Qin Shi Huang

Qin Shi Huang (, ; 259–210 BC) was the founder of the Qin dynasty and the first emperor of a unified China. Rather than maintain the title of "king" ( ''wáng'') borne by the previous Shang and Zhou rulers, he ruled as the First Emperor () of the Qin dynasty from 221 to 210 BC. His self-invented title "emperor" ( ') would continue to be borne by Chinese rulers for the next two millennia. Historically, he was often portrayed as a tyrannical ruler and strict Legalist, in part from the Han dynasty's scathing assessments of him. Since the mid 20th-century, scholars have begun to question this evaluation, inciting considerable discussion on the actual nature of his policies and reforms. Regardless, according to sinologist Michael Loewe "few would contest the view that the achievements of his reign have exercised a paramount influence on the whole of China's subsequent history, marking the start of an epoch that closed in 1911".

Born in the Zhao state capital Handan, as Ying Zheng () or Zhao Zheng (), his parents were King Zhuangxiang of Qin and Lady Zhao. The wealthy merchant Lü Buwei assisted him in succeeding his father as the ruler of Qin, after which he became Zheng, King of Qin (). By the age of 38 in 221 BC, he had conquered all the other Warring States and unified all of China, and he ascended the throne as China's first emperor.

During his reign, his generals greatly expanded the size of the Chinese state: campaigns south of Chu permanently added the Yue lands of Hunan and Guangdong to the Chinese cultural orbit, and campaigns in Inner Asia conquered the Ordos Loop from the nomadic Xiongnu, although the Xiongnu later rallied under Modu Chanyu.

Qin Shi Huang also worked with his minister Li Si to enact major economic and political reforms aimed at the standardization of the diverse practices of the earlier Chinese states. He is traditionally said to have banned and burned many books and executed scholars. His public works projects included the incorporation of diverse state walls into a single Great Wall of China and a massive new national road system, as well as his city-sized mausoleum guarded by a life-sized Terracotta Army. He ruled until his death in 210 BC, during his fifth tour of Eastern China.

Origin of name

Modern Chinese sources often give the personal name of Qin Shi Huang as Ying Zheng, with Ying () taken as the surname and Zheng () the given name. However, in ancient China, the naming convention differed, and the clan name Zhao (), the place where he was born and raised, may be used as the surname. Unlike modern Chinese names, the nobles of ancient China had two distinct surnames: the ancestral name () comprised a larger group descended from a prominent ancestor, usually said to have lived during the time of the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors of Chinese legend, and the clan name () comprised a smaller group that showed a branch's current fief or recent title. The ancient practice was to list men's names separately Sima Qian's "Basic Annals of the First Emperor of Qin" introduces him as "given the name Zheng and the surname Zhao"or to combine the clan surname with the personal name: Sima's account of Chu describes the sixteenth year of the reign of King Kaolie as "the time when Zhao Zheng was enthroned as King of Qin". However, since modern Chinese surnames (despite usually descending from clan names) use the same character as the old ''ancestral'' names, it is much more common in modern Chinese sources to see the emperor's personal name written as Ying Zheng, using the ancestral name of the Ying family.

The rulers of Qin had styled themselves kings from the time of King Huiwen in 325 BC. Upon his ascension, Zheng became known as the King of Qin Sima Qian">nowiki/> Sima Qian 'Records of the Grand Historian''">Records_of_the_Grand_Historian.html" ;"title="'Records of the Grand Historian">'Records of the Grand Historian'' ["§6: Basic Annals of the First Emperor of Qin"]. Hosted at [Guoxue.com], 2003. Accessed 25 December 2013. or King Zheng of Qin. Sima Qian. 'Records of the Grand Historian''">Records_of_the_Grand_Historian.html" ;"title="'Records of the Grand Historian">'Records of the Grand Historian'' ["§5: Basic Annals of Qin"]. Hosted at [Guoxue.com], 2003. Accessed 25 December 2013. This title made him the nominal equal of the rulers of Shang and of Zhou, the last of whose kings had been deposed by King Zhaoxiang of Qin in 256 BC.

Following the surrender of Qi in 221 BC, King Zheng reunited all of the lands of the former Kingdom of Zhou. Rather than maintain his rank as king, however,Wilkinson, Endymion. ''Chinese History: A Manual''
pp. 108 ff
. Harvard University Press (Cambridge), 2000. . Accessed 26 December 2013. he created a new title of ''huángdì'' (emperor) for himself. This new title combined two titles''huáng'' of the mythical Three Sovereigns (, ''Sān Huáng'') and the ''dì'' of the legendary Five Emperors (, ''Wŭ Dì'') of Chinese prehistory. The title was intended to appropriate some of the prestige of the Yellow Emperor