Qin Shi Huang (, ; 259–210 BC) was the founder of the

Qin dynasty The Qin dynasty ( ; zh, c=秦朝, p=Qín cháo, w=), or Ch'in dynasty in Wade–Giles romanization ( zh, c=, p=, w=Ch'in ch'ao), was the first Dynasties in Chinese history, dynasty of Imperial China. Named for its heartland in Qin (state), ...

and the first

emperor An emperor (from la, imperator, via fro, empereor) is a monarch, and usually the sovereignty, sovereign ruler of an empire or another type of imperial realm. Empress, the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife (empress consort), ...

of a unified China. Rather than maintain the title of "

king King is the title given to a male monarch in a variety of contexts. The female equivalent is queen, which title is also given to the consort of a king. *In the context of prehistory, antiquity and contemporary indigenous peoples, the tit ...

" ( ''wáng'') borne by the previous

Shang The Shang dynasty (), also known as the Yin dynasty (), was a Chinese royal dynasty founded by Tang of Shang (Cheng Tang) that ruled in the Yellow River valley in the second millennium BC, traditionally succeeding the Xia dynasty and f ...

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 The Han dynasty (, ; ) was an imperial dynasty of China (202 BC – 9 AD, 25–220 AD), established by Liu Bang (Emperor Gao) and ruled by the House of Liu. The dynasty was preceded by the short-lived Qin dynasty (221–207 BC) and a warr ...

'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 Michael Arthur Nathan Loewe (born 2 November 1922) is a British Sinologist, historian, and writer who has authored dozens of books, articles, and other publications in the fields of Classical Chinese as well as the history of ancient and ear ...

"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 King Zhuangxiang of Qin (281– 6 July 247 BCEVolume 05 of ''Records of the Grand Historian'' indicated that King Zhuangxiang died on the ''bingwu'' day of the 5th month of the 4th year of his reign. Using the ''Zhuanxu'' calendar, the date corre ...

and

Lady Zhao Zhao Ji (; Ji 姬 was an ancestral name of the Zhou royal family, which later evolved to generally mean "lady" in successive eras. But there are no more detailed mentions on her family at Zhao (which was a Boyi-descent state and shared origins ...

. The wealthy merchant

Lü Buwei Lü Buwei (291–235 BCE) was a Chinese merchant and politician of the Qin state during the Warring States period. Originally an influential merchant from the Wei () state, Lü Buwei met and befriended King Zhuangxiang of Qin, who was then a m ...

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 The Warring States period () was an era in ancient Chinese history characterized by warfare, as well as bureaucratic and military reforms and consolidation. It followed the Spring and Autumn period and concluded with the Qin wars of conquest ...

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 Hunan (, ; ) is a landlocked province of the People's Republic of China, part of the South Central China region. Located in the middle reaches of the Yangtze watershed, it borders the province-level divisions of Hubei to the north, Jiangxi to ...

and

Guangdong Guangdong (, ), alternatively romanized as Canton or Kwangtung, is a coastal province in South China on the north shore of the South China Sea. The capital of the province is Guangzhou. With a population of 126.01 million (as of 2020) ...

to the Chinese cultural orbit, and campaigns in

Inner Asia Inner Asia refers to the northern and landlocked regions spanning North, Central and East Asia. It includes parts of western and northeast China, as well as southern Siberia. The area overlaps with some definitions of 'Central Asia', mostly the ...

conquered the Ordos Loop from the nomadic

Xiongnu The Xiongnu (, ) were a tribal confederation of nomadic peoples who, according to ancient Chinese sources, inhabited the eastern Eurasian Steppe from the 3rd century BC to the late 1st century AD. Modu Chanyu, the supreme leader after 20 ...

, although the Xiongnu later rallied under

Modu Chanyu Modu, Maodun, Modun (, from Old Chinese (220 B.C.E.): *''mouᴴ-tuən'' or *''mək-tuən'', c. 234 – c. 174 BCE) was the son of Touman and the founder of the empire of the Xiongnu. He came to power by ordering his men to kill his father in 209 B ...

. Qin Shi Huang also worked with his minister

Li Si Li Si (Mandarin: ; BCSeptember or October 208 BC) was a Chinese philosopher, politician, and calligrapher of the Qin dynasty. He served as Chancellor (or Prime Minister) from 246 to 208 BC under two rulers: Qin Shi Huang, the king of the Qin ...

to enact major economic and political reforms aimed at the standardization of the diverse practices of the earlier

Chinese states Ancient Chinese states () were typified by variously sized city-states and territories that existed in China prior to its unification by Qin Shi Huang in 221 BCE. In many cases these were vassal states and fiefs established in the '' fengjian'' s ...

. 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 The Great Wall of China (, literally "ten thousand ''li'' wall") is a series of fortifications that were built across the historical northern borders of ancient Chinese states and Imperial China as protection against various nomadic gro ...

and a massive new national road system, as well as his city-sized mausoleum guarded by a life-sized

Terracotta Army The Terracotta Army is a collection of terracotta sculptures depicting the armies of Qin Shi Huang, the first emperor of China. It is a form of funerary art buried with the emperor in 210–209 BCE with the purpose of protecting the emperor in ...

. 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 Ying may refer to: People * Yíng (嬴), a Chinese surname, the ancestral name of Qin Shi Huang, first Emperor of China in the Qin Dynasty, and some contemporary rival royal families such as the Zhaos * Yīng (应), a Chinese surname from the Z ...

() 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 In some cultures, a surname, family name, or last name is the portion of one's personal name that indicates one's family, tribe or community. Practices vary by culture. The family name may be placed at either the start of a person's full name ...

. Unlike modern

Chinese name Chinese names or Chinese personal names are names used by individuals from Greater China and other parts of the Chinese-speaking world throughout East and Southeast Asia (ESEA). In addition, many names used in Japan, Korea and Vietnam are ofte ...

s, the

nobles Nobility is a social class found in many societies that have an aristocracy. It is normally ranked immediately below royalty. Nobility has often been an estate of the realm with many exclusive functions and characteristics. The characteri ...

of ancient China had two distinct surnames: the

ancestral name In some cultures, a surname, family name, or last name is the portion of one's personal name that indicates one's family, tribe or community. Practices vary by culture. The family name may be placed at either the start of a person's full 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 Chinese mythology () is mythology that has been passed down in oral form or recorded in literature in the geographic area now known as Greater China. Chinese mythology includes many varied myths from regional and cultural traditions. Much of t ...

, and the clan name () comprised a smaller group that showed a branch's current

fief A fief (; la, feudum) was a central element in medieval contracts based on feudal law. It consisted of a form of property holding or other rights granted by an overlord to a vassal, who held it in fealty or "in fee" in return for a form ...

or recent title. The ancient practice was to list men's names separately

Sima Qian Sima Qian (; ; ) was a Chinese historian of the early Han dynasty (206AD220). He is considered the father of Chinese historiography for his ''Records of the Grand Historian'', a general history of China covering more than two thousand years b ...

'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 Qin may refer to: Dynasties and states * Qin (state) (秦), a major state during the Zhou Dynasty of ancient China * Qin dynasty (秦), founded by the Qin state in 221 BC and ended in 206 BC * Daqin (大秦), ancient Chinese name for the Roman Emp ...

had styled themselves kings from the time of

King Huiwen King Huiwen may refer to: *King Huiwen of Qin (reigned 338–311 BC) *King Huiwen of Zhao King Huiwen of Zhao () (born 310 BCE - died 266 BCE, reigned 298 BCE – 266 BCE) reigned in the State of Zhao during the Warring States period of Chinese hi ...

in 325 BC. Upon his ascension, Zheng became known as the King of Qin [

]. 'Records_of_the_Grand_Historian''.html" ;"title="Records_of_the_Grand_Historian.html" ;"title="'Records of the Grand Historian">'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.

. 'Records_of_the_Grand_Historian''.html" ;"title="Records_of_the_Grand_Historian.html" ;"title="'Records of the Grand Historian">'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

and of Zhou, the last of whose kings had been deposed by

King Zhaoxiang of Qin King Zhaoxiang of Qin (; 325–251 BC), or King Zhao of Qin (秦昭王), born Ying Ji (, was the king of Qin from 306 BC to 251 BC. He was the son of King Huiwen and younger brother of King Wu. King Zhaoxiang reigned as the King of Qin for 57 ...

in 256 BC. Following the surrender of Qi in 221 BC, King Zheng reunited all of the lands of the former

Kingdom of Zhou The Zhou dynasty ( ; Old Chinese ( B&S): *''tiw'') was a royal dynasty of China that followed the Shang dynasty. Having lasted 789 years, the Zhou dynasty was the longest dynastic regime in Chinese history. The military control of China by t ...

