The first emperor of China, Qin Shihound, is an iconic figure for the Chinese. He is considered the founder of the current state.

China until 221, when the emperor declared himself the ruler of all of China, consisted of several kingdoms,

Ying Zheng (this was the emperor's real name) became the ruler of the Qin kingdom in 246 BC at the age of 13. Having reached adulthood in 238, Ying Zheng completely took power into his own hands.

The reign of Ying Zheng is associated with the largest construction projects in the history of China and the ancient world. One of them is a large irrigation canal, which in 246 began to be built by the engineer Zheng Guo from the Han kingdom. The length of the canal was 150 km. and it took ten years to build. As a result of construction, the amount of area suitable for agriculture increased by 264.4 thousand hectares, which led to an unprecedented economic rise in Qin.

Ying Zheng waged successful wars. Gradually, he captured, one after another, all six states into which China was divided at that time: in 230 BC. e. Han, in 225 - Wei, in 223 - Chu, in 222 - Zhao and Yan, and in 221 - Qi.

Thus, he united all of China and in 221 BC took the throne name Qin Shihuang, founding a new imperial Qin dynasty and naming himself its first ruler.

The capital of the empire was Xianyang, not far from modern Xi'an.

In addition to the reforms of writing, the monetary system, the creation of roads and other things, the emperor began grandiose construction projects, the burden of which fell on the shoulders of millions of ordinary people.

Immediately after declaring himself emperor, Qin Shi Huang began building his tomb.

Construction of the tomb began in 247 BC. e. More than 700 thousand workers and artisans were involved in its construction. Qin Shi Huang was buried in 210 BC. e. A huge amount of jewelry and handicrafts were buried with him. Also, 48 of his concubines were buried alive with the emperor.

A whole army of clay sculptures, the so-called, was hidden underground.

The warriors and horses of the Terracotta Army were made in various areas of China.

The warrior figures are real works of art; they were made individually. Each statue has its own unique features and even facial expressions.

Another no less significant construction project of Qin Shi Huang was During its construction, the previously existing northern walls were used, which were strengthened and connected to each other.

Construction lasted 10 years, the number of workers reached 300 thousand. The landscape along which the construction of the wall took place was complex (mountain ranges, gorges), so construction was fraught with significant difficulties.

To build the Great Wall of China, stone slabs were used, which were laid close to each other over layers of compacted earth. During the construction of the Wall, a large embankment was built in the east. Later, sections of the Wall began to be faced, for which stone and brick were used.

The emperor died in 210 during another tour of his possessions.

However, the Qin Dynasty ended there. After the death of the emperor, an uprising broke out and his entire family was exterminated.

based on wikipedia materials

At that time, China was divided into 7 independent kingdoms. Local kings were constantly at odds with each other, weakening and ruining their states.

And Ying Zheng set out to become a great ruler. He gathered a huge army and captured all the neighboring lands. He killed kings, razed capitals to the ground, and established his own rules everywhere.

Ying Zheng spent 17 years in wars, killed thousands of people in battles, but achieved the unification of all of China under his rule.

Big deal! It was not suitable for the great ruler to live with his old childhood name, and he took for himself a new name, befitting his status, Qin Shi Huang, which means “First Emperor of the Qin Dynasty”
A number of new terms were introduced into the official language, reflecting the greatness of the ruler: from now on, the emperor began to call himself Zheng, which corresponds to the Russian “We”, used in imperial decrees. The emperor's personal orders were called zhi, and his orders throughout the Celestial Empire were called zhao.

Since Ying Zheng was the first emperor of the Qin dynasty, he ordered to call himself Shi Huangdi - the First Highest Emperor.

Qin Shihuang - unified China under his rule in 221 BC. e., dividing the country into 36 provinces, governed by officials appointed by the emperor.

The colossal campaign to unify the Celestial Empire was completed in 221 BC, after which the new emperor carried out a number of reforms to consolidate the gains. First, he designated the city of Xi'an as the capital of his entire empire. He introduced strict standards for everything: money, measures of weight and length, writing, construction, even the width of the axle for carts, so that the carts could easily get from one end of the mighty empire to the other. Naturally, the standards of the Qin kingdom were taken as a model. All previous history was declared irrelevant. In 213 BC. the ancient chronicles and books of all the conquered kingdoms were burned. More than 460 scientists suspected of disloyalty to the new regime were buried alive in the ground.

But Qin Shi Huang was not only wise, but also extremely cruel. Any disobedience to the new laws will result in death. At the same time, the simple death penalty was the lightest