History UsefulNotes / QinShiHuangdi

The very poster boy of AlternativeCharacterInterpretation, as it were. Some people say that many sources written about him were made decades to centuries after the fact and by the descendants of his enemies; At the same time, his descendants, his supporters, and those who wish to emphasize his political ideology(unifying a different political body, culture, language, and ideas, or build a larger eastern country) are also covering up his problems and shaping a brilliant image for him. These certainly muddied the waters.

Another of his mistakes which is not in dispute is his handling of the succession, which can be said to be partly influenced by his obsession with immortality; after all, who needs proper succession when you can be immortal? By not having a crown prince, and a dismissive attitude towards his officials, upon his death, two such officials (Li Si, who was then Prime Minister, and the eunuch Zhao Gao) decided to nominate Ying Zheng's younger son Hu Hai (who was together with them on the tour) as the next emperor instead of his elder son, Fu Su (who was away at the Great Wall with Meng Tian as he had been punished by his father after father and son had some disagreements over state policies). They sent a letter ordering Fu Su to commit suicide, with Ying Zheng's forged signature. Fu Su's allies denounced this as the forgery that it was, but Fu Su himself (unaware that his father was dead) could not believe anyone would dare to forge an imperial decree (as the Emperor would punish such an act ''very'' harshly) and thus complied with it. The silent coup also killed the Meng brothers (Meng Tian and Meng Yi), who were allies of Fu Su. The most ghastly details were the methods used by Li and Zhao to conceal the fact that Ying Zheng had died. Firstly, Li Si ordered that two carts containing rotten fish be carried immediately before and after the emperor's wagon. (The idea was to prevent people from noticing the foul smell emanating from the Emperor's wagon, where his body was starting to decompose severely as it was summertime.) The shade was also pulled down, so that no one could see his face; servants continued to change his clothes daily, and bring food.

The very poster boy of AlternativeCharacterInterpretation, as it were. The fact many sources written about him were made decades to centuries after the fact and by the descendants of his enemies certainly muddied the waters.

Another of his mistakes which is not in dispute is his handling of the succession, which can be said to be partly influenced by his obsession with immortality; after all, who needs proper succession when you can be immortal? By not having a crown prince, and a dismissive attitude towards his officials, upon his death, two such officials (Li Si, who was then Prime Minister, and the eunuch Zhao Gao) decided to nominate Ying Zheng's younger son Hu Hai (who was together with them on the tour) as the next emperor instead of his elder son, Fu Su (who was away at the Great Wall with Meng Tian as he had been punished by his father after father and son had some disagreements over state policies). They sent a letter ordering Fu Su to commit suicide, with Ying Zheng's forged signature. Fu Su's allies denounced this as the forgery that it was, but Fu Su himself (unaware that his father was dead) could not believe anyone would dare to forge an imperial decree and thus complied with it. The silent coup also killed the Meng brothers (Meng Tian and Meng Yi), who were allies of Fu Su. The most ghastly details were the methods used by Li and Zhao to conceal the fact that Ying Zheng had died. Firstly, Li Si ordered that two carts containing rotten fish be carried immediately before and after the emperor's wagon. (The idea was to prevent people from noticing the foul smell emanating from the Emperor's wagon, where his body was starting to decompose severely as it was summertime.) The shade was also pulled down, so that no one could see his face; servants continued to change his clothes daily, and bring food.

