Latest news with #Qin
Hamilton Spectator
a day ago
- Hamilton Spectator
These Toronto students have 100% averages. Born just as the iPhone came out, here's how technology shaped their studies
Born just as the first iPhone launched, the Class of 2025 has also never known a world without YouTube, Facebook or Twitter. Yet despite growing up with ever-present distraction, four Toronto students have graduated with 100 per cent averages — a testament to discipline and smarts, but also to an ability to navigate the digital world that shaped them. Sheena Qin, Andrew Peng, Sowmya Ramanan and Safiya Vohra-Bangi are the Toronto District School Board's top scholars, besting 22,400 of their Grade 12 peers. Each earned perfect marks in advanced functions, calculus, chemistry, biology, physics and at least one other course. In English they scored above 97 per cent. Qin, Peng and Ramanan, all friends from Bloor Collegiate Institute downtown, were enrolled in TOPS, an enriched math and sciences program. 'Grades didn't directly bring us together,' said Qin, 'but we're all people who like STEM and work hard.' They will all study computer science in September, with Qin and Peng off to the University of Toronto and Ramanan to the University of Waterloo. Vohra-Bangi, who graduated from Cedarbrae Collegiate Institute in Scarborough, will study engineering at U of T. Raised on touchscreens, hashtags and endless scrolling, their lives have spanned social media's rise and, more recently, the arrival of ChatGPT. The Star spoke with them about the tech they rely on, the habits that help them focus, and whether cellphones have been truly banned from Ontario classrooms . Andrew Peng , 18 Andrew Peng What digital tools helped you learn? I'm a curious person and often get lost down Wikipedia rabbit holes. It's an easy way to get a lot of niche information that otherwise would be quite difficult to access. With distraction a touch away, how do you maintain focus? I tend to not get distracted easily. I have a relatively high level in piano, the Royal Conservatory of Music, ARCT, so that means I spent a lot of time playing piano when I was a kid. You have to be disciplined and not distracted to reach that level. What about free time? When I was a kid, I played games until my tablet was out of battery. But now, I don't really play games. I do competitive programming or research. I like to go on runs and bike rides. Have you had to limit tech use? No. But I must say that my study strategies are probably not the best. Sometimes I take a 'due' date to be the 'do' date and then I have to speed through it. I can somehow pressure myself into focusing. How has AI impacted your education? I use it as a tool to greatly boost my efficiency. ChatGPT is basically a search engine on steroids. Instead of me needing to scour a bunch of forums, websites or research papers, ChatGPT just does it for me. And it can do other things well, like formatting a formal email. How would you describe learning in the digital era? In two words: efficiency and laziness. How effective was the new cellphone ban in the classroom? That's the official policy, but 90 per cent of my teachers didn't follow it, which I believe is the correct decision. If you can manage the usage of technology then it makes learning much more efficient. You shouldn't ban it for 100 per cent of the people just because five per cent abuse it. What is your relationship to failure considering your average is perfect? My motto in life is I just try my best. I'm not striving for perfection. So even if I fail, I don't get sad or give up since I know there is nothing I could change about it. Sheena Qin , 18 Sheena Qin With distraction a touch away, how do you maintain focus? For STEM subjects, especially, I try to do as much of the homework in class as possible, and I try to go to libraries because I want to establish certain spaces as a workspace to feel less distracted. I also try to turn the distraction into something good: me and my friends use (voice, video, text platform) Discord to communicate, but a lot of times we'll sit in Discord and talk about what we're studying so we learn from each other. What about free time? I like to play a lot of video games, like Pokemon or Civilization VI or Genshin Impact. How has AI impacted your education? In English, instead of giving us an essay to write at home, the teacher had us write it in class, with pen and paper. What technology is school not addressing? AI isn't ever going to disappear. So I think (schools should) teach us how to use it properly. Also, I feel like the computer science curriculum could be enriched because now it's relatively easy to self-learn it all. How would you describe learning