Gormley takes his terracotta army to China

He may have had in mind such phrases as coals to Newcastle or sand to the Arabs. The artist Antony Gormley is to create a massive terracotta army – a force bigger than even the ancient warriors of Xian – and take it to China.

Asian Field will be a new version of Gormley's famous work, Field for the British Isles, which consists of 40,000 beady-eyed, pint-sized clay figures, currently on display at the British Museum. It will follow other versions made in Brazil, Mexico and Sweden, but will be three times larger than any of its predecessors.

Asian Field will involve the manufacture of 120,000 hand-sized clay figures by 300 villagers near Guangzhou in China for a work that will then tour the Asian country from March until December.

Gormley, a Turner prize-winner, said: "Field is part of a global project in which the earth of a particular region is given form by a group of local people of all ages."

The work is part of a raft of arts projects for countries from Iran to Russia announced by the British Council yesterday under the headline "Art for a dangerous world". In addition to Gormley's Asian Field, China will also welcome Matthew Bourne's all-male version of the ballet Swan Lake.