He was born Ying Zheng (嬴政), the son of a young concubine surnamed Zhao given as a present to the then crown prince of Qin, Zichu, by the scheming merchant Lü Buwei (who may have been his biological father, at least according to Han Dynasty propaganda). [[note]](This was almost certainly a smear attempt given merchants like Lü Buwei, were seen as greedy and low ranking by Confucian court systems. Royalty kept records of relevant dates for conception and birth, so Ying Zheng was almost certainly Zichu's son. However, this is not watertight as Yiren (before he became Zichu by allowing his father's wife Lady Huayang (later the Queen of Qin) to adopt him) was a down-and-out noble serving as a hostage in the state of Zhao. Besides being a hostage, Qin-Zhao relations were bad after Zhao was nearly destroyed and remained ruined after the battles of Changping and Handan. Ying Zheng himself was born in Handan, the capital of Zhao, during the battle of Handan.[[/note]] China was at the time in the throes of the Warring States era, when the impotent Zhou Dynasty had disintegrated into several rival kingdoms [[note]]The final lands held by the Eastern Zhou were conquered by Zichu's grandfather King Zhaoxiang in 256 BCE, when Ying Zheng was about 3 years old[[/note]], and the state of Qin had emerged as a power to be reckoned with. He became king in 247 BC after the death of King Zhuangxiang (the above-mentioned Zichu, who reigned for only 3 years). [[note]]Before Zichu, his father King Xiaowen ruled as king for about a year, and died just 3 days after coronation, while King Zhaoxiang had reigned for ''57'' years.[[/note]]Advised by Legalist philosopher Li Si, he turned Qin into a quasi-totalitarian military powerhouse and embarked on a campaign of conquest to unify all of China under his rule. [[note]]However, Qin's major reforms were begun under Shang Yang, the alleged author of ''Literature/TheBookOfLordShang'' about a century prior.[[/note]] He annexed other kingdoms one after another; in 221 BC, Ying Zheng declared himself First August Emperor of the Qin Dynasty (Qin Shi Huangdi).

He was born Ying Zheng (嬴政), the son of a young concubine surnamed Zhao given as a present to the then crown prince of Qin, Zichu, by the scheming merchant Lü Buwei (who may have been his biological father, at least according to Han Dynasty propaganda). [[note]](This was almost certainly a smear attempt given merchants like Lü Buwei, were seen as greedy and low ranking by Confucian court systems. Royalty kept records of relevant dates for conception and birth, so Ying Zheng was almost certainly Zichu's son. However, this is not watertight as Yiren (before he became Zichu by allowing his father's wife Lady Huayang (later the Queen of Qin) to adopt him) was a down-and-out noble serving as a hostage in the state of Zhao. Ying Zheng himself was born in Handan, the capital of Zhao.[[/note]] China was at the time in the throes of the Warring States era, when the impotent Zhou Dynasty had disintegrated into several rival kingdoms [[note]]The final lands held by the Eastern Zhou were conquered by Zichu's grandfather King Zhaoxiang in 256 BCE, when Ying Zheng was about 3 years old[[/note]], and the state of Qin had emerged as a power to be reckoned with. He became king in 247 BC after the death of King Zhuangxiang (the above-mentioned Zichu, who reigned for only 3 years). [[note]]Before Zichu, his father King Xiaowen ruled as king for about a year, and died just 3 days after coronation, while King Zhaoxiang had reigned for ''57'' years.[[/note]]Advised by Legalist philosopher Li Si, he turned Qin into a quasi-totalitarian military powerhouse and embarked on a campaign of conquest to unify all of China under his rule. [[note]]However, Qin's major reforms were begun under Shang Yang, the alleged author of ''Literature/TheBookOfLordShang'' about a century prior.[[/note]] He annexed other kingdoms one after another; in 221 BC, Ying Zheng declared himself First August Emperor of the Qin Dynasty (Qin Shi Huangdi).

* The Chu faction, led by Lady Huayang, which remained the strongest as its members did not commit major mistakes. Members of this faction include Lord Changping. The faction finally died along with Lady Huayang in 230 BCE. It is likely that Ying Zheng's unknown main wife (and mother of Fusu) was a native of Chu due to Lady Huayang's influence.
* The Han faction, led by Lady Xia (Zichu's birth mother and concubine of King Xiaowen). The faction died when Lady Xia passed away in 240 BCE and Chengjiao rebelled. This faction was suspected of facilitating Han's plot to weaken Qin via a massive construction project (the Zheng Guo Canal, named after its designer)[[note]]The plot backfired horribly for Han as the [[GoneHorriblyRight Zheng Guo Canal improved the soil fertility of Qin lands]], rather than being a massive resource drain it was anticipated as, allowing it to support even larger armies. Of the other 6 states, Han was the first to fall.[[/note]].

