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 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 ...

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 Legalist, Inc. is an investment firm that specializes in alternative assets in the private credit industry. Today the firm manages approximately $750 million across three separate strategies: litigation finance, bankruptcy ( debtor-in-possession ...

, 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 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 ...

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 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, Jiangx ...

and Guangdong to the Chinese cultural orbit, and campaigns in Inner Asia 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 ...

. 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 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'' sy ...

. 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 grou ...

and a massive new national road system, as well as his city-sized

mausoleum A mausoleum is an external free-standing building constructed as a monument enclosing the interment space or burial chamber of a deceased person or people. A mausoleum without the person's remains is called a cenotaph. A mausoleum may be cons ...

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 ...

. 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 Zhao may refer to: * Zhao (surname) (赵), a Chinese surname ** commonly spelled Chao in Taiwan or up until the early 20th century in other regions ** Chiu, from the Cantonese pronunciation ** Cho (Korean surname), represent the Hanja 趙 (Chine ...

(), 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 names, 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 character ...

ancient China 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 chapt ...

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 ...

, 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 be ...

's "Basic Annals of the First Emperor of Qin" introduces him as "given the name Zheng and the surname

"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 Kings or King's may refer to: *Monarchs: The sovereign heads of states and/or nations, with the male being kings *One of several works known as the "Book of Kings": **The Books of Kings part of the Bible, divided into two parts **The ''Shahnameh'' ...

from the time of King Huiwen 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 5 ...

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 ...

. 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'' (

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

) 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 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 History of China#Ancient China, ancient Chinese history characterized by warfare, as well as bureaucratic and military reforms and consolidation. It followed the Spring and Autumn period and concluded ...

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

Sinologist Sinology, or Chinese studies, is an academic discipline that focuses on the study of China primarily through Chinese philosophy, language, literature, culture and history and often refers to Western scholarship. Its origin "may be traced to the ex ...

sstarting with Peter Boodberg 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 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 Three Sovereigns, 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 Chinese pronouns ( or ) differ somewhat from pronouns in English and other Indo-European languages. For instance, there is no differentiation in the spoken language between "he", "she" and "it" (though a written difference was introduced after conta ...

( OC *''lrəm ’'',Baxter, William & al.
Baxter–Sagart Old Chinese Reconstruction
''. 2011. Accessed 26 December 2013. mod. ''zhèn'') for his exclusive use and in 212 BC began calling himself The Immortal OC *''Tin-niŋ'', mod. ''Zhēnrén'', lit. "True Man"). Others were to address him as "Your Majesty" mod. ''Bìxià'', lit. "Beneath the

Palace A palace is a grand residence, especially a royal residence, or the home of a head of state or some other high-ranking dignitary, such as a bishop or archbishop. The word is derived from the Latin name palātium, for Palatine Hill in Rome which ...

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 his ...

'', written by

during the Han dynasty, the first emperor was the eldest son of the Qin prince Yiren, who later became King Zhuangxiang of Qin. Prince Yiren at that time was residing at the court of

, 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. Lü consented for her to be Yiren's wife, who then became known as Lady Zhao (Zhao Ji) after the state of Zhao. He was given the name Zhao Zheng, the

name A name is a term used for identification by an external observer. They can identify a class or category of things, or a single thing, either uniquely, or within a given context. The entity identified by a name is called its referent. A persona ...

Zheng () came from his month of birth ''Zhengyue'', the first month of the

Chinese lunar calendar The traditional Chinese calendar (also known as the Agricultural Calendar ��曆; 农历; ''Nónglì''; 'farming calendar' Former Calendar ��曆; 旧历; ''Jiùlì'' Traditional Calendar ��曆; 老历; ''Lǎolì'', is a lunisolar calendar ...

; the clan name of

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 King Zhuangxiang of QinRen 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, Zhao Ji gave birth to the future emperor in the city of

Handan Handan is a prefecture-level city located in the southwest of Hebei province, China. The southernmost prefecture-level city of the province, it borders Xingtai on the north, and the provinces of Shanxi on the west, Henan on the south and Shan ...

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 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 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 ...

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, 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. Rathe ...

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 Lady Zhao. 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 A marquess (; french: marquis ), es, marqués, pt, marquês. is a nobleman of high hereditary rank in various European peerages and in those of some of their former colonies. The German language equivalent is Markgraf (margrave). A woman ...

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 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 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 au ...

; 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, Li Si became the new

chancellor Chancellor ( la, cancellarius) is a title of various official positions in the governments of many nations. The original chancellors were the of Roman courts of justice—ushers, who sat at the or lattice work screens of a basilica or law cou ...

First assassination attempt

King Zheng and his troops continued to take over various states. The state of Yan was small, weak, and frequently harassed by soldiers. It was no match for the Qin state. Crown Prince Dan of Yan plotted an assassination attempt against King Zheng, recruiting Jing Ke 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 ...

. 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 Son of Heaven, or ''Tianzi'' (), was the sacred monarchical title of the Chinese sovereign. It originated with the Zhou dynasty and was founded on the political and spiritual doctrine of the Mandate of Heaven. Since the Qin dynasty, the secu ...

". 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 Jing Ke, 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 Han dynasty), 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

in 228 BC, the northern country of Yan in 226 BC, the small state of

Wei Wei or WEI may refer to: States * Wey (state) (衛, 1040–209 BC), Wei in pinyin, but spelled Wey to distinguish from the bigger Wei of the Warring States * Wei (state) (魏, 403–225 BC), one of the seven major states of the Warring States per ...