. Rather than maintain his rank as king, however,Wilkinson, Endymion. ''Chinese History: A Manual''
pp. 108 ff
. Harvard University Press (

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...

), 2000. . Accessed 26 December 2013. he created a new title of ''huángdì'' (

) for himself. This new title combined two titles''huáng'' of the

mythical Myth is a folklore genre consisting of narratives that play a fundamental role in a society, such as foundational tales or origin myths. Since "myth" is widely used to imply that a story is not objectively true, the identification of a narrati ...

Three Sovereigns The Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors were two groups of mythological rulers in ancient north China. The Three Sovereigns supposedly lived long before The Five Emperors, who have been assigned dates in a period from 3162 BC to 2070 BC. Today ...

(, ''Sān Huáng'') and the ''dì'' of the

legendary Legendary may refer to: * Legend, a folklore genre * Legendary (hagiography) ** Anjou Legendarium * J. R. R. Tolkien's legendarium Film and television * ''Legendary'' (film), a 2010 American sports drama film * ''Legendary'', a 2013 film fea ...

Five Emperors (, ''Wŭ Dì'') of

Chinese prehistory The earliest known written records of the history of China date from as early as 1250 BC, from the Shang dynasty (c. 1600–1046 BC), during the reign of king Wu Ding. Ancient historical texts such as the ''Book of Documents'' (early chapter ...

. The title was intended to appropriate some of the prestige of the

Yellow Emperor The Yellow Emperor, also known as the Yellow Thearch or by his Chinese name Huangdi (), is a deity ('' shen'') in Chinese religion, one of the legendary Chinese sovereigns and culture heroes included among the mytho-historical Three Soverei ...

, whose cult was popular in the later

Warring States period The Warring States period () was an era in ancient Chinese history characterized by warfare, as well as bureaucratic and military reforms and consolidation. It followed the Spring and Autumn period and concluded with the Qin wars of conquest ...

and who was considered to be a founder of the Chinese people. King Zheng chose the new

regnal name A regnal name, or regnant name or reign name, is the name used by monarchs and popes during their reigns and, subsequently, historically. Since ancient times, some monarchs have chosen to use a different name from their original name when they ...

of First Emperor (''Shǐ Huángdì'', formerly transcribed as Shih Huang-ti) [

]. 'Records of the Grand Historian'']

§5: Basic Annals of Qin" Hosted at hinese Wikisource 2012. Accessed 27 December 2013. on the understanding that his successors would be successively titled the "Second Emperor", "Third Emperor", and so on through the generations. (In fact, the scheme lasted only as long as his immediate heir, the Second Emperor.) The new title carried religious overtones. For that reason, Sinologistsstarting with

Peter Boodberg Peter Alexis Boodberg (born Pyotr Alekseyevich Budberg; 8 April 1903 – 29 June 1972) was a Russian-American scholar, linguist, and sinologist who taught at the University of California, Berkeley for 40 years. Boodberg was influential in 20th ...

or Edward Schafersometimes translate it as "thearch" and the First Emperor as the First Thearch. The First Emperor intended that his realm would remain intact through the ages but, following its overthrow and replacement by

Han Han may refer to: Ethnic groups * Han Chinese, or Han People (): the name for the largest ethnic group in China, which also constitutes the world's largest ethnic group. ** Han Taiwanese (): the name for the ethnic group of the Taiwanese p ...

after his death, it became customary to prefix his title with Qin. Thus: * , ''Qín'' or Ch‘in, "of Qin" * , ''Shǐ'' or Shih, "first" * , ''Huángdì'' or Huang-ti, "emperor", a new term coined from ** , ''Huáng'' or Huang, literally "shining" or "splendid" and formerly most usually applied "as an epithet of Heaven", a title of the

, the high god of the ZhouCreel, Herrlee G. ''The Origins of Statecraft in China'', pp. 495 ff. University of Chicago Press (Chicago), 1970. Op. cit. Chang, Ruth.
Understanding Di and Tian: Deity and Heaven from Shang to Tang Dynasties
", pp. 13–14. ''Sino-Platonic Papers'', No. 108. Sept. 2000. Accessed 27 December 2013. ** , ''Dì'' or Ti, the high god of the

, possibly composed of their divine ancestors, and used by the Zhou as a title of the legendary Five Emperors, particularly the

As early as

, it was common to shorten the resulting four-character Qin Shi Huangdi to , [

]. 'Records of the Grand Historian'']

§6: Basic Annals of the First Emperor of Qin" Hosted at hinese Wikisource 2012. Accessed 27 December 2013. variously transcribed as Qin Shihuang or Qin Shi Huang. Following his elevation as emperor, both Zheng's personal name and possibly its homophone became

taboo A taboo or tabu is a social group's ban, prohibition, or avoidance of something (usually an utterance or behavior) based on the group's sense that it is excessively repulsive, sacred, or allowed only for certain persons.''Encyclopædia Britannica ...

. The First Emperor also arrogated the first-person Chinese pronoun ( OC *''lrəm

’ The Unicode character (U+2019 ) is used both for a typographic apostrophe and a single right (closing) quotation mark. This is due to the many fonts and character sets (such as CP1252) that unified the characters into a single code point, and th ...

'',Baxter, William & al.
Baxter–Sagart Old Chinese Reconstruction
''. 2011. Accessed 26 December 2013.

mod Mod, MOD or mods may refer to: Places * Modesto City–County Airport, Stanislaus County, California, US Arts, entertainment, and media Music * Mods (band), a Norwegian rock band * M.O.D. (Method of Destruction), a band from New York City, US ...

. ''zhèn'') for his exclusive use and in 212 BC began calling himself The

Immortal Immortality is the ability to live forever, or eternal life. Immortal or Immortality may also refer to: Film * ''The Immortals'' (1995 film), an American crime film * ''Immortality'', an alternate title for the 1998 British film ''The Wisdom of ...

OC *''Tin-niŋ'',

. ''Zhēnrén'', lit. "True Man"). Others were to address him as "Your Majesty"

. ''Bìxià'', lit. "Beneath the Palace Steps") in person and "Your Highness" () in writing.

Birth and parentage

According to the ''

Records of the Grand Historian ''Records of the Grand Historian'', also known by its Chinese name ''Shiji'', is a monumental history of China that is the first of China's 24 dynastic histories. The ''Records'' was written in the early 1st century by the ancient Chinese hist ...

'', written by

during the Han dynasty, the first emperor was the eldest son of the Qin prince Yiren, who later became

. Prince Yiren at that time was residing at the court of Zhao, serving as a hostage to guarantee the

armistice An armistice is a formal agreement of warring parties to stop fighting. It is not necessarily the end of a war, as it may constitute only a cessation of hostilities while an attempt is made to negotiate a lasting peace. It is derived from the ...

between the Qin and Zhao states.Wood, Frances. (2008). ''China's First Emperor and His Terracotta Warriors'', pp. 2–33. Macmillan Publishing, 2008. . Prince Yiren had fallen in love at first sight with a

concubine Concubinage is an interpersonal and sexual relationship between a man and a woman in which the couple does not want, or cannot enter into a full marriage. Concubinage and marriage are often regarded as similar but mutually exclusive. Concubi ...

, a rich merchant from the

State of Wey Wei (;"Wei"
''

(Zhao Ji) after the state of Zhao. He was given the name Zhao Zheng, the name Zheng () came from his month of birth ''Zhengyue'', the first month of the Chinese lunar calendar; the clan name of Zhao came from his father's lineage and was unrelated to either his mother's name or the location of his birth. ( Song Zhong says that his birthday, significantly, was on the first day of Zhengyue.) Lü Buwei's machinations later helped Yiren become

Ren Changhong & al. ''Rise and Fall of the Qin Dynasty''. Asiapac Books PTE Ltd., 2000. . in 250 BC. However, the ''

'' also claimed that the first emperor was not the actual son of Prince Yiren but that of

.Huang, Ray. ''China: A Macro History'' Edition: 2, revised. (1987). M.E. Sharpe publishing. . p. 32. According to this account, when Lü Buwei introduced the dancing girl to the prince, she was Lü Buwei's

and had already become pregnant by him, and the baby was born after an unusually long period of pregnancy. According to translations of the

Annals of Lü Buwei Annals ( la, annāles, from , "year") are a concise historical record in which events are arranged chronologically, year by year, although the term is also used loosely for any historical record. Scope The nature of the distinction between ann ...