in the digital era? The process of getting something or writing your ideas down is simpler, but the thinking is still there. How effective was the new cellphone ban in the classroom? Most teachers didn't really care, as long as you were not using it the entire time. I would use (my phone) to play (game-based learning platform) Kahoot! or take pictures of a lesson if I couldn't write it down fast enough. What is your relationship to failure considering your average is perfect? It doesn't feel good, obviously, but maybe it was just down to chance. Maybe this job just had too many applicants. I try not to dwell on it. Sowmya Ramanan , 17 Sowmya Ramanan What digital tools helped you learn? I do a lot of practice quizzes online. I also use Quizlet for flashcards to help me study. It helps me review the subjects and make sure knowledge is being reinforced. With distraction a touch away, how do you maintain focus? I put time limits on all my social media apps, otherwise I do find I get pretty distracted by them. I'll set a one-hour limit, mainly for Discord. What about free time? I watch YouTube videos, pretty random ones. I play the piano and swim, (and did) badminton for a little while. I learned how to solve Rubik's Cube. What's the digital tool or app you can't do without? Discord. It's the main way I talk to my friends. But also to collaborate — hopping on calls and sharing worksheets and hearing other people's ideas on how they would solve things. I don't think I would have gotten a hundred per cent without that. How has AI impacted your education? I found it very helpful. It takes a bunch of the info from the internet and summarizes it and it can answer really specific questions — rather than reading through a bunch of websites, which I could do, but it would just take a lot longer. And I can also ask it for a source so I can be sure that it's not completely false. I'm able to ask a lot of follow-up questions. It's very quick and efficient. How effective was the new cellphone ban in the classroom? I had one teacher who was very strict, and others weren't as strict. In that one class ... it definitely helped me stay on track and focused. Do you use any analog techniques? Writing it out helps (for memorization), not all my notes, but sort of like a mind-dump of key concepts. What is your relationship to failure considering your average is perfect? One of the failures I've had is not finding a job. It was very disappointing. Both inside and outside of school, (failure makes me) work harder, to make sure I get better. Safiya Vohra-Bangi, 17 Safiya Vohra-Bangi What digital tools helped you learn? If I don't understand something, I'll watch a YouTube video. Let's say your teacher glazes over a topic and you want to learn more, then I'll ask one of the AI tools to explain it. And before a test, you can ask it to make you a practice quiz. What about free time? I do calligraphy. I started when I was in Grade 6 because I started bullet journaling and I just loved it. I also play recreational hockey sometimes, hang out with my friends a lot and watch Netflix. Have you had to limit tech use? In the last semester of Grade 12, I took computer science, calculus, chemistry and physics. So I tried to delete Instagram for a few months, but I would still get distracted by other stuff. What's the digital tool or app you can't do without? I think I could live without any of them. iMessage doesn't count, right? What technology is school not addressing? They should incorporate technology more in the curriculum. Coding would also be a really useful class that everybody should take, just to understand algorithms. It would open up your mind. How would you describe learning in the digital era? It's a lot quicker. Knowledge is a lot more accessible. What is your relationship to failure considering your average is perfect? Academia is not the only way to experience failure. You can experience failure in friends sometimes, not for me personally, but you can. And with sports or at competition or maybe you don't get a job. If you're a high achiever, maybe you'll be hit a little bit harder by it, you might be a little bit more sensitive to it. And even if you try really hard, sometimes something's just not for you; it's just not your thing. These Q&As were edited for clarity and length. Error! Sorry, there was an error processing your request. There was a problem with the recaptcha. Please try again. You may unsubscribe at any time. By signing up, you agree to our terms of use and privacy policy . This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google privacy policy and terms of service apply. Want more of the latest from us? Sign up for more at our newsletter page .