He was born Ying Zheng （嬴政）, the son of a young concubine surnamed Zhao given as a present to the then crown prince of Qin, Zichu, by the scheming merchant Lü Buwei (who may have been his biological father, at least according to Han Dynasty propaganda). [[note]](This was almost certainly a smear attempt given merchants like Lü Buwei, were seen as greedy and low ranking by Confucian court systems. Royalty kept records of relevant dates for conception and birth, so Ying Zheng was almost certainly Zichu's son)[[/note]] China was at the time in the throes of the Warring States era, when the impotent Zhou Dynasty had disintegrated into several rival kingdoms [[note]]The final lands held by the Eastern Zhou were conquered by Zichu's grandfather King Zhaoxiang in 256 BCE, when Ying Zheng was about 3 years old[[/note]], and the state of Qin had emerged as a power to be reckoned with. He became king in 247 BC after the death of King Zhuangxiang (the above-mentioned Zichu, who reigned for only 3 years). [[note]]Before Zichu, his father King Xiaowen ruled as king for about a year, and died just 3 days after coronation, while King Zhaoxiang had reigned for ''57'' years.[[/note]]Advised by Legalist philosopher Li Si, he turned Qin into a quasi-totalitarian military powerhouse and embarked on a campaign of conquest to unify all of China under his rule. [[note]]However, Qin's major reforms were begun under Shang Yang, the alleged author of ''Literature/TheBookOfLordShang'' about a century prior.[[/note]] He annexed other kingdoms one after another; in 221 BC, Ying Zheng declared himself First August Emperor of the Qin Dynasty (Qin Shi Huangdi).

* ''Film/TheMummyTombOfTheDragonEmperor'' uses him as a CardCarryingVillain with magical powers, [[SealedEvilInACan who is released]] by rogue KMT general during [[UsefulNotes/NoMoreEmperors the final phase of Chinese Civil War]]. He chews scenery like you wouldn't believe. Creator/JetLi is Shi Huangdi himself this time around.

Qin Shi Huangdi (259-210 BC) is the founder of the [[UsefulNotes/DynastiesFromShangToQing Qin Dynasty]], [[TheEmperor first Emperor]] of China, and depending on who you ask, either one of the most ruthless despots in history whose name would become a byword for tyranny, the exemplary Emperor who united the fractured Warring States and brought a standardized system of characters, measurements and language, amongst other sweeping reforms, and lay the groundwork of the millennia of stability and prosperity that brought China to the forefront of world powers, both, or anything in between. The very poster boy of AlternativeCharacterInterpretation, as it were. The fact many sources written about him were made decades to centuries after the fact and by the descendants of his enemies certainly muddied the waters.

* ''Film/TheMummyTombOfTheDragonEmperor'' uses him as a CardCarryingVillain with magical powers, [[SealedEvilInACan who is released]] by desperate KMT general during [[UsefulNotes/NoMoreEmperors the final phase of Chinese Civil War]]. He chews scenery like you wouldn't believe. Creator/JetLi is Shi Huangdi himself this time around.

* He is one of the fighters chosen to represent humanity in ''Manga/RecordOfRagnarok''. He is the seventh to fight, going against [[spoiler:Hades]].

* ''Literature/ZacharyYingAndTheDragonEmperor'': He shows up as a spirit who possesses the titular protagonist though he's quickly exorcised and put inside Zach's AR Headset instead. Regardless, he informs Zach that the spirits of the underworld are about to enter the mortal world, causing chaos if they are not sent back before Ghost Month ends. So, it's up to them to stop it before it happens.

He was born Ying Zheng （嬴政）, the son of a young concubine surnamed Zhao given as a present to the then crown prince of Qin, Zichu, by the scheming merchant Lü Buwei (who may have been his biological father, at least according to Han Dynasty propaganda). [[note]](This was almost certainly a smear attempt given merchants like Lü Buwei, were seen as greedy and low ranking by Confucian court systems. Royal kept records of relevant dates and Ying Zheng was almost certainly Zichu's son)[[/note]] China was at the time in the throes of the Warring States era, when the impotent Zhou Dynasty had disintegrated into several rival kingdoms [[note]]The final lands held by the Eastern Zhou were conquered by Zichu's grandfather King Zhaoxiang in 256 BCE, when Ying Zheng was about 3 years old[[/note]], and the state of Qin had emerged as a power to be reckoned with. He became king in 247 BC after the death of King Zhuangxiang (the above-mentioned Zichu, who reigned for only 3 years). [[note]]Before Zichu, his father King Xiaowen ruled as king for about a year, and died just 3 days after coronation, while King Zhaoxiang had reigned for ''57'' years.[[/note]]Advised by Legalist philosopher Li Si, he turned Qin into a quasi-totalitarian military powerhouse and embarked on a campaign of conquest to unify all of China under his rule. [[note]]However, Qin's major reforms were begun under Shang Yang, the alleged author of ''Literature/TheBookOfLordShang'' about a century prior.[[/note]] He annexed other kingdoms one after another; in 221 BC, Ying Zheng declared himself First August Emperor of the Qin Dynasty (Qin Shi Huangdi).

