Terra cotta warriors fly UPS

China - Chinese terra cotta warriors, horses and other artifacts recently flew from Shanghai to California aboard the UPS 747-400 air freighter.

42 specially-constructed crates were made to fit the 2,200 year old terra cotta warriors, the company said.

UPS has flown the army from Shanghai to Anchorage, Alaska, then on to its Ontario air hub where three UPS Freight trucks are waiting with air-ride trailers to journey all the way to Bowers Museum in California. The exhibition premieres on May 18.

The loadmaster of this event is Bland Matthews who has coordinated some of UPS's most unusual and challenging shipments, including deliveries to the Georgia Aquarium of four whale sharks from Taipei, Taiwan, and a pair of beluga whales from a Mexico City amusement park.

President of the Bowers Museum Peter Keller said that the arrival of the terra cotta warriors in the US marks as a historic event. He aid: "Our UPS driver is a familiar face here at the museum, but I have to admit we're a lot more excited than usual about this particular delivery."

More than 8,000 of the terra cotta warriors and horses were buried with Emperor Qin in 210-209 BC. Chinese farmers digging a well in 1974 near Xi'an in China's Shaanxi province discovered the Terra Cotta Army still guarding the emperor's tomb.