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Yang Zhifa (杨志发, born 1933) is one of the discoverers of the Mausoleum of the First Qin Emperor. For many years, he worked in a small souvenir shop within the museum of the mausoleum, where he was signing books sold to the tourists. Today, he is often replaced by impostors pretending to be the real Yang Zhifa or one of the other discoverers to increase the book sales.
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Even though he is officially recognized as the main discoverer, his (or any of the other 6 discoverers) name does not appear on the explanatory board inside the museum and he is rarely mentioned, the discoverers being generally described "as a group of peasants".
Discovery
On 23 March 1974, Yang Zhifa, 41 years old, living in Xiyang, a village of the Lintong county 35 kilometers east from the city of Xi'an · , decided, in the middle of a draught, to dig a well with his five brothers — Yang Wenhai, Yang Yanxin, Yang Quanyi, Yang Peiyan and Yang Xinam — and Wang Puzhi to water their crops. They chose a small wooded area south of their village; five days later, the well reached 15 metres in depth and, bringing up dirt, Zhifa found a terracotta head and a bronze arrowhead.
Rewards
Immediately, he informed authorities of his discovery; they dispacted a team of archeologists to the site. The government offered him 300 yuan as a reward, equivalent to his annual salary. He was then evicted from his 167 square meters of property with the other villagers for archeologic and touristic needs, but was granted land in Qinyong, a neighboring village. When the site became accessible to the public, he was hired by the museum, in which he signed books in a souvenir shop, six days a week, from 9 am to 5 pm, for a salary of CNY 300 per month, which increased to CNY 1000 after retirement.
In 1998, Yang Zhifa had the privilege of shaking President of the United States Bill Clinton's hand during the President's visit to China and the Mausoleum of the First Qin Emperor.
Other discoverers
Of the seven discoverers, only four are still alive: Yang Zhifa, Yang Quanyi, Yang Peiyan and Yang Xinman. Wang Puzhi committed suicide in 1997 while Yang Wenhai and Yang Yanxin died in their 50s of diseases, too poor to afford the medication necessary for their healing.