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 in the northeast. The only independent kingdom was Qi in the far east, in what is now the

Shandong Shandong ( , ; ; Chinese postal romanization, alternately romanized as Shantung) is a coastal Provinces of China, province of the China, People's Republic of China and is part of the East China region. Shandong has played a major role in His ...

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 ritual ...

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 Li Si: "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 who accomplished successful results by routing the Xiongnu from the Ordos region, 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 Guangdong 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 ...

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 Li Si 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 (縣, ''Xiàn''), townships (鄉, ''Xiāng'') and hundred-family units (里, ''Li'', roughly corresponding to modern-day subdistricts 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 Li Si 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 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 '' kan ...

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 se ...

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 Religious Confucianism, religion, a humanistic or rationalistic religion, ...

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 Qin () was an ancient Chinese state during the Zhou dynasty. Traditionally dated to 897 BC, it took its origin in a reconquest of western lands previously lost to the Rong; its position at the western edge of Chinese civilization permitted e ...

.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 The ''Book of Documents'' (''Shūjīng'', earlier ''Shu King'') or ''Classic of History'', also known as the ''Shangshu'' (“Venerated Documents”), is one of the Five Classics of ancient Chinese literature. It is a collection of rhetoric ...

'' 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 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 (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 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 m ...

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 products. At a certain point in the combustion reaction, called the ignition point, flames ...

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 ...

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 sur ...

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 ancient Greek, Greek μέταλλον ''métallon'', "mine, quarry, metal") is a material that, when freshly prepared, polished, or fractured, shows a lustrous appearance, and conducts electrical resistivity and conductivity, e ...

. () 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 four cardinal directions, or cardinal points, are the four main compass directions: north, east, south, and west, commonly denoted by their initials N, E, S, and W respectively. Relative to north, the directions east, south, and west are ...

, 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 Han. 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 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 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

kilometre The kilometre ( SI symbol: km; or ), spelt kilometer in American English, is a unit of length in the International System of Units (SI), equal to one thousand metres (kilo- being the SI prefix for ). It is now the measurement unit used for ...

s in length, links two of China's major waterways, the

Xiang River The Xiang River is the chief river of the Lake Dongting drainage system of the middle Yangtze, the largest river in Hunan Province, China. It is the 2nd largest tributary (after Min River) in terms of surface runoff, the 5th largest tribut ...

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 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 t ...

Dujiangyan Irrigation System.

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 mean ...

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 inc ...

three times in his search. In one case he sent Xu Fu, a Zhifu islander, with ships carrying hundreds of young men and women in search of the mystical Penglai mountain. They sought Anqi Sheng, 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 n ...

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

. 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), 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 A poison can be any substance that is harmful to the body. It can be swallowed, inhaled, injected or absorbed through the skin. Poisoning is the harmful effect that occurs when too much of that substance has been taken. Poisoning is not to ...

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 Li Si 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, the eunuch Zhao Gao, 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 Fusu would normally succeed as emperor, Li Si and the chief eunuch Zhao Gao conspired to kill Fusu, who was in league with their enemy general Meng Tian. 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 or "Second Generation Qin".

Family

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

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

and

. * Children: ** Fusu, 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, later Qin Er Shi (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 1 ...

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 ...

, 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 ...

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 Meng Tian 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 Elasticity (physics), elastic launching device consisting of a Bow and arrow, bow-like assembly called a ''prod'', mounted horizontally on a main frame called a ''tiller'', which is hand-held in a similar ...

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

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

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

historian Xiao Yishan 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: ), Postal Map Romanization, alternately romanized as Nanking, is the capital of Jiangsu Provinces of China, province of the China, People's Republic of China. It is a sub-provincial city, a megacity, and t ...

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

, not of the nation or the people, and the subsequent fall of his dynasty as a manifestation of the

class struggle Class conflict, also referred to as class struggle and class warfare, is the political tension and economic antagonism that exists in society because of socio-economic competition among the social classes or between rich and poor. The form ...

. 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 peasa ...

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, t ...

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, 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 Zhao Gao 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 Romanization of Chinese, 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 List of national founde ...

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 b ...

(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 ...

'' (1996) – The film focuses on Qin Shi Huang's relationship with the musician Gao Jianli, a friend of the assassin Jing Ke. * '' The Emperor and the Assassin'' (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 ...

, a nameless assassin who plans an assassination attempt on the King of Qin (

Chen Daoming Chen Daoming (born 26 April 1955) is a Chinese actor who has starred in various genres of film and television series. Career Chen graduated from the Central Academy of Drama. His first notable role was "Puyi" (the last emperor of China) in the ...

). 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 lif ...

'' (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 ''A Step into the Past'' is a 2001 Hong Kong television series produced by TVB and based on Huang Yi's novel of the same Chinese title. The series tells the story of a 21st-century Hong Kong VIPPU officer who travels back in time to the Warring ...

'' (2001) – a Hong Kong TVB 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 uni ...

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 Empero ...

'' (2002) – a mainland Chinese TV semi-fictionalized series with Zhang Fengyi. * '' Kingdom'' (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

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 ...

. * '' Fate/Grand Order'' (2015), an online, free-to-play role-playing mobile game of the Fate franchise developed by Delightworks and published by Aniplex 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 Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a fourth television service ...

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 ...

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

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Early

( 91 BC). ''

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Modern

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

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Qin Shi Huang
at Chinaknowledge * * {{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