, Zhao Ji gave birth to the future emperor in the city of Handan in 259 BC, the first month of the 48th year of

.Lü, Buwei. Translated by Knoblock, John. Riegel, Jeffrey. ''The Annals of Lü Buwei'': Lü Shi Chun ''Qiu : a Complete Translation and Study''. (2000). Stanford University Press. . The idea that the emperor was an

illegitimate child Legitimacy, in traditional Western common law, is the status of a child born to parents who are legally married to each other, and of a child conceived before the parents obtain a legal divorce. Conversely, ''illegitimacy'', also known as '' ...

, widely believed throughout Chinese history, contributed to the generally negative view of the First Emperor. However, a number of modern scholars have doubted this account of his birth. Sinologist

Derk Bodde Derk Bodde (March 9, 1909November 3, 2003) was an American sinologist and historian of China known for his pioneering work on the history of the Chinese legal system. Bodde received his undergraduate degree from Harvard University in 1930. He ...

wrote: "There is good reason for believing that the sentence describing this unusual pregnancy is an interpolation added to the '' Shih-chi'' by an unknown person in order to slander the First Emperor and indicate his political as well as natal illegitimacy". John Knoblock and Jeffrey Riegel, in their translation of Lü Buwei's ''

Spring and Autumn Annals The ''Spring and Autumn Annals'' () is an ancient Chinese chronicle that has been one of the core Chinese classics since ancient times. The ''Annals'' is the official chronicle of the State of Lu, and covers a 241-year period from 722 to 481 ...

'', call the story "patently false, meant both to libel Lü and to cast aspersions on the First Emperor". Claiming Lü Buwei—a merchant—as the First Emperor's biological father was meant to be especially disparaging, since later Confucian society regarded merchants as the lowest of all social classes.

Reign as the King of Qin

Regency

In 246 BC, when King Zhuangxiang died after a short reign of just three years, he was succeeded on the throne by his 13-year-old son.Donn, Lin. Donn, Don. ''Ancient China''. (2003). Social Studies School Service. Social Studies. . p. 49. At the time, Zhao Zheng was still young, so

acted as the regent prime minister of the State of Qin, which was still waging war against the other six states. Nine years later, in 235 BC, Zhao Zheng assumed full power after Lü Buwei was banished for his involvement in a scandal with

Queen Dowager Zhao Zhao Ji (; Ji 姬 was an ancestral name of the Zhou royal family, which later evolved to generally mean "lady" in successive eras. But there are no more detailed mentions on her family at Zhao (which was a Boyi-descent state and shared origins ...

Zhao Chengjiao Chengjiao (; 256–239 BC), titled Lord of Chang'an (), (Sima Qian). 'Records of the Grand Historian''">Records_of_the_Grand_Historian.html" ;"title="'Records of the Grand Historian">'Records of the Grand Historian''

ol. 43 OL may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Orphaned Land, an Israeli progressive metal band * Old Lace (comics) a telepathically linked dinosaur hero Businesses and organizations * OLT Express Germany (IATA code: OL), a scheduled and charter airl ...

. was the so ...

, the Lord Chang'an (),司馬遷《史記·卷043·趙世家》：（赵悼襄王）六年，封长安君以饶。 was Zhao Zheng's legitimate half-brother, by the same father but from a different mother. After Zhao Zheng inherited the throne, Chengjiao rebelled at

Tunliu Tunliu () is a district of the city of Changzhi, Shanxi province, China. Lord Chang'an, Chengjiao, brother of Qin Shi Huang Qin Shi Huang (, ; 259–210 BC) was the founder of the Qin dynasty and the first emperor of a unified China. Ra ...

and surrendered to the state of Zhao. Chengjiao's remaining retainers and families were executed by Zhao Zheng.

Lao Ai's attempted coup

As King Zheng grew older,

became fearful that the boy king would discover his liaison with his mother

. He decided to distance himself and look for a replacement for the queen dowager. He found a man named

Lao Ai Lao Ai (; died 238 BCE) was an imposter eunuch and official of the State of Qin during the late Warring States period. Allegedly falsifying his castration in order to gain entry into the court of Qin, he became the favorite of Queen Dowager Zhao, t ...

.Mah, Adeline Yen. (2003). ''A Thousand Pieces of Gold: Growing Up Through China's Proverbs''. Published by HarperCollins. . pp. 32–34. According to ''The Record of Grand Historian'', Lao Ai was disguised as a

eunuch A eunuch ( ) is a male who has been castrated. Throughout history, castration often served a specific social function. The earliest records for intentional castration to produce eunuchs are from the Sumerian city of Lagash in the 2nd millenni ...

by plucking his beard. Later Lao Ai and queen Zhao Ji got along so well that they secretly had two sons together. Lao Ai then became ennobled as Marquis Lào Ǎi, and was showered with riches. Lao Ai's plot was supposed to replace King Zheng with one of the hidden sons. But during a dinner party drunken Lào Ǎi was heard bragging about being the young king's stepfather. In 238 BC the king was travelling to the former capital, Yong (). Lao Ai seized the queen mother's

seal Seal may refer to any of the following: Common uses * Pinniped, a diverse group of semi-aquatic marine mammals, many of which are commonly called seals, particularly: ** Earless seal, or "true seal" ** Fur seal * Seal (emblem), a device to imp ...

and mobilized an army in an attempt to start a coup and rebel. When King Zheng discovered this fact, he ordered Lü Buwei to let

Lord Changping Lord Changping (昌平君; died 223 BC) was an important military commander and lord of Qin, who later departed from the state of Qin and went to the state of Chu where he became the last king of Chu (223 BC) in the last days of the Chinese War ...

and Lord Changwen attack Lao Ai. Although the royal army killed hundreds of rebels at the capital, Lao Ai succeeded in fleeing from this battle. A price of 1 million

copper coins A coin is a small, flat (usually depending on the country or value), round piece of metal or plastic used primarily as a medium of exchange or legal tender. They are standardized in weight, and produced in large quantities at a mint in order t ...

was placed on Lao Ai's head if he was taken alive or half a million if dead. Lao Ai's supporters were captured and

beheaded Decapitation or beheading is the total separation of the head from the body. Such an injury is invariably fatal to humans and most other animals, since it deprives the brain of oxygenated blood, while all other organs are deprived of the ...

; then Lao Ai was tied up and torn to five pieces by horse carriages, while his entire family was executed to the third degree. The two hidden sons were also killed, while mother Zhao Ji was placed under house arrest until her death many years later. Lü Buwei drank a cup of poison wine and

committed suicide Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Mental disorders (including depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, personality disorders, anxiety disorders), physical disorders (such as chronic fatigue syndrome), and subs ...

in 235 BC. Ying Zheng then assumed full power as the King of the Qin state. Replacing Lü Buwei,

became the new chancellor.

First assassination attempt

King Zheng and his troops continued to take over various states. The

state of Yan Yan (; Old Chinese pronunciation: ''*'') was an ancient Chinese state during the Zhou dynasty. Its capital was Ji (later known as Yanjing and now Beijing). During the Warring States period, the court was also moved to another capital at Xiadu ...

was small, weak, and frequently harassed by soldiers. It was no match for the Qin state.

Crown Prince Dan of Yan Crown Prince Dan () was a crown prince of the State of Yan during the Warring States period of ancient China. He was also called Yan Dan (). He lived in the State of Qin as a hostage, but returned to Yan in 232 BC. He sent Jing Ke to assassinat ...

plotted an assassination attempt against King Zheng, recruiting

Jing Ke Jing Ke (died 227 BC) was a ''youxia'' during the late Warring States period of Ancient China. As a retainer of Crown Prince Dan of the Yan state, he was infamous for his failed assassination attempt on King Zheng of the Qin state, who later beca ...

and

Qin Wuyang Qin Wuyang (秦舞陽) was a young man who followed Jing Ke when the latter went on the mission to assassinate Ying Zheng, the king of Qin. Both Jing and Qin were first disguised as envoys from Yan and were there to present the severed head of "Fa ...

for the mission in 227 BC. The assassins were supposed to present gifts to King Zheng: a map of Dukang and the severed head of

Fan Wuji Huan Yi was a general of the state of Qin in the late Warring States period (5th century – 221 BCE). Background General Pang Nuan of Zhao occupied several towns of the state of Yan in 236 BCE, whereupon Yan asked the state of Qin for help. H ...

