The First Emperor of China
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The Tiger Emperors achievements in
his 36 years of rule surpasses the
Empress of China |
This Great Unifier was Qin Shihuang,
founder and very first ruler of all of China. He
gave China its name, the word emperor and also set up the longest running form
of government - Chinas Imperial System which lasted over 2,200 years. The First Emperor of the Qin dynasty was born in
259 B.C. and died in 210 B.C. |
Emperor of China |
He was only thirteen years old when he
ascended to the throne of the state of Qin in 246 B.C., and China did not yet
exist. At that time Qin was merely one of
seven warring states vying for control of the Central Plain in what seemed a never-ending
series of bloody battles. After a period of
eight years Shihuang donned the cap and sword of his majority in 238 B.C. At the age of twenty-one, it became obvious that
Shihuang had learned more under his mentors than even they had suspected. Informed of a plot to rebel against him
masterminded by the ambitious and disloyal Lu Buwei, Shihuang, swiftly disgraced his chief
advisor and then forced him to commit suicide. He
immediately appointed a new advisor, Li Si - Chancellor of the Left, and set out to unify
the land.
Meanwhile hundreds of thousands of
laborers and convicts were conscripted into Shihuangs great building projects - the
canals and irrigation works plus the hundreds of palaces and pavilions for the nobles whom
he had moved away from their own conquered territories in order to weaken their power. His most magnificent works were also being
carried out during this period of enormous change - the Great Wall, his fabled
palace at Afang, and his enormous tomb where his childless concubines were buried with
him.
In the 1970s, the most remarkable archaeological find of the century was made - more than 7,000 life-size terracotta soldiers and horses which guard the entrance to his tomb and this is only the beginning - Shihuangs celestial jeweled tomb is yet to be opened.