Qin Shi Huang

Who is Qin Shi Huang?

Qin Shi Huang (born Ying Zheng) was the founder of the Qin dynasty and the first emperor of a unified China. Ascending the throne of the state of Qin as a child in 246 BC, he conquered the six rival warring states by 221 BC, ending centuries of fragmentation and declaring himself 'First Emperor' (Shi Huangdi). He established a centralized administrative system of commanderies and counties, standardized the Chinese script, currency, weights, measures, and axle widths, and connected earlier defensive walls into an early version of the Great Wall. His reign was also marked by harsh Legalist rule, massive conscripted labor projects, and a notorious burning of books and persecution of scholars. Obsessed with attaining immortality, he commissioned an enormous mausoleum near modern Xi'an guarded by the life-sized Terracotta Army, rediscovered in 1974. He died in 210 BC while touring eastern China, and his dynasty collapsed within a few years of his death.

Sources: Sima Qian, Records of the Grand Historian (Shiji), 'Basic Annals of the First Emperor of Qin', circa 91 BCE