. Qin Wuyang stepped forward first to present the map case but was overcome by the fear of the king. Jing Ke then advanced with both gifts, while explaining that his partner was trembling because "has never set eyes on the Son of Heaven". On seeing the dagger unrolled from the map, the king leapt to his feet and struggled to draw his sword, since none of his courtiers was allowed to carry arms in his presence. Jing Ke stabbed at the king but missed, and King Zheng slashed Jing Ke's thigh. In desperation, Jing Ke threw the dagger but missed again, and surrendered after suffering eight wounds. The Yan state was conquered by Qin five years later.

Second assassination attempt

Gao Jianli was a close friend of

, and wanted to avenge his death. As a famous

lute A lute ( or ) is any plucked string instrument with a neck and a deep round back enclosing a hollow cavity, usually with a sound hole or opening in the body. It may be either fretted or unfretted. More specifically, the term "lute" can ref ...

player, he was summoned to play for King Zheng. Someone in the palace recognized him and guessed his plans.Wu, Hung. ''The Wu Liang Shrine: The Ideology of Early Chinese Pictorial Art''. Stanford University Press, 1989. . p. 326. Reluctant to kill such a skilled musician, the emperor ordered his eyes put out, then proceeded with the performance. The king praised Gao Jianli's playing and even allowed him closer. The lute had been weighted with a slab of lead, and Gao Jianli swung it at the king but missed. The second assassination attempt had failed.

Unification of China

In 230 BC, King Zheng unleashed the final campaigns of the

, setting out to conquer the remaining independent kingdoms one by one. The first to fall was Hán (韓; sometimes called Hann to distinguish it from the Hàn 漢 of

), in 230 BC. Then Qin took advantage of natural disasters in 229 BC to invade and conquer Zhào, where King Zheng had been born.Haw, Stephen G. (2007). ''Beijing a Concise History''. Routledge. . pp. 22–23. He now took deadly revenge on those in Zhào who had mistreated him as a child hostage there. Qin armies conquered Zhao in 228 BC, the northern country of

Yan Yan may refer to: Chinese states * Yan (state) (11th century – 222 BC), a major state in northern China during the Zhou dynasty * Yan (Han dynasty kingdom), first appearing in 206 BC * Yan (Three Kingdoms kingdom), officially claimed indepe ...

in 226 BC, the small state of Wei in 225 BC, and then Chu, the largest state and greatest challenge, in 223 BC. In 222 BC, the last remnants of Yan and the royal family were captured in

Liaodong The Liaodong Peninsula (also Liaotung Peninsula, ) is a peninsula in southern Liaoning province in Northeast China, and makes up the southwestern coastal half of the Liaodong region. It is located between the mouths of the Daliao River (the ...

in the northeast. The only independent kingdom was Qi in the far east, in what is now the Shandong peninsula. The young king of Qi desperately sent 200,000 men to defend his western borders, but in 221 BC, the Qin armies invaded from the north, captured the king, and annexed Qi. By 221 BC, all Chinese lands were unified under one powerful ruler, and in the course of conquest, Qin had standardized trade, communication, currency, and language. In that same year, King Zheng proclaimed himself with the new title "First Emperor" (始皇帝, ''Shǐ Huángdì''), to symbolize how far he had surpassed the achievements of the old Zhou Dynasty rulers. The Emperor ordered the

Heshibi Mr. He's jade or ''Heshibi'' was a sacred ceremonial '' bi (璧, "jade-disk with a round hole in center")'' used as regalia, which had an important role in Chinese history. First appearing during the mid-8th century BCE, it was cut into a ritua ...

to be made into the Imperial Seal, the Heirloom Seal of the Realm. It was inscribed by Sun Shou with the device of Prime Minister

: "Having received the Mandate from Heaven, may he lead a long and prosperous life" (). The Seal became a sigil passed from emperor to emperor. During the year 215 BC, in an attempt to expand territory, he ordered military campaings against the Xiongnu nomads in the North led by the efficient General

Meng Tian Meng Tian (c. 250 BC – 210 BC) was a Chinese inventor and military general of the Qin dynasty who distinguished himself in campaigns against the Xiongnu and in the construction of the Great Wall of China. He was the elder brother of Meng Yi. ...

who accomplished successful results by routing the Xiongnu from the

Ordos region The Ordos Plateau, also known as the Ordos Basin or simply the Ordos, is a highland sedimentary basin in northwest China with an elevation of , and consisting mostly of land enclosed by the Ordos Loop, a large northerly rectangular bend of the Y ...

, which set the ancient foundations for the construction of the

. In the South, further military expansion continued in campaigns against the Yue tribes, with various regions annexed to what is now

province, as well as some that are today part of

Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...

Reign as Emperor of Qin

Administrative reforms

In an attempt to avoid a recurrence of the political chaos of the

, Qin Shi Huang and his prime minister

worked to completely abolish the

feudal system Feudalism, also known as the feudal system, was the combination of the legal, economic, military, cultural and political customs that flourished in medieval Europe between the 9th and 15th centuries. Broadly defined, it was a way of structu ...

of loose alliances and federations.Veeck, Gregory. Pannell, Clifton W. (2007). ''China's Geography: Globalization and the Dynamics of Political, Economic, and Social Change''. Rowman & Littlefield publishing. . pp. 57–58. They organized the empire into administrative units and subunits: first 36 (later 40) commanderies (郡, ''Jùn''), then

counties A county is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesChambers Dictionary, L. Brookes (ed.), 2005, Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, Edinburgh in certain modern nations. The term is derived from the Old French ...

(縣, ''Xiàn''),

townships A township is a kind of human settlement or administrative subdivision, with its meaning varying in different countries. Although the term is occasionally associated with an urban area, that tends to be an exception to the rule. In Australia, C ...

(鄉, ''Xiāng'') and hundred-family units (里, ''Li'', roughly corresponding to modern-day

subdistricts A subdistrict or sub-district is an administrative division that is generally smaller than a district. Equivalents * Administrative posts of East Timor, formerly Portuguese-language * Kelurahan, in Indonesia * Mukim, a township in Brunei, Indon ...

and communities). People assigned to these units would no longer be identified by their native region or former feudal state, for example "Chu person" (楚人, ''Chu rén''). Appointments were to be based on merit instead of hereditary rights.

Economic reforms

Qin Shi Huang and

unified China economically by standardizing the Chinese weights and measures. Wagon axles were prescribed a standard length to facilitate road transport. The emperor also developed an extensive network of roads and canals for trade and communication. The

currencies A currency, "in circulation", from la, currens, -entis, literally meaning "running" or "traversing" is a standardization of money in any form, in use or circulation as a medium of exchange, for example banknotes and coins. A more general def ...

of the different states were standardized to the Ban liang coin (半兩, ''Bàn Liǎng''). Perhaps most importantly, the

Chinese script Chinese characters () are logograms developed for the writing of Chinese. In addition, they have been adapted to write other East Asian languages, and remain a key component of the Japanese writing system where they are known as ''kanji' ...

was unified. Under Li Si, the

seal script Seal script, also sigillary script () is an ancient style of writing Chinese characters that was common throughout the latter half of the 1st millennium BC. It evolved organically out of the Zhou dynasty bronze script. The Qin variant of seal ...

of the state of Qin became the official standard, and the Qin script itself was simplified through removal of variant forms. This did away with all the regional scripts to form a universal written language for all of China, despite the diversity of spoken dialects.

Philosophy

While the previous Warring States era was one of constant warfare, it was also considered the golden age of free speculation.Goldman, Merle. (1981). ''China's Intellectuals: Advise and Dissent''. Harvard University Press. . p. 85. Qin Shi Huang eliminated the

Hundred Schools of Thought The Hundred Schools of Thought () were philosophies and schools that flourished from the 6th century BC to 221 BC during the Spring and Autumn period and the Warring States period of ancient China. An era of substantial discrimination in China ...

