chariots dating back more than 2,000 years to the late Warring States Period (475-221 BC) were made this year and are now on display in a museum in northwest China's Gansu Province.

Among the replicas, eight are full sized and the others have been scaled down at a ratio of 1:4, according to the Majiayuan chariot museum in the Hui Autonomous County of Zhangjiachuan.

The museum has an exhibition hall area of 2,700 square meters, and it has showcased more than 500 unearthed items from the Majiayuan cultural relics, a grave cluster site believed to have belonged to a noble of the local tribe of Xirong.

The ruins of 69 chariots and more than 3,600 buried items have been unearthed at the relics site.

Xie Yan, an expert at the Gansu provincial research institute of archaeology, said that more than 90 percent of the wooden chariots' surfaces were decorated with gold, silver and other metal accessories, as well as colorfully painted coatings, demonstrating the superb vehicle manufacturing and metal processing technology more than 2,000 years ago.

Visitors look at a replica of an ancient chariot on display at the Majiayuan chariot museum in the Hui Autonomous County of Zhangjiachuan, northwest China's Gansu Province, Aug. 10, 2023. A total of 22 replicas of chariots dating back more than 2,000 years to the late Warring States Period (475-221 BC) were made this year and are now on display in the museum in Gansu Province. Among the replicas, eight are full sized and the others have been scaled down at a ratio of 1:4, according to the museum. (Xinhua/Wang Zixuan)

This photo taken on Aug. 10, 2023 shows a set of structure model of an ancient chariot on display at the Majiayuan chariot museum in the Hui Autonomous County of Zhangjiachuan, northwest China's Gansu Province. A total of 22 replicas of chariots dating back more than 2,000 years to the late Warring States Period (475-221 BC) were made this year and are now on display in the museum in Gansu Province. Among the replicas, eight are full sized and the others have been scaled down at a ratio of 1:4, according to the museum. (Xinhua/Wang Zixuan)

This photo taken on Aug. 10, 2023 shows replicas of ancient chariots on display at the Majiayuan chariot museum in the Hui Autonomous County of Zhangjiachuan, northwest China's Gansu Province. A total of 22 replicas of chariots dating back more than 2,000 years to the late Warring States Period (475-221 BC) were made this year and are now on display in the museum in Gansu Province. Among the replicas, eight are full sized and the others have been scaled down at a ratio of 1:4, according to the museum. (Xinhua/Wang Zixuan)

This photo taken on Aug. 10, 2023 shows a replica of an ancient chariot on display at the Majiayuan chariot museum in the Hui Autonomous County of Zhangjiachuan, northwest China's Gansu Province. A total of 22 replicas of chariots dating back more than 2,000 years to the late Warring States Period (475-221 BC) were made this year and are now on display in the museum in Gansu Province. Among the replicas, eight are full sized and the others have been scaled down at a ratio of 1:4, according to the museum. (Xinhua/Wang Zixuan)