Historical Figure
Qin Shi Huang
d. 210 BC
Emperor of China from 221 to 210 BC
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Biography
Qin Shi Huang was the founder of the Qin dynasty and the first emperor of China. Rather than maintain the title of "king" borne by the previous Shang and Zhou rulers, he assumed the invented title of "emperor", which would see continuous use by monarchs in China for the next two millennia.
In Their Own Words (2)
I have collected all the writings of the Empire and burnt those which were of no use.
As quoted in The Tyrants: 2500 Years of Absolute Power and Corruption (2006) by Clive Foss, p. 10, ISBN 1905204965 , 2006
天下共苦戰鬥不休，以有侯王。賴宗廟，天下初定，又復立國，是樹兵也，而求其寧息，豈不難哉！
The reason why All-under-Heaven suffers bitterly from endless wars is because of the existence of feudal lords and kings. A reliance on ancestral temples initially brought stability, but the revival of states results in the spread of soldiers. Doing so will never bring about stability!
Timeline
The story of Qin Shi Huang, told in moments.
Born Ying Zheng in Handan, capital of the state of Zhao. His father is a hostage prince. A wealthy merchant named Lu Buwei bankrolls the family's rise to power. By the time the boy is 13, he's king of Qin. By 38, he controls all of China.
Conquers the last of the six warring states. Unifies China. Invents a new title for himself: emperor. No king of Shang or Zhou ever claimed that. He calls himself Qin Shi Huang. The First Emperor. He means it to last 10,000 generations.
Orders standardized weights, measures, currency, and axle widths across the empire. Different states had used different writing systems. He standardizes those too. Then builds a national road network connecting every province to the capital at Xianyang.
Orders the burning of books and the execution of scholars. Confucian texts, histories of rival states, philosophical works. The details are debated by historians. What's not debated: he wants one version of history. His.
Dies at 49 during his fifth tour of eastern China. His prime minister Li Si hides the death, forges an edict to install a puppet heir, and lets the imperial carriage travel with rotting fish carts to mask the smell. The dynasty he built to last forever collapses three years after his death.
Farmers digging a well near Xi'an discover his tomb complex. Inside: 8,000 life-sized terracotta warriors, each with a unique face, standing in battle formation. They'd guarded his tomb for 2,200 years. The inner chamber, believed to contain rivers of mercury, remains unopened.
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