, which included

Confucianism Confucianism, also known as Ruism or Ru classicism, is a system of thought and behavior originating in ancient China. Variously described as tradition, a philosophy, a religion, a humanistic or rationalistic religion, a way of governing, or ...

and other philosophies. With all other philosophies banned, legalism became the mandatory ideology of the Qin dynasty. Beginning 213 BC, at the instigation of Li Si and to avoid scholars' comparisons of his reign with the past, Qin Shi Huang ordered most existing books to be burned, with the exception of those on astrology, agriculture, medicine, divination, and the history of the State of Qin.Li-Hsiang Lisa Rosenlee. Ames, Roger T. (2006). ''Confucianism and Women: A Philosophical Interpretation''. SUNY Press. . p. 25. This would also serve to further the ongoing reformation of the writing system by removing examples of obsolete scripts. Owning the '' Book of Songs'' or the '' Classic of History'' was to be punished especially severely. According to the later ''

'', the following year Qin Shi Huang had some 460 scholars buried alive for possessing the forbidden books. The emperor's oldest son

Fusu Fusu (died 210BC) was the eldest son and heir apparent of Qin Shi Huang, the First Emperor of the Qin dynasty. Life After being deceived by two alchemists while seeking prolonged life, the First Emperor supposedly ordered more than 460 scholars ...

criticised him for this act. Recent research suggests that the "burying of the Confucian scholars alive" is a Confucian martyrs' legend. In fact, the emperor ordered the execution (坑 ''kēng'') of a group of alchemists who had deceived him. In the subsequent Han dynasty, the Confucian scholars, who had served the Qin loyally, used this incident to distance themselves from the failed regime.

Kong Anguo Kong Anguo (; ca. 156 – ca. 74 BC), courtesy name Ziguo (), was a Confucian scholar and government official of the Western Han dynasty of ancient China. A descendant of Confucius, he wrote the ''Shangshu Kongshi Zhuan'', a compilation and comme ...

(孔安國 c. 165 – c. 74 BC), a descendant of Confucius, described the alchemists (方士 ''fāngshì'') as Confucianists (儒 ''rú'') and entwined the martyrs' legend with his story of discovering the lost Confucian books behind a demolished wall in his ancestral house. The emperor's own library retained copies of the forbidden books, but most of these were destroyed when

Xiang Yu Xiang Yu (, –202 BC), born Xiang Ji (), was the Hegemon-King (Chinese: 霸王, ''Bà Wáng'') of Western Chu during the Chu–Han Contention period (206–202 BC) of China. A noble of the Chu state, Xiang Yu rebelled against the Qin dyna ...

burned the palaces of

Xianyang Xianyang () is a prefecture-level city in central Shaanxi province, situated on the Wei River a few kilometers upstream (west) from the provincial capital of Xi'an. Once the capital of the Qin dynasty, it is now integrated into the Xi'an metrop ...

in 206 BC. Qin Shi Huang also followed the theory of the five elements:

fire Fire is the rapid oxidation of a material (the fuel) in the exothermic chemical process of combustion, releasing heat, light, and various reaction Product (chemistry), products. At a certain point in the combustion reaction, called the ignition ...

water Water (chemical formula ) is an inorganic, transparent, tasteless, odorless, and nearly colorless chemical substance, which is the main constituent of Earth's hydrosphere and the fluids of all known living organisms (in which it acts as a ...

earth Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to harbor life. While large volumes of water can be found throughout the Solar System, only Earth sustains liquid surface water. About 71% of Earth's surfa ...

wood Wood is a porous and fibrous structural tissue found in the stems and roots of trees and other woody plants. It is an organic materiala natural composite of cellulose fibers that are strong in tension and embedded in a matrix of lignin ...

, and

metal A metal (from Greek μέταλλον ''métallon'', "mine, quarry, metal") is a material that, when freshly prepared, polished, or fractured, shows a lustrous appearance, and conducts electricity and heat relatively well. Metals are typicall ...

. () It was believed that the royal house of the previous dynasty Zhou had ruled by the power of fire, associated with the colour red. The new Qin dynasty must be ruled by the next element on the list, which is water, Zhao Zheng's birth element. Water was represented by the colour black, and black became the preferred colour for Qin garments, flags, and pennants. Other associations include north as the cardinal direction, the winter season and the number six. Tallies and official hats were long, carriages wide, one

pace Pace or paces may refer to: Business *Pace (transit), a bus operator in the suburbs of Chicago, US * Pace Airlines, an American charter airline *Pace Foods, a maker of a popular brand of salsa sold in North America, owned by Campbell Soup Compan ...

() was .

Third assassination attempt

In 230 BC, the state of Qin had defeated the state of

. In 218 BC, a former Han aristocrat named

Zhang Liang Zhang Liang is the romanization of common names like 張良, 張亮 and 張梁. 張良 * Zhang Liang (Western Han) (died 189 BC), early Han dynasty strategist ** Zhang Liang, an animation character from the animated TV series ''The Legend of Qin'' ...

swore revenge on Qin Shi Huang. He sold his valuables and hired a

strongman In the 19th century, the term strongman referred to an exhibitor of strength or similar circus performers who performed feats of strength. More recently, strength athletics, also known as strongman competitions, have grown in popularity. Thes ...

assassin, building a heavy metal cone weighing 120 jin (roughly 160 lb or 97 kg). The two men hid among the bushes along the emperor's route over a mountain during Qin Shi Huangdi's third imperial tour. At a signal, the muscular assassin hurled the cone at the first carriage and shattered it. However, the emperor was travelling with two identical carriages to baffle attackers, and he was actually in the second carriage. Thus the attempt failed,Wintle, Justin Wintle. (2002). ''China''. Rough Guides Publishing. . pp. 61, 71. though both men were able to escape the subsequent manhunt.

Public works

Great Wall

Numerous state walls had been built during the previous four centuries, many of them closing gaps between river defences and impassable cliffs. To impose centralized rule and prevent the resurgence of feudal lords, the Emperor ordered the destruction of walls between the former states, which were now internal walls dividing the empire. However, to defend against the northern

nomad A nomad is a member of a community without fixed habitation who regularly moves to and from the same areas. Such groups include hunter-gatherers, pastoral nomads (owning livestock), tinkers and trader nomads. In the twentieth century, the po ...

ic tribes, who had beaten back repeated campaigns against them, he ordered new walls to connect the fortifications along the empire's northern frontier. Hundreds of thousands of workers were mobilized, and an unknown number died, to build this precursor to the current

. Transporting building materials was difficult, so builders always tried to use local materials: rock over mountain ranges,

rammed earth Rammed earth is a technique for constructing foundations, floors, and walls using compacted natural raw materials such as earth, chalk, lime, or gravel. It is an ancient method that has been revived recently as a sustainable building method. ...

over the plains. "Build and move on" was a guiding principle, implying that the Wall was not a permanently fixed border. There are no surviving records specifying the length and course of the Qin walls, which have largely eroded away over the centuries.

Lingqu Canal

In 214 BC the Emperor began the project of a major canal allowing water transport between north and south China, originally for military supplies.Mayhew, Bradley. Miller, Korina. English, Alex. ''South-West China: lively Yunnan and its exotic neighbours''. Lonely Planet. . p. 222. The canal, 34 kilometres in length, links two of China's major waterways, the

Xiang River The Xiang River is the chief river of the Dongting Lake, Lake Dongting Drainage basin, drainage system of the middle Yangtze, the largest river in Hunan, Hunan Province, China. It is the 2nd largest tributary (after Min River (Sichuan), Min River ...

flowing into the

Yangtze The Yangtze or Yangzi ( or ; ) is the longest river in Asia, the third-longest in the world, and the longest in the world to flow entirely within one country. It rises at Jari Hill in the Tanggula Mountains (Tibetan Plateau) and flows ...

and the Li Jiang flowing into the

Pearl River The Pearl River, also known by its Chinese name Zhujiang or Zhu Jiang in Mandarin pinyin or Chu Kiang and formerly often known as the , is an extensive river system in southern China. The name "Pearl River" is also often used as a catch-a ...

. The canal aided Qin's expansion to the south-west. It is considered one of the three great feats of ancient Chinese engineering, along with the Great Wall and the

Sichuan Sichuan (; zh, c=, labels=no, ; zh, p=Sìchuān; alternatively romanized as Szechuan or Szechwan; formerly also referred to as "West China" or "Western China" by Protestant missions) is a province in Southwest China occupying most of the ...

Dujiangyan Irrigation System The Dujiangyan () is an ancient irrigation system in Dujiangyan City, Sichuan, China. Originally constructed around 256 BC by the State of Qin (state), Qin as an irrigation and flood control project, it is still in use today. The system's infrast ...

