Qin Shi Huang's imperial tours () refer to the trips that China's first emperor

Qin Shi Huang Qin Shi Huang (, ; February 25912 July 210 BC), born Ying Zheng () or Zhao Zheng (), was the founder of the Qin dynasty and the first emperor of China. He is widely regarded as the first ever supreme leader of a unitary state, unitary d ...

undertook between the years 220 BC and 210 BC. In total, Qin Shi Huang made five inspection trips, and he died on the last one. During the travels, the emperor climbed sacred mountains, performed sacrifices, and erected a total of seven stelas with texts about the new regime and his own exploits. None of the stones have been found, but the texts that are supposed to be engraved on them are preserved because these were also written down by

Sima Qian Sima Qian () was a Chinese historian during the early Han dynasty. He is considered the father of Chinese historiography for the ''Shiji'' (sometimes translated into English as ''Records of the Grand Historian''), a general history of China cov ...

in the historical chronicle

Shiji The ''Shiji'', also known as ''Records of the Grand Historian'' or ''The Grand Scribe's Records'', is a Chinese historical text that is the first of the Twenty-Four Histories of imperial China. It was written during the late 2nd and early 1st cen ...

The journeys

First trip

Qin Shi Huang made his first inspection trip in 220 BC westward into eastern

Gansu Gansu is a provinces of China, province in Northwestern China. Its capital and largest city is Lanzhou, in the southeastern part of the province. The seventh-largest administrative district by area at , Gansu lies between the Tibetan Plateau, Ti ...

where he visited ''Longxi'' (by

Mount Liupan Mount Liupan ( zh, c=六盘山, p=Lìupán Shān) is a mountain range in northwestern China, located mostly in southern Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region. It marks the southwestern boundary of the Ordos Basin. Its southern section is known as Mou ...

), ''Beidi'' (by the

Jing River The Jing River () or Jing He (Pinyin: ''Jīng Hé''), also called Jing Shui (), is a tributary of the Wei River (), which in turn is the largest tributary of the Yellow River. The Jing River flows for , with a basin area of . The river's flow ...

) and ''Jitou Mountain'' (鷄頭山). The entire journey took place within Qin's former territory.

Second trip

Year 219 BC the emperor traveled east through the previously conquered states to the

Bohai Sea The Bohai Sea ( zh, c=渤海, p=Bó Hǎi, l=Bo Sea) is a gulf/inland sea approximately in area on the east coast of Mainland China. It is the northwestern and innermost extension of the Yellow Sea, to which it connects via the Bohai Strait. It ...

. On the way, he erected three steles, one at Mount Yi, one at

Mount Tai Mount Tai () is a mountain of historical and cultural significance located north of the city of Tai'an. It is the highest point in Shandong province, China. The tallest peak is the ''Jade Emperor Peak'' (), which is commonly reported as being t ...

, and one at Mount Langya in

Shandong Shandong is a coastal Provinces of China, province in East China. Shandong has played a major role in Chinese history since the beginning of Chinese civilization along the lower reaches of the Yellow River. It has served as a pivotal cultural ...

. He also performed sacrifices at the mountains. On his way back, he traveled south, and by the

Si River The Si River (Chinese: 泗河, pinyin: Sì Hé; formerly 泗水, pinyin: Sì Shuǐ) is a river in Shandong Province, eastern China. It also ran through the area of modern Jiangsu Province until floods changed its course in 1194. Course The S ...

he searched (unsuccessfully) for the

Nine Tripod Cauldrons The Nine Tripod Cauldrons () were a collection of ding (vessel), ding in ancient China that were viewed as symbols of the authority given to the ruler by the Mandate of Heaven. According to the legend, they were cast by Yu the Great of the Xia dyn ...

of the kings of the

Zhou dynasty The Zhou dynasty ( ) was a royal dynasty of China that existed for 789 years from until 256 BC, the longest span of any dynasty in Chinese history. During the Western Zhou period (771 BC), the royal house, surnamed Ji, had military ...

. He continued southwest, crossing the Hui River and sailing back east on the

Yangtze River The Yangtze or Yangzi ( or ) is the longest river in Eurasia and the third-longest in the world. It rises at Jari Hill in the Tanggula Mountains of the Tibetan Plateau and flows including Dam Qu River the longest source of the Yangtze, i ...

, then on home to the capital

Xianyang Xianyang ( zh, s=咸阳 , p=Xiányáng) 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 int ...

(near present-day

Xi'an Xi'an is the list of capitals in China, capital of the Chinese province of Shaanxi. A sub-provincial city on the Guanzhong plain, the city is the third-most populous city in Western China after Chongqing and Chengdu, as well as the most populou ...

Third trip

The third inspection journey went east in the spring of 218 BC. At ''Bolangsha'' (博狼沙) in

Henan Henan; alternatively Honan is a province in Central China. Henan is home to many heritage sites, including Yinxu, the ruins of the final capital of the Shang dynasty () and the Shaolin Temple. Four of the historical capitals of China, Lu ...

, Qin Shi Huang was the victim of a failed assassination attempt by a former Han loyalist, Zhang Liang. The emperor continued east and visited Mount Zhifu in Shandong (which he had also visited the year before) where he now erected two stelae. He also revisited ''Mount Langya'' after which he returned via ''Shangdang'' (上黨) (in

Shanxi Shanxi; Chinese postal romanization, formerly romanised as Shansi is a Provinces of China, province in North China. Its capital and largest city of the province is Taiyuan, while its next most populated prefecture-level cities are Changzhi a ...

) to the capital.