Qin Shi Huangdi (259-210 BC) is the founder of the [[UsefulNotes/DynastiesFromShangToQing Qin Dynasty]], [[TheEmperor first Emperor]] of China, and depending on who you ask, either one of the most ruthless despots in history whose name would become a byword for tyranny, the exemplary Emperor who united the fractured Warring States and brought a standardized system of characters, measurements and language, amongst other sweeping reforms, and lay the groundwork of the millennia of stability and prosperity that brought China to the forefront of world powers, both, or anything in between. The very poster boy of AlternativeCharacterInterpretation, as it were. In Chinese historiography, he was commonly mentioned together with Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, "Qin Huang Han Wu" (秦皇汉武). In fact, some historians theorized that Emperor Wu would have led the Han to ruin, if he had not reflected on his mistakes late in his reign.

* BigGood: Historic re-evaluation has lead to retellings of the Warring States Period as a chaotic time and backs Qin Shi Huangdi as an ultimately needed, if ruthless, force of order.

He was born Ying Zheng （嬴政）, the son of a young concubine surnamed Zhao given as a present to the then crown prince of Qin, Zichu, by the scheming merchant Lü Buwei (who may have been his biological father, at least according to Han Dynasty propaganda). [[note]]Even if Lyu had been Ying Zheng's biological father, Zichu had little to complain about, for Lyu was the one who worked behind the scenes to convince Zichu's father King Xiaowen to make Zichu heir (by linking Zichu up with King Xiaowen's official wife Lady Huayang, who was childless), and assisted Zichu to return to Qin safely to ascend the throne, as Zichu was then a hostage in the state of Zhao.[[/note]] China was at the time in the throes of the Warring States era, when the impotent Zhou Dynasty had disintegrated into several rival kingdoms [[note]]The final lands held by the Eastern Zhou were conquered by Zichu's grandfather King Zhaoxiang in 256 BCE, when Ying Zheng was about 3 years old[[/note]], and the state of Qin had emerged as a power to be reckoned with. He became king in 247 BC after the death of King Zhuangxiang (the above-mentioned Zichu, who reigned for only 3 years). [[note]]Before Zichu, his father King Xiaowen ruled as king for about a year, and died just 3 days after coronation, while King Zhaoxiang had reigned for ''57'' years.[[/note]]Advised by Legalist philosopher Li Si, he turned Qin into a quasi-totalitarian military powerhouse and embarked on a campaign of conquest to unify all of China under his rule. [[note]]However, Qin's major reforms were begun under Shang Yang, the alleged author of ''Literature/TheBookOfLordShang'' about a century prior.[[/note]] He annexed other kingdoms one after another; in 221 BC, Ying Zheng declared himself First August Emperor of the Qin Dynasty (Qin Shi Huangdi).

%%!!Tropes as portrayed in fiction:

He ruled China with an iron fist and ruthlessly crushed any opposition, applying the precepts of Legalism, which holds that a monarch must reign through fear and that the law must be enforced without pity in order to scare the populace into submission. While certainly ruthless, however, it should be noted that Ying Zheng was not corrupt or inept: A workaholic, he implemented a series of policies standardizing currency, language, weights and measures, and even the width of carriage axles[[note]]When using non-pneumatic wheels, vehicles cut deep wheel ruts in roads. However, if they are all in the same width, this allows to reinforce the specific part of the road, creating rail-like grooves, ''improving'' the transportation[[/note]], and in so doing created 'China' as we would hence know it. He was also responsible for the Qin Empire abolishing feudalism and adopting a state bureaucracy based on law more than a thousand years before the first European kingdom ever did so. [[note]]However, it must be noted that the tendency to adopt feudalism did not immediately go away. During the Han Dynasty, a dual system of feudalism and state bureaucracy was implemented. This dual system lasted until Emperor Wu, who greatly curbed feudalism during his reign.[[/note]] He ordered the construction of the Great Wall to protect the empire's northern frontiers against barbarian attacks. [[note]]Like Emperor Wu a century later, Ying Zheng also sent troops to attack the Xiongnu, pacifying them for some time.[[/note]] To abolish history, he had all books burnt save those containing useful technical information [[note]]It should be noted that Ying Zheng's policy could be seen as a logical conclusion; previous Qin rulers had burnt books ever since the adoption of Legalism.[[/note]], and then ordered a mass execution of "scholars" for good measure. [[note]]Historically, Confucian scholars formed only a tiny minority of the chaps he buried in the alleged incident. Most were "fangshi"( 方士), charlatans who preyed on Ying Zheng's obsession with immortality.[[/note]] He did actually keep ''one'' copy of each destroyed book in his own library for the ruler's use in case it contained anything useful to him or future monarchs; however, [[{{Irony}} this library was destroyed]] in the fires that ravaged the imperial capital at Xianyang after Xiang Yu's armies took over from Liu Bang's in 206 BCE. [[note]]The rivalry between Xiang and Liu quickly escalated after this incident.[[/note]] (Qin Shihuang is therefore more or less one of the two men responsible for making Chinese works no older than OlderThanFeudalism; outside of some tropeless oracle bones and bronzes, everything OlderThanDirt went up in smoke.) [[note]]For some reason, Xiang Yu's role in actually lighting the fires which burnt the library largely went unnoticed and unscrutinized.[[/note]]

Just a small caveat: most of the so-called "Confucians" that were buried alive, grisly as that act was, were actually wizards (fangshi; 方士) who were put in charge of concocting an elixir of immortality, according to some other sources. Since Confucianism and Legalism were polar opposites (the former declares that education and cultural immersion should be the way to achieve state order and prosperity, while the latter emphasizes that the law should be upheld in absolute terms for the same thing to happen) and thus political rivals, as one of Legalism's greatest champions, Qin Shihuangdi was essentially subject to a massive HistoricalVillainUpgrade. Needless to say, seeking immortality was doomed from the start, but it would remain a fascination for many emperors and occultists to come.

A big part of Qin Shihuangdi's image issues is that official Chinese historiography always tended to sing the praises of the predecessor dynasty's early rulers, while then painting the later ones in the darkest colours possible. This was used to justify the incumbent dynasty's rule or ownership of the Mandate of Heaven. However, because the Qin was so short-lived, and yet set a precedent, later historians would vilify its founder right away. New archeological findings (such as legal codes) show the Qin dynasty to be much more "mainstream" than the crypto-totalitarian legalistic dystopia it has been depicted as. In more recent years, Shi Huangdi has been increasingly depicted as the founding father of China who forged an orderly unified state out of chaos through force and foresight by the official state propaganda in both the KMT state of the Republic of China and the CCP-ruled People's Republic.


One thing that is not in dispute, however, is Qin Shihuang's later-reign obsession with immortality, both literal and figurative. In search of the former, he began taking supposedly life-extending treatments recommended by Imperial alchemists; while some of these, like wood-ear and cloud-ear fungi, are fairly harmless (and tasty[[note]]Cloud ear and wood ear fungi are still commonly used in Chinese cooking for their interesting textures, and many other Chinese medicines are basically just food[[/note]]), many such treatments involved mercury compounds. You read that correctly; ancient Chinese alchemists thought that a heavy metal that drives you insane before killing you was part of the recipe for eternal life. Perhaps it's no surprise then that the emperor grew [[RoyallyScrewedUp gradually more paranoid]] in his later life (paranoia being a prime symptom of chronic mercury poisoning) and then died after taking a pill containing pure mercury as part of his immortality treatments (death being a prime symptom of acute mercury poisoning). At the time of his death, he was on his fourth tour of Eastern China.