Elixir of life

As he grew old, Qin Shi Huang desperately sought the fabled

elixir of life The elixir of life, also known as elixir of immortality, is a potion that supposedly grants the drinker eternal life and/or eternal youth. This elixir was also said to cure all diseases. Alchemists in various ages and cultures sought the means ...

which supposedly confers immortality. In his obsessive quest, he fell prey to many fraudulent elixirs.Ong, Siew Chey. Marshall Cavendish. (2006). ''China Condensed: 5000 Years of History & Culture''. . p. 17. He visited

Zhifu Island Zhifu Island () or North Island (), is an islet with historical significance in Shandong Province, China. The name of the islet ''Chefoo'' was generalized to mean the entire Yantai region in older western literature. Etymologies Possibilities i ...

three times in his search. In one case he sent

Xu Fu Xu Fu (Hsu Fu; ) was a Chinese alchemist and explorer. He was born in 255 BC in Qi, an ancient Chinese state, and disappeared at sea in 210 BC. He served as a court sorcerer in Qin Dynasty China. Later, he was sent by Qin Shi Huang to the eas ...

, a Zhifu islander, with ships carrying hundreds of young men and women in search of the mystical

Penglai mountain Penglai () is a legendary land of Chinese mythology. It is known in Japanese mythology as Hōrai. McCullough, Helen. ''Classical Japanese Prose'', p. 570. Stanford Univ. Press, 1990. . Location According to the ''Classic of Mountains and Sea ...

. They sought

Anqi Sheng Anqi Sheng () was a Chinese immortal and wizard, said to be already over 1,000 years old at the time of Qin Shi Huang, the first emperor. He was said to inhabit Mount Penglai. Anqi was said to have been a Taoist wizard, able to render himself vi ...

, a thousand-year-old magician who had supposedly invited Qin Shi Huang during a chance meeting during his travels. The expedition never returned, perhaps for fear of the consquences of failure. Legends claim that they reached

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

and colonized it. It is also possible that the Emperor's book burning, which exempted

alchemical Alchemy (from Arabic: ''al-kīmiyā''; from Ancient Greek: χυμεία, ''khumeía'') is an ancient branch of natural philosophy, a philosophical and protoscientific tradition that was historically practiced in China, India, the Muslim world, ...

works, could be seen as an attempt to focus the minds of the best scholars on the Emperor's quest. Some of those buried alive were alchemists, and this could have been a means of testing their death-defying abilities. The emperor built a system of tunnels and passageways to each of his over 200 palaces, because traveling unseen would supposedly keep him safe from evil spirits.

Final years

Death

In 211 BC a large

meteor A meteoroid () is a small rocky or metallic body in outer space. Meteoroids are defined as objects significantly smaller than asteroids, ranging in size from grains to objects up to a meter wide. Objects smaller than this are classified as mi ...

is said to have fallen in Dongjun in the lower reaches of the

Yellow River The Yellow River or Huang He (Chinese: , Mandarin: ''Huáng hé'' ) is the second-longest river in China, after the Yangtze River, and the sixth-longest river system in the world at the estimated length of . Originating in the Bayan Ha ...

, and someone inscribed the seditious words "The First Emperor will die and his land will be divided" ().Liang, Yuansheng. (2007). ''The Legitimation of New Orders: Case Studies in World History''. Chinese University Press. . p. 5. The Emperor sent an imperial secretary to investigate this

prophecy In religion, a prophecy is a message that has been communicated to a person (typically called a '' prophet'') by a supernatural entity. Prophecies are a feature of many cultures and belief systems and usually contain divine will or law, or pr ...

. No one would confess to the deed, so all living nearby were put to death, and the stone was pulverized. During his fifth tour of Eastern China, the Emperor became seriously ill in Pingyuanjin (

Pingyuan County, Shandong Pingyuan County () is a county in the northwest of Shandong province, People's Republic of China. It is administered by the prefecture-level city of Dezhou. It has an area of . History At the end of the Han dynasty, Liu Bei began his political ...

), and died on July–August 210 BC at the palace in Shaqiu prefecture (沙丘平台, ''Shāqiū Píngtái''), about two months travel from the capital

. The cause of Qin Shi Huang's death is unknown, though he was worn down by his many years of rule. It was later alleged that he was poisoned by an elixir containing mercury, given him by his court alchemists and physicians.Huang died at the age of 49.

Succession

Upon witnessing the Emperor's death, Prime Minister

feared the news could trigger a general uprising, which could take root during the two months travel for the imperial entourage to return to the capital Xianyang. Li Si decided to hide the death: the only members of the entourage to be informed were a younger son,

Ying Huhai Qin Er Shi (; (230–October 207 BCE) was the second emperor of the Qin dynasty from 210 to 207 BCE. The son of Qin Shi Huang, he was born as Ying Huhai. He was put on the throne by Li Si and Zhao Gao, circumventing Fusu, Ying's brother an ...

, the eunuch

Zhao Gao Zhao Gao (died 207 BC) was a Chinese politician and calligrapher. He was an official of the Qin dynasty of China. Allegedly a eunuch, he served as a close aide to all three rulers of the Qin dynasty – Qin Shi Huang, Qin Er Shi and Ziying � ...

, and five or six favourite eunuchs. Li Si ordered carts of rotten fish to be carried before and behind the wagon of the Emperor, to cover the foul smell from his body decomposing in the summer heat. Pretending he was alive behind the wagon's shade, they changed his clothes daily, brought food, and pretended to carry message to and from him. After they reached Xianyang, the death of the Emperor was announced. Qin Shi Huang had not liked to talk about his death and had never written a will.Tung, Douglas S. Tung, Kenneth. (2003). ''More Than 36 Stratagems: A Systematic Classification Based On Basic Behaviours''. Trafford Publishing. . Although his eldest son

would normally succeed as emperor, Li Si and the chief eunuch

conspired to kill Fusu, who was in league with their enemy general

. Meng Tian's brother, a senior minister, had once punished Zhao Gao. Li Si and Zhao Gao forged a letter from Qin Shi Huang commanding Fusu and General Meng to commit suicide. The plan worked, and the younger son Hu Hai started his brief reign as the Second Emperor, later known as

Qin Er Shi Qin Er Shi (; (230–October 207 BCE) was the second emperor of the Qin dynasty from 210 to 207 BCE. The son of Qin Shi Huang, he was born as Ying Huhai. He was put on the throne by Li Si and Zhao Gao, circumventing Fusu, Ying's brother a ...

or "Second Generation Qin".

Family

The following are some family members of Qin Shi Huang: * Parents **

* Half siblings: ** Chengjiao, legitimate paternal half brother from a different mother Lord of Chang'an ** Two illegitimate maternal half-brothers born to

and

. * Children: **

, Crown Prince (1st son)《史记·高祖本纪》司马贞《索隐》写道：“《善文》称隐士云赵高为二世杀十七兄而立今王，则二世是第十八子也。” ** Gao ** Jianglü **

Huhai Qin Er Shi (; (230–October 207 BCE) was the second emperor of the Qin dynasty from 210 to 207 BCE. The son of Qin Shi Huang, he was born as Ying Huhai. He was put on the throne by Li Si and Zhao Gao, circumventing Fusu, Ying's brother an ...

, later

(18th son) Qin Shi Huang had about 50 children (about 30 sons and 15 daughters), but most of their names are unknown. He had numerous

concubines Concubinage is an interpersonal and sexual relationship between a man and a woman in which the couple does not want, or cannot enter into a full marriage. Concubinage and marriage are often regarded as similar but mutually exclusive. Concubi ...

but appeared to have never named an empress.

Legacy

Mausoleum

The Chinese historian

, writing a century after the First Emperor's death, wrote that it took 700,000 men to construct the emperor's mausoleum. British historian

John Man John Man (1512–1569) was an English churchman, college head, and a diplomat. Life He was born at Lacock or Winterbourne Stoke, in Wiltshire. He was educated at Winchester College from 1523, and New College, Oxford, where he graduated B.A. in ...

points out that this figure is larger than the population of any city in the world at that time and he calculates that the foundations could have been built by 16,000 men in two years. While Sima Qian never mentioned the

terracotta army The Terracotta Army is a collection of terracotta sculptures depicting the armies of Qin Shi Huang, the first emperor of China. It is a form of funerary art buried with the emperor in 210–209 BCE with the purpose of protecting the emperor in ...

, the statues were discovered by a group of farmers digging wells on 29 March 1974. The soldiers were created with a series of mix-and-match clay molds and then further individualized by the artists' hand.