Business Insider
04-07-2025
- Business
- Business Insider
3 ways to invest in a company before it IPOs
Circle stock has surged over 500% since its June 5 IPO. Imagine buying in before the hype. While it might seem like pre-IPO investing opportunities are reserved for insiders and institutional investors, there are actually a few ways everyday investors can get in early. It's an exciting time for the IPO market: after years of sluggish activity, things are picking up, and Wall Street is anticipating more public issuances in the pipeline. In addition to Circle, notable IPOs this year include the cloud-computing company CoreWeave and financial technology company Chime. This week, the design platform company Figma filed to go public. There's been a big push for financial institutions to democratize their offerings. Traditionally, only institutional investors and high-net-worth individuals had access to IPO shares at the offering price. Han Qin, CEO of the blockchain-based IPO investing platform Jarsy, sees increasing IPO appetite, especially among Gen Z and millennials. "They follow the news about SpaceX and xAI," Qin said. "But because these companies stay private, retail investors can't access them easily and feel like they can't participate in the growth state." Below are three ways for everyday investors to gain access to the pre-IPO market. Online brokerages In recent years, brokerage firms such as SoFi, Robinhood, and Charles Schwab have been offering their clients opportunities to buy into pre-IPO opportunities. These platforms partner with underwriters to allow eligible users to request shares in upcoming IPOs at the offering price, which is the same price institutional investors pay before the stock goes live on public exchanges. Craig Stephens, a 50-year-old investor, has been investing in companies before their IPOs for over a decade. Stephens got his start before more mainstream brokerages offered pre-IPO investing with Loyal3, an online broker that shut down in 2017. Some of his notable investments include Instacart, Arm Holdings, and Circle. Stephens noted that this method's success rate depends on the overall demand for the IPO and individual account size. In his experience, he's found that legacy brokers have higher capital requirements. And while Robinhood and SoFi are more accessible for everyday investors, higher demand on these platforms often leads to investors only receiving a fraction of the shares they requested. Qin himself requested Circle shares on Robinhood but didn't end up receiving any because demand was so high, he told Business Insider. Direct share programs It's common for companies to offer IPO access to employees, and sometimes even loyal customers or users. One notable example is Reddit, which went public in March 2024. The social media company allowed top users and moderators to participate directly in its IPO. Reddit also set aside shares of its IPO for individual investors to purchase on Robinhood, with priority determined by individual investors' Reddit "karma." For Stephens, his first IPO investment was in LendingClub back in 2014. Because he had been an investor in the company's peer-to-peer marketplace, Stephens gained access to LendingClub shares before they hit the public market. Qin points out that direct share programs are a good opportunity to invest in customer-facing companies, but aren't a good fit for others such as the B2B SaaS company Databricks that many anticipate to IPO soon. Secondary markets There are also funds that invest in private markets on behalf of a pool of investors. For example, pre-IPO venture funds such as ARK Venture Fund and Fundrise Innovation Fund invest in a curated portfolio of private, high-growth companies that may eventually go public. Their holdings include big names like SpaceX, Anduril, and Epic Games. These specific funds are open to non-accredited investors, meaning that everyday individuals can participate without needing a high net worth or income threshold. However, investors don't get to pick and choose the companies they have exposure to, as the fund managers make those decisions and pool all contributions into a single diversified portfolio. Accredited investors can also buy in through secondary marketplaces or special purpose vehicles that pool capital to invest in individual private companies. These options offer more control over which companies investors gain exposure to, but often come with higher minimums — typically starting at $10,000 to $100,000 — and less liquidity. It's important to do your homework before buying into IPOs, Qin emphasized. It's an investment more suited to those with a higher risk tolerance, as early valuations can be unpredictable, and the share price can be prone to fluctuation after the company goes public.
Hindustan Times
28-06-2025
- General
- Hindustan Times
The scenic root: A look at the ancient and modern history of the garden