Fourth trip

The fourth inspection trip was made in 215 BC to the north-eastern part of the country. At the fortified palace of Jiangnüshi (姜女石) (on the Bohai Coast just north of the

Shanhai Pass The Shanhai Pass () is a major fortified gateway at the eastern end of the Great Wall of China and one of its most crucial fortifications, as the pass commands the narrowest choke point in the strategic Liaoxi Corridor, an elongated coasta ...

), the emperor erected a stele at the city gate. He toured the northeastern borderlands and also visited Jicheng (present-day

Beijing Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...

) before returning to the capital Xianyang. Jiangnvshi Historic Site 03 2011-04

Fifth trip

At the end of 211 BC Qin Shi Huang set out on his fifth and final inspection trip. Along for the trip were (among many others)

chancellor Chancellor () is a title of various official positions in the governments of many countries. The original chancellors were the of Roman courts of justice—ushers, who sat at the (lattice work screens) of a basilica (court hall), which separa ...

Li Si Li Si (; 208 BC) was a Chinese calligrapher, philosopher, and politician of the Qin dynasty. He served as Chancellor from 246 to 208 BC, first under King Zheng of the state of Qin—who later became Qin Shi Huang, the "First Emperor" o ...

, the

eunuch A eunuch ( , ) is a male who has been castration, 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 2 ...

Zhao Gao Zhao Gao (died ) was a Chinese politician. 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 was regarded as h ...

, and the emperor's younger son

Ying Huhai Qin Er Shi (230/222207 BC), given name Ying Huhai, was the second emperor of the Chinese Qin dynasty, reigning from 210 to 207 BC. The son of Qin Shi Huang, he was put on the throne by Li Si and Zhao Gao, circumventing his brother ...

. Qin Shi Huang began the journey by making a sacrifice to the mythological

Emperor Shun Emperor Shun ( zh, c=帝舜, p=Dì Shùn) was a legendary leader of ancient China, regarded by some sources as one of the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors being the last of the Five Emperors. Tradition holds that he lived sometime between 229 ...

(who was one of the

Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors According to Chinese mythology and traditional Chinese historiography, the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors () were a series of sage Chinese emperors, and the first Emperors of China. Today, they are considered culture heroes, but they wer ...

) at ''Yunmeng'' (雲夢) near

Anlu Anlu () is a county-level city in east-central Hubei province, China. It is under the administration of the prefecture-level city of Xiaogan. The siege of De'an took place here during the Song-Jin Wars. Administrative divisions Two subdist ...

Hubei Hubei is a province of China, province in Central China. It has the List of Chinese provincial-level divisions by GDP, seventh-largest economy among Chinese provinces, the second-largest within Central China, and the third-largest among inland ...

). They traveled further east on the

Kuaiji Mountains The Kuaiji Mountains ( or ''Guìjī Shān''), formerly romanized as the K'uai-chi Mountains, are a long mountain range in China's Zhejiang province. They are named for Mount Kuaiji (also ''Kuàijī Shān'' in Chinese), the peak just southeast of ...

(會稽山) (at

Shaoxing Shaoxing is a prefecture-level city on the southern shore of Hangzhou Bay in northeastern Zhejiang province, China. Located on the south bank of the Qiantang River estuary, it borders Ningbo to the east, Taizhou, Zhejiang, Taizhou to the south ...

Zhejiang ) , translit_lang1_type2 = , translit_lang1_info2 = ( Hangzhounese) ( Ningbonese) (Wenzhounese) , image_skyline = 玉甑峰全貌 - panoramio.jpg , image_caption = View of the Yandang Mountains , image_map = Zhejiang i ...

) where the ancient

Yu the Great Yu the Great or Yu the Engineer was a legendary king in ancient China who was credited with "the first successful state efforts at flood control", his establishment of the Xia dynasty, which inaugurated Dynasties in Chinese history, dynastic ru ...

is buried. The emperor climbed the mountain and erected a stele. They continued north to Mount Langya. There they met the magician Xu Shi, who for many years had unsuccessfully searched the seas for the elixir of immortality for the emperor, and he blamed his failures on large sharks. The emperor's entourage then headed north by boat around the

Shandong Peninsula The Shandong Peninsula or Jiaodong (tsiaotung) Peninsula is a peninsula in Shandong in eastern China, between the Bohai Sea to the north and the Yellow Sea to the south. The latter name refers to the east and Jiaozhou. Geography The waters ...

. At Mount Zhifu they managed to kill a large fish after which they continued west. The emperor fell ill during the journey home and died in 210 BC in

Hebei Hebei is a Provinces of China, province in North China. It is China's List of Chinese administrative divisions by population, sixth-most populous province, with a population of over 75 million people. Shijiazhuang is the capital city. It bor ...

. The emperor's death was kept secret, and a conspiracy between Zhao Gao, Li Si, and Ying Huhai changed the succession, making Ying Huhai Emperor

Qin Er Shi Qin Er Shi (230/222207 BC), Chinese given name, given name Ying Huhai, was the second Emperor of China, emperor of the Chinese Qin dynasty, reigning from 210 to 207 BC. The son of Qin Shi Huang, he was put on the throne by Li Si and Z ...

when they returned to the capital.

References

{{cite book , last=Haw , first= Stephen G. , date=2006 , title=Beijing - A Concise History , chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=J8J8AgAAQBAJ&dq=Linyi%20capital%20Yan&pg=PA19 , language= , location= , publisher=Routledge , isbn=0415399068 , page=23 , chapter=Yan and Ji Asian expeditions Qin Shi Huang 3rd century BC in China 210s BC