Han Purple Han purple and Han blue (also called Chinese purple and Chinese blue) are synthetic barium copper silicate pigments developed in China and used in ancient and imperial China from the Western Zhou period (1045–771 BC) until the end of the Han dy ...

was also used on some of the warriors. There are around 6,000 Terracotta Warriors and their purpose was to protect the Emperor in the afterlife from evil spirits. Also among the army are chariots and 40,000 real bronze weapons. One of the first projects which the young king accomplished while he was alive was the construction of his own tomb. In 215 BC Qin Shi Huang ordered General

to begin its construction with the assistance of 300,000 men. Other sources suggest that he ordered 720,000 unpaid laborers to build his tomb according to his specifications. Again, given John Man's observation regarding populations at the time (see paragraph above), these historical estimates are debatable. The main tomb (located at ) containing the emperor has yet to be opened and there is evidence suggesting that it remains relatively intact.

's description of the tomb includes replicas of palaces and scenic towers, "rare utensils and wonderful objects", 100 rivers made with mercury, representations of "the heavenly bodies", and

crossbow A crossbow is a ranged weapon using an elastic launching device consisting of a bow-like assembly called a ''prod'', mounted horizontally on a main frame called a ''tiller'', which is hand-held in a similar fashion to the stock of a long fire ...

s rigged to shoot anyone who tried to break in. The tomb was built at the foot of

Mount Li Mount Li () is a mountain located in the northeast of Xi'an in Shaanxi Province, China. The mountain is part of the Qinling mountain range and rises to a height of 1302 metres above sea level. It is one of the eight scenic spots of the Guanzhong ...

, 30 kilometers away from

Xi'an Xi'an ( , ; ; Chinese: ), frequently spelled as Xian and also known by other names, is the capital of Shaanxi Province. A sub-provincial city on the Guanzhong Plain, the city is the third most populous city in Western China, after Chongqi ...

. Modern archaeologists have located the tomb, and have inserted probes deep into it. The probes revealed abnormally high quantities of mercury, some 100 times the naturally occurring rate, suggesting that some parts of the legend are credible. Secrets were maintained, as most of the workmen who built the tomb were killed.

Reputation and assessment

Traditional Chinese

historiography Historiography is the study of the methods of historians in developing history as an academic discipline, and by extension is any body of historical work on a particular subject. The historiography of a specific topic covers how historians ha ...

almost always portrayed the First Emperor of the Chinese unified states as a brutal tyrant who had an obsessive fear of assassination. Ideological antipathy towards the Legalist State of Qin was established as early as 266 BC, when Confucian philosopher Xunzi disparaged it. Later Confucian historians condemned the emperor, alleging that he burned the classics and buried Confucian scholars alive. They eventually compiled a list of the ''

Ten Crimes of Qin Confucian historians condemned the emperor Qin Shi Huang in the ''Ten Crimes of Qin'', a list that was compiled to highlight his tyrannical actions. The famous Han poet and statesman Jia Yi concluded his essay ''The Faults of Qin'' ( :zh:过秦论 ...

'' to highlight his tyrannical actions. The famous Han poet and statesman

Jia Yi Jia Yi (; c. 200169 BCE) was a Chinese essayist, poet and politician of the Western Han dynasty, best known as one of the earliest known writers of ''fu'' rhapsody and for his essay "Disquisition Finding Fault with Qin" (''Guò Qín Lùn'' ), w ...

concluded his essay ''The Faults of Qin'' (過秦論, ''Guò Qín Lùn'') with what was to become the standard Confucian judgment of the reasons for Qin's collapse. Jia Yi's essay, admired as a masterpiece of rhetoric and reasoning, was copied into two great Han histories and has had a far-reaching influence on Chinese political thought as a classic illustration of Confucian theory. He attributed Qin's disintegration to its internal failures. Jia Yi wrote that: In more modern times, historical assessment of the First Emperor different from traditional Chinese historiography began to emerge. The reassessment was spurred on by the weakness of China in the latter half of the 19th century and early 20th century. At that time some began to regard Confucian traditions as an impediment to China's entry into the modern world, opening the way for changing perspectives. At a time when foreign nations encroached upon Chinese territory, leading

Kuomintang The Kuomintang (KMT), also referred to as the Guomindang (GMD), the Nationalist Party of China (NPC) or the Chinese Nationalist Party (CNP), is a major political party in the Republic of China, initially on the Chinese mainland and in Tai ...

historian

Xiao Yishan Xiao Yishan (蕭一山, 7 May 1902 – 4 July 1978) was a modern Chinese historian. Biography Xiao Yishan entered Peking University in 1921, learned from the prominent scholar Liang Qichao. He later taught history of Qing Dynasty at Tsi ...

emphasized the role of Qin Shi Huang in repulsing the northern barbarians, particularly in the construction of the Great Wall. Another historian, Ma Feibai (), published in 1941 a full-length revisionist biography of the First Emperor entitled ''Qín Shǐ Huángdì Zhuàn'' (), calling him "one of the great heroes of Chinese history". Ma compared him with the contemporary leader Chiang Kai-shek and saw many parallels in the careers and policies of the two men, both of whom he admired. Chiang's

Northern Expedition The Northern Expedition was a military campaign launched by the National Revolutionary Army (NRA) of the Kuomintang (KMT), also known as the "Chinese Nationalist Party", against the Beiyang government and other regional warlords in 1926. The ...

of the late 1920s, which directly preceded the new Nationalist government at

Nanjing Nanjing (; , Mandarin pronunciation: ), alternately romanized as Nanking, is the capital of Jiangsu province of the People's Republic of China. It is a sub-provincial city, a megacity, and the second largest city in the East China region. T ...

was compared to the unification brought about by Qin Shi Huang. With the coming of the

Communist Revolution A communist revolution is a proletarian revolution often, but not necessarily, inspired by the ideas of Marxism that aims to replace capitalism with communism. Depending on the type of government, socialism can be used as an intermediate stag ...

and the establishment of a new, revolutionary regime in 1949, another re-evaluation of the First Emperor emerged as a Marxist critique. This new interpretation of Qin Shi Huang was generally a combination of traditional and modern views, but essentially critical. This is exemplified in the ''Complete History of China'', which was compiled in September 1955 as an official survey of Chinese history. The work described the First Emperor's major steps toward unification and standardisation as corresponding to the interests of the ruling group and the

merchant A merchant is a person who trades in commodities produced by other people, especially one who trades with foreign countries. Historically, a merchant is anyone who is involved in business or trade. Merchants have operated for as long as indust ...

class Class or The Class may refer to: Common uses not otherwise categorized * Class (biology), a taxonomic rank * Class (knowledge representation), a collection of individuals or objects * Class (philosophy), an analytical concept used differentl ...

, not of the nation or the people, and the subsequent fall of his dynasty as a manifestation of the class struggle. The perennial debate about the fall of the Qin Dynasty was also explained in Marxist terms, the

peasant A peasant is a pre-industrial agricultural laborer or a farmer with limited land-ownership, especially one living in the Middle Ages under feudalism and paying rent, tax, fees, or services to a landlord. In Europe, three classes of peasants ...

rebellions being a revolt against oppression—a revolt which undermined the dynasty, but which was bound to fail because of a compromise with "

landlord A landlord is the owner of a house, apartment, condominium, land, or real estate which is rented or leased to an individual or business, who is called a tenant (also a ''lessee'' or ''renter''). When a juristic person is in this position, the ...

class elements". Qin Shi Huang statue

Since 1972, however, a radically different official view of Qin Shi Huang in accordance with

Maoist Maoism, officially called Mao Zedong Thought by the Chinese Communist Party, is a variety of Marxism–Leninism that Mao Zedong developed to realise a socialist revolution in the agricultural, pre-industrial society of the Republic of Ch ...

thought has been given prominence throughout China. Hong Shidi's biography ''Qin Shi Huang'' initiated the re-evaluation. The work was published by the state press as a mass popular history, and it sold 1.85 million copies within two years. In the new era, Qin Shi Huang was seen as a far-sighted ruler who destroyed the forces of division and established the first unified, centralized state in Chinese history by rejecting the past. Personal attributes, such as his quest for immortality, so emphasized in traditional historiography, were scarcely mentioned. The new evaluations described approvingly how, in his time (an era of great political and social change), he had no compunctions against using violent methods to crush

counter-revolutionaries A counter-revolutionary or an anti-revolutionary is anyone who opposes or resists a revolution, particularly one who acts after a revolution in order to try to overturn it or reverse its course, in full or in part. The adjective "counter-revoluti ...

, such as the "industrial and commercial slave owner" chancellor Lü Buwei. However, he was criticized for not being as thorough as he should have been, and as a result, after his death, hidden subversives under the leadership of the chief eunuch

were able to seize power and use it to restore the old feudal order. To round out this re-evaluation, Luo Siding put forward a new interpretation of the precipitous collapse of the Qin Dynasty in an article entitled "On the Class Struggle During the Period Between Qin and Han" in a 1974 issue of ''Red Flag'', to replace the old explanation. The new theory claimed that the cause of the fall of Qin lay in the lack of thoroughness of Qin Shi Huang's "

dictatorship A dictatorship is a form of government which is characterized by a leader, or a group of leaders, which holds governmental powers with few to no limitations on them. The leader of a dictatorship is called a dictator. Politics in a dictatorship a ...

over the reactionaries, even to the extent of permitting them to worm their way into organs of political authority and usurp important posts."

Mao Zedong Mao Zedong pronounced ; also romanised traditionally as Mao Tse-tung. (26 December 1893 – 9 September 1976), also known as Chairman Mao, was a Chinese communist revolutionary who was the founder of the People's Republic of China (PRC) ...

was reviled for his persecution of intellectuals. On being compared to the First Emperor, Mao boasted: Tom Ambrose characterises Qin Shi Huang as the founder of "the first police state in history". * "The Wall and the Books" (""), an acclaimed essay on Qin Shi Huang published by Argentine writer

Jorge Luis Borges Jorge Francisco Isidoro Luis Borges Acevedo (; ; 24 August 1899 – 14 June 1986) was an Argentine short-story writer, essayist, poet and translator, as well as a key figure in Spanish-language and international literature. His best-known bo ...

(1899–1986) in the 1952 collection ''Other Inquisitions'' ('). * ''

The Emperor's Shadow ''The Emperor's Shadow'' is a 1996 Chinese historical film directed by Zhou Xiaowen and starring Jiang Wen, Ge You, Xu Qing and Ge Zhijun. It was the most expensive Chinese film produced at the time of its release. Plot Set in third century BC C ...

'' (1996) – The film focuses on Qin Shi Huang's relationship with the musician

Gao Jianli Gao Jianli (Chinese: 高漸離) was a musician of the Chinese state of Yan, during the Warring States period, who played a struck zither called '' zhu'' ( 筑) or ''ji zhu'' ( 击筑). Legend After his friend Jing Ke was killed during his assas ...

, a friend of the assassin

. * ''

The Emperor and the Assassin ''The Emperor and the Assassin'', also known as ''The First Emperor'', is a 1998 - 1999 Chinese historical romance film based primarily on Jing Ke's assassination attempt on the King of Qin, as described in Sima Qian's ''Records of the Grand Histo ...

'' (1999) – The film covers much of Ying Zheng's career, recalling his early experiences as a hostage and foreshadowing his dominance over China. * ''

Hero A hero (feminine: heroine) is a real person or a main fictional character who, in the face of danger, combats adversity through feats of ingenuity, courage, or strength. Like other formerly gender-specific terms (like ''actor''), ''her ...

'' (2002) – The film stars

Jet Li Li Lianjie (courtesy name Yangzhong; born 26 April 1963), better known by his stage name Jet Li, is a Chinese film actor, film producer, martial artist, and retired Wushu champion. He is a naturalized Singaporean citizen. After three years o ...

, a nameless assassin who plans an assassination attempt on the King of Qin ( Chen Daoming). The film is a fictional re-imagining of the assassination attempt by Jing Ke on Qin Shi Huang. * ''

Rise of the Great Wall ''Rise of the Great Wall'' is a 1986 Hong Kong television series based on the life of Qin Shi Huang, the First Emperor of China and founder of the Qin dynasty. The series is one of the biggest productions by ATV. Plot The series follows the li ...

'' (1986) – a 63-episode Hong Kong TV series chronicling the events from the emperor's birth until his death.

Tony Liu Tony Liu Tian-jue (born 7 February 1952) is a Hong Kong actor and martial artist. He is often credited by his Cantonese stage name Lau Wing. Liu is best known for starring in many Hong Kong martial arts films, especially in the 1970s and 1980s ...

played Qin Shi Huang. * '' A Step into the Past'' (2001) – a Hong Kong

TVB Television Broadcasts Limited (TVB) is a television broadcasting company based in Hong Kong SAR. The Company operates five free-to-air terrestrial television channels in Hong Kong, with TVB Jade as its main Cantonese language service, and ...

production based on a

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel unive ...

novel by Huang Yi. * ''

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 ( ...

'' (2002) – a mainland Chinese TV semi-fictionalized series with

Zhang Fengyi Zhang Fengyi (born 1 September 1956) is a Chinese actor best known for his role as "Duan Xiaolou" in '' Farewell My Concubine'' (1993), Jing Ke in '' The Emperor and the Assassin'' (1998), and Cao Cao in '' Red Cliff'' (2008–2009). Career Zh ...

. * ''

Kingdom Kingdom commonly refers to: * A monarchy ruled by a king or queen * Kingdom (biology), a category in biological taxonomy Kingdom may also refer to: Arts and media Television * ''Kingdom'' (British TV series), a 2007 British television drama s ...

'' (2006) – a Japanese manga that provides a fictionalized account of the unification of China by Ying Zheng with Li Xin and all the people that contributed to the conquest of the six

. * ''

Fate/Grand Order is a free-to-play Japanese mobile game, developed by Lasengle (formerly Delightworks) using Unity, and published by Aniplex, a subsidiary of Sony Music Entertainment Japan. The game is based on Type-Moon's ''Fate/stay night'' franchise, and w ...

'' (2015), an online, free-to-play role-playing mobile game of the

Fate Destiny, sometimes referred to as fate (from Latin ''fatum'' "decree, prediction, destiny, fate"), is a predetermined course of events. It may be conceived as a predetermined future, whether in general or of an individual. Fate Although often ...

franchise developed by Delightworks and published by

Aniplex is a Japanese anime, music production and anime licensee company owned by Sony Music Entertainment Japan. Established in September 1995, Aniplex has been involved in the production and distribution of several anime series, such as both '' Fullm ...

features Qin Shi Huang as a Ruler class servant. * ''First Emperor: The Man Who Made China'' (2006) – a drama-documentary special about Qin Shi Huang.

James Pax James Pax (Born December 21, 1961) is an American actor who has acted in films produced in Hollywood, Hong Kong, and Japan. He is born to an English father and a Chinese mother. Career Once Pax turned his attention to acting, he took on role ...

played the emperor. It was shown on

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned enterprise, state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a four ...

in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

in 2006. * ''China's First Emperor'' (2008) – a special three-hour documentary by

The History Channel History (formerly The History Channel from January 1, 1995 to February 15, 2008, stylized as HISTORY) is an American pay television network and flagship channel owned by A&E Networks, a joint venture between Hearst Communications and the Disney ...

. Xu Pengkai played Qin Shi Huang.Historychannel.com.
Historychannel.com
." ''China's First emperor.'' Retrieved on 2 February 2009. * '' The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor'' (2008) - the third of ''The Mummy'' trilogy. It happened that after General Ming Guo was killed for touching Zi Yuan, she put a curse on the Emperor and his army.

Notes

References

Bibliography

Early

( 91 BC). ''

'' ** ** ** **

Modern

;Books * * * * * * * * * * * * ;Articles * * * *

External links

Qin Shi Huang
at

Chinaknowledge Chinaknowledge, with the subtitle "a universal guide for China studies", is an English-language hobbyist's web site that contains a wide variety of information on China and Chinese topics. The site was founded by and is maintained by Ulrich Theo ...

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Qin Shi Huang 260 BC births 210 BC deaths 3rd-century BC Chinese monarchs Chinese military leaders Former theocrats Founding monarchs Legalism (Chinese philosophy) People from Handan Qin dynasty emperors

Origin of name

Birth and parentage

Reign as the King of Qin

Regency

Lao Ai's attempted coup

First assassination attempt

Second assassination attempt

Unification of China

Reign as Emperor of Qin

Administrative reforms

Economic reforms

Philosophy

Third assassination attempt

Public works

Great Wall

Lingqu Canal

Elixir of life

Final years

Death

Succession

Family

Legacy

Mausoleum

Reputation and assessment

Notes

References

Bibliography

Early

Modern

Further reading

External links