Heaven is a well-laid garden. Or at least, the Ancient Persians thought so. A 17th-century tile panel from Isfahan, Iran, representing the Persian chahar-bagh. (Grant Anderson) The word paradise is derived from the Persian paradaijah, literally, 'walled enclosure'. As far back as 6th century BCE, the paradaijah was organised as a chahar-bagh, a set of its four swathes of green, each meant to embody one of the vital elements of the universe: earth, fire, water and air. Long, long before this, c. 1000 BCE, royal gardens in China featured intricately designed landscapes that often sought to marry myth with idealised forms of nature. How did such ideas evolve over time, to yield the neighbourhood parks of today? An intriguing exhibition at the Victoria & Albert Museum in Dundee (the first V&A outside London) traces the history of these miniature worlds. Garden Futures: Designing with Nature is on view until January. Through exhibits that range from ancient and contemporary paintings to photographs, tools, plant specimens, and interactive multimedia installations, the show traces how the idea of the garden goes all the way back to, well, one idea of the start of it all. In the Abrahamic faiths of Christianity, Judaism and Islam, the Garden of Eden represents the beginning of life itself. Exhibits at the show explore how these spaces have always served as sanctuaries; attempts, in increasingly dense, urban built environments, to let a bit of nature back in. In this role, they have acquired social, political and environmental connotations. Even today, or perhaps more so today, they are a statement of access, luxury, power, wealth. So how have our gardens grown, around the world? * China, c. 1000 BCE A 16th-century painting of scholars in a Chinese garden. (Getty Images) Myth and nature merge in the earliest signs of royal gardens here, dating to 1000 BCE. By the 3rd century BCE, there are records of the Qin emperor Shi Huang building a park with a lake and an island at the centre, inspired by legends of an island of immortals. In the Han dynasty that succeeded the Qin, rare plants and animals were housed in royal parks, in a template that spread as noblemen began to design their grounds on similar lines. Through the centuries, scaled-down waterways, rockeries, dwellings, bridges and plants sought to represent the whole of creation, in miniature scale. Over time, the precursor to the zen garden took shape, built around gongshi or scholar's rocks (essentially, boulders shaped by nature in such intriguing ways that one could spend hours in their contemplation). At V&A Dundee, a watercolour titled A Painting of a Chinese Garden, Guangzhou (c. 1820-1840) bears testament to this past. * France, in the 1500s A view of a parterre at the Palace of Versailles. (Adobe Stock) By the 1500s (civilisation dawning considerably later in the West), the French were designing intricate parterre (literally, 'on the ground') flowerbeds meant to be viewed from a height — essentially, from the terrace or higher floors of a chateau. Surviving parterres such as those at the Palace of Versailles reflect Renaissance ideals of beauty, symmetry and order. Also, luxury, via precise ornamentation. Some of the designs were so intricate, they were referred to as broderie sur la terre or 'embroidery on the ground'. At the V&A exhibit, this style is showcased via a fine-art reproduction of a sketch by the renowned 17th-century landscape architect Claude Mollet. His best-known work is still painstakingly maintained, at the Palace of Versailles. * England, in the 1700s John Gendall's depiction of a hermitage at the British royal family's Frogmore Estate in Windsor. (Getty) By the 18th century, pioneers such as Lancelot 'Capability' Brown were looking to contemporary art for inspiration. Inspired by the Picturesque Movement (a mid-18th-century style that sought to 'represent the ideal'), gardens designed by Brown and others sought to mimic idealised natural landscapes using cedar, beech and linden trees and sweeping lawns. These parks were marked by a near-total absence of flowers. Some of these gardens featured 'hermitages', whimsical retreats meant for rest and contemplation. In some cases, eccentric lords of the manor even hired a 'hermit' to play out the life of a romantic recluse and complete the picture. Engraved prints by artists of the time such as John Gendall and JP Neale offer intricate views of such gardens, complete with hermitages (but not hermits) * USA, in the 20th century Artist J Howard Miller's poster for the Victory Gardens initiative. (V&A Dundee) In the early 1940s, Victory Gardens produced up to 40% of America's fruits and vegetables, according to data from the US National WWII Museum. A government campaign that urged residents to grow their own food amid critical shortages, trade disruptions and broken supply chains was so successful that 20 million such gardens grew up across America, the museum data states. A poster that reads Plant a Garden for Victory!, by the artist J Howard Miller, is part of the V&A Dundee exhibit, inviting the viewer to reconsider a proven model in our current times of need. * India: Then and now While India does not form part of the V&A exhibit, it is interesting to note that the entire arc represented in the four-room display at the museum is visible in a number of our cities today. In northern India, parks and monuments still bear the mark of the ornate Mughal-era designs that were influenced by the Persian chahar-bagh — think rectilinear walled sections, large pools, canals, fountains and flowers. Alongside, we have the colonial-era import of the botanical gardens, in which the British originally attempted to recreate English shrubbery, and then began to preserve and showcase specimens of local varieties too. . Artistic and cultural movements continue to influence the way gardens look. These spaces can also be agents of change, says exhibition co-curator James Wylie. One actionable way to redraw the norm would be 'to look into our immediate environments and ask: Are there ways to encourage pollinators, or different modes of wildlife? To reach beyond manicured lawns and hedges, to create a wild, rich environment that encourages diversity of life?' Wylie adds. 'Because the ideal garden, in our times, is one in which our influence is negligible.'
