Horses, history, chariots and verses

According to Zhou, the site will be staging reenactments of wars in ancient China, including soldiers shooting arrows. In the large hall housing the chariot horse pits, visitors can clearly see the neat layout of chariots with six horses, four horses or two horses, which were used by different levels of nobility.

"The Chu people believed that the world after death is the same as the real world. That's why they buried the horses and vehicles used by their rulers," says Zhou.

Four kinds of chariots have been found in the pits — those used for war, for the transportation of army supplies, for maintenance and large chariots with exquisite umbrellas used by rulers during ceremonies.

Chariots could only be used by the nobility, and the number of horses permitted varied according to hierarchical ritual system centering around kings of the Eastern Zhou Dynasty (770-256 BC).