In the figurative department, Qin Shihuang oversaw the construction of his future mausoleum. According to historian Sima Qian, this project required drafting a slave workforce of 700,000 people. The mausoleum was erected in a secret location and was only discovered in 1976. Within three years of his death, the third and last king of Qin was killed by Xiang Yu. Another 4 years of warfare continued, until Liu Bang established the Han Dynasty in 202 B.C..

* ''The Chinese Emperor'' by Jean Levi is a fictionalized biography of Qin Shihuangdi.

* ''Series/TheLegendOfHaoLan'': The title character is his mother. Qin Shi Huang himself is a minor character.

* ''TabletopGame/WraithTheOblivion'' has it so that Qin Shi Huang made good use of those terracotta soldiers and took over the Dark Kingdom of Jade, the Chinese quarter of the Shadowlands. [[spoiler: And then it turns out he was destroyed some time ago, and [[HumanoidAbomination something else]] has been ruling with his face.]]

* ''TabletopGame/{{Scion}}'': The Celestial Bureaucracy were not pleased by what Qin Shi Huang did to China, or his attempts to achieve immortality, so they consigned him to an IronicHell: ruler and sole inhabitant of an Underworld replica of China.

* In ''VideoGame/AssassinsCreedII'', it's stated that Qin Shi Huang was killed by a member of the Assassins.
* One of the two possible leaders of the Chinese in ''VideoGame/{{Civilization}} IV'' (alongside UsefulNotes/MaoZedong). Amusingly for a leader famous for conquering, he's actually rather easier to get along with than Mao (although truth be told, both Chinese leaders are fairly easygoing) and is no more likely to attack you than the average leader. (Also, in a famous and very embarrassing incident for the developers, they confused the leader art for Qin Shihuang in vanilla ''Civ IV'' with the leader art for [[UsefulNotes/{{Mongolia}} Kublai Khan]]; this was corrected in the first expansion.)

* The [[NoExportForYou Japan-only]] sequel of ''VideoGame/DynastyWarriors: Strikeforce'' has Qin Shi Huang as the BigBad who is resurrected during the Three Kingdoms era. This version has mystical powers and can revive the old heroes from the Qin Dynasty such as Xiang Yu. He first appears as an old man until he gains his youthful appearance after the heroes of the Three Kingdoms defeated either Xiang Yu and Huang Quan. In the final battle, he turns into a giant dragon-turtle hybrid monster.

** In the third Lostbelt story, "Land of Unified Knowledge, SIN", the protagonists come to an alternate timeline where Qin Shi Huang succeeded in achieving immortality via BrainUploading and rules China and vast amounts of territory all the way to the modern day. Since this is an alternate timeline, he is completely different in both looks and personality from the one Jing Ke knew; however, as he obtained immortality ''after'' Jing Ke's attempted assassination he still remembers her with some prompting despite the divergence. [[spoiler:When Jing Ke successfully kills his computer body by uploading a virus through a smartphone she tricked him into scanning, he transfers his mind to a backup body with NoBiologicalSex]]. After the timeline is brought back to normal, he can be summoned as a Ruler. [[AllThereInTheManual In the Chaldea Ace magazine]], it's revealed that Proper Human History Qin Shi Huang mutated into a draconic hulk due to the attempted and failed experiments to achieve immortality, compared to the {{Bishonen}} his Lostbelt self is.

* In ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'', Lei Shen, the BigBad of ''Mist of Pandaria'', whose backstory is inspired by Qin Shihuang Di.

* While Qin Shi Huang does not physically appear in ''WesternAnimation/JackieChanAdventures'', his "legendary lost treasure" is at some point prior to the series obtained by BigBad and Fire Demon Sorcerer Shendu, and it's the reward Shendu promises the Dark Hand in return for retrieving the Talismans needed to resurrect him. He denies them the treasure, however, and their attempt to subsequently steal it leads Jackie Chan's niece to Shendu's palace and allows her to interrupt Shendu's victory over Jackie and immediately defeat him, destroying the treasure in the process.
* ''WesternAnimation/WhereOnEarthIsCarmenSandiego'': One episode had Carmen creating an ultimate chess set by stealing a lot of statues and even four castle turrets for the rooks. She stole sixteen clay soldier statues from Qin Shi Haungdi's tomb for the pawns.