The Age
26-06-2025
- Entertainment
- The Age
The ‘good omen' that heralded an afterlife army's arrival in Australia
The Shaanxi terracotta warriors guard the tomb of the Qin dynasty emperor who united China 2000 years ago, with 'one law, one coin, one script and one measure'. Described as 'the afterlife army' of Emperor Qin Shihuang, the 8000 clay warriors stand forever to attention in a celestial military camp unearthed accidentally in 1974 by a farmer tilling his fields. Ten of the clay army figures – eight warriors, a seated attendant and a saddled horse – now feature in Terracotta Warriors: Legacy of the First Emperor, a major exhibition of 225 objects loaned from Emperor Qin Shihuang Mausoleum Site Museum and from 17 other museums across China to the Western Australian Museum. 'We're told it's the largest exhibition of its kind outside China,' says museum director Alec Coles, whose team began discussions seven years ago with the Shaanxi Provincial Bureau of Cultural Heritage, the Emperor Qin Shihuang's Mausoleum Site Museum and other sites to collate Terracotta Warriors. While Victoria has previously hosted a terracotta warrior show, Coles says the current objects – spanning a 1000-year period – have never previously been assembled in one place. 'Nearly three quarters of the objects have never been seen in Australia and we're told almost half have never before left China.' All are genuine artefacts, from the terracotta warriors to bronze bells, jade dragon pendants and even pottery bath scrubbers. Only two life-size horse-drawn chariots are replicas because the real ones – painstakingly reassembled from fragments – are too fragile to tour. A few items will have their first ever public showing, like an emperor dowager's gold ornaments that Perth visitors will see ahead of even the Chinese public. Some borrowed items are unlikely to travel again, like a dainty life-like swan loaned to Perth because it mirrors Western Australia's state emblem, the black swan. 'We've had a lot of license to ask for material ... I think the enduring relationship between WA and China has played a part, particularly because of the resources industry.' WA Museum director Alec Coles 'We were desperate to get it because when the Chinese delegation came over, they were intrigued by our black swans,' says Coles. 'We took them to Perth Zoo to get an idea of Australian wildlife, and it was funny to see a black swan following us around the whole time. I think it was a good omen.' The swan is among priceless bronze-cast waterfowl – 20 swans, 20 geese and six cranes – that were unearthed in the early 2000s with their terracotta animal handlers, whose 'serene faces and delicate hands' identify them as bird keepers. Exhibition curator Tonia Eckfeld, a Chinese art history professor from Melbourne University, has witnessed the 'birth' of Shaanxi province's extraordinary archaeological finds. 'I've seen the objects coming out of the earth, including objects that are in this exhibition. I was doing my doctoral work in China in the 1990s when they were excavating pits of stone armour and lifting them out, 80 suits of them,' Eckfeld says. 'They had all been on wooden racks which decayed. You can imagine dealing with 600 stone pieces per suit of armour, once linked by silk thread or metal wire. So the archaeologists put stickers on each piece, with numbers, one, two, three, took them out and reassembled them.' She says the best clues to reassembling the armour – one of which is displayed in Perth – came directly from the warrior figures. 'They bore many different configurations of armour, and so the experts were able to put the 80 suits back together.' A single magnificent suit of armour was for a horse; 'we presume it was for the horse of the emperor himself.' The Terracotta Warriors are only one aspect of the exhibition narrative, often captured in immersive audio-visual screens – how X-rays of the bronze waterfowl revealed that China had learned from Western casting techniques. Clues to ancient global animal trade, a warmer climate and denuded bamboo forests lie in relics of live animals that were buried in grand tombs – like ill-fated Asian tapirs, African ground hornbills and once abundant, over-grazing giant pandas. 'These objects all live in the present day,' says Eckfeld. 'They're not just old things from the past. They're very culturally alive, but they also do have a place in the present. They're part of all of our lives.' The inner core of Emperor Qin Shihuang's tomb has never been excavated. Does Eckfeld look forward to learning its secrets? 'I'm sure that it will be excavated one day. But at the moment, I guess the fact is there's just so much else to do. Inside the core there's likely to be the most precious material – that could mean very delicate silk textiles, brocades and things like that. So you need to be ready to deal with it when it comes out. 'Preservation comes before everything, because a top priority in China is to look after the material heritage. I've watched their conservation and material science develop in the decades that I've been working there – it's cutting edge now.' Coles says Terracotta Warriors will have an unusually long run in Perth, until Chinese New Year in February 2026. 'We've sold more advanced tickets probably by a factor of five or six than any other exhibition we've ever done. We know people are buying tickets from the east coast and from overseas to come here,' he says. 'We've had a lot of license to ask for material, to select material, and the authorities have been very accommodating. I think the enduring relationship between WA and China has played a part, particularly because of the resources industry. We know that China is by far our biggest trading partner, three times the US for instance. 'Soft diplomatic relations are really important in order to work together, and the number of items and long loan time are a reflection of the bond of trust we built up with our Chinese partners.'
Sydney Morning Herald
26-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Sydney Morning Herald
The ‘good omen' that heralded an afterlife army's arrival in Australia
The Shaanxi terracotta warriors guard the tomb of the Qin dynasty emperor who united China 2000 years ago, with 'one law, one coin, one script and one measure'. Described as 'the afterlife army' of Emperor Qin Shihuang, the 8000 clay warriors stand forever to attention in a celestial military camp unearthed accidentally in 1974 by a farmer tilling his fields. Ten of the clay army figures – eight warriors, a seated attendant and a saddled horse – now feature in Terracotta Warriors: Legacy of the First Emperor, a major exhibition of 225 objects loaned from Emperor Qin Shihuang Mausoleum Site Museum and from 17 other museums across China to the Western Australian Museum. 'We're told it's the largest exhibition of its kind outside China,' says museum director Alec Coles, whose team began discussions seven years ago with the Shaanxi Provincial Bureau of Cultural Heritage, the Emperor Qin Shihuang's Mausoleum Site Museum and other sites to collate Terracotta Warriors. While Victoria has previously hosted a terracotta warrior show, Coles says the current objects – spanning a 1000-year period – have never previously been assembled in one place. 'Nearly three quarters of the objects have never been seen in Australia and we're told almost half have never before left China.' All are genuine artefacts, from the terracotta warriors to bronze bells, jade dragon pendants and even pottery bath scrubbers. Only two life-size horse-drawn chariots are replicas because the real ones – painstakingly reassembled from fragments – are too fragile to tour. A few items will have their first ever public showing, like an emperor dowager's gold ornaments that Perth visitors will see ahead of even the Chinese public. Some borrowed items are unlikely to travel again, like a dainty life-like swan loaned to Perth because it mirrors Western Australia's state emblem, the black swan. 'We've had a lot of license to ask for material ... I think the enduring relationship between WA and China has played a part, particularly because of the resources industry.' WA Museum director Alec Coles 'We were desperate to get it because when the Chinese delegation came over, they were intrigued by our black swans,' says Coles. 'We took them to Perth Zoo to get an idea of Australian wildlife, and it was funny to see a black swan following us around the whole time. I think it was a good omen.' The swan is among priceless bronze-cast waterfowl – 20 swans, 20 geese and six cranes – that were unearthed in the early 2000s with their terracotta animal handlers, whose 'serene faces and delicate hands' identify them as bird keepers. Exhibition curator Tonia Eckfeld, a Chinese art history professor from Melbourne University, has witnessed the 'birth' of Shaanxi province's extraordinary archaeological finds. 'I've seen the objects coming out of the earth, including objects that are in this exhibition. I was doing my doctoral work in China in the 1990s when they were excavating pits of stone armour and lifting them out, 80 suits of them,' Eckfeld says. 'They had all been on wooden racks which decayed. You can imagine dealing with 600 stone pieces per suit of armour, once linked by silk thread or metal wire. So the archaeologists put stickers on each piece, with numbers, one, two, three, took them out and reassembled them.' She says the best clues to reassembling the armour – one of which is displayed in Perth – came directly from the warrior figures. 'They bore many different configurations of armour, and so the experts were able to put the 80 suits back together.' A single magnificent suit of armour was for a horse; 'we presume it was for the horse of the emperor himself.' The Terracotta Warriors are only one aspect of the exhibition narrative, often captured in immersive audio-visual screens – how X-rays of the bronze waterfowl revealed that China had learned from Western casting techniques. Clues to ancient global animal trade, a warmer climate and denuded bamboo forests lie in relics of live animals that were buried in grand tombs – like ill-fated Asian tapirs, African ground hornbills and once abundant, over-grazing giant pandas. 'These objects all live in the present day,' says Eckfeld. 'They're not just old things from the past. They're very culturally alive, but they also do have a place in the present. They're part of all of our lives.' The inner core of Emperor Qin Shihuang's tomb has never been excavated. Does Eckfeld look forward to learning its secrets? 'I'm sure that it will be excavated one day. But at the moment, I guess the fact is there's just so much else to do. Inside the core there's likely to be the most precious material – that could mean very delicate silk textiles, brocades and things like that. So you need to be ready to deal with it when it comes out. 'Preservation comes before everything, because a top priority in China is to look after the material heritage. I've watched their conservation and material science develop in the decades that I've been working there – it's cutting edge now.' Coles says Terracotta Warriors will have an unusually long run in Perth, until Chinese New Year in February 2026. 'We've sold more advanced tickets probably by a factor of five or six than any other exhibition we've ever done. We know people are buying tickets from the east coast and from overseas to come here,' he says. 'We've had a lot of license to ask for material, to select material, and the authorities have been very accommodating. I think the enduring relationship between WA and China has played a part, particularly because of the resources industry. We know that China is by far our biggest trading partner, three times the US for instance. 'Soft diplomatic relations are really important in order to work together, and the number of items and long loan time are a reflection of the bond of trust we built up with our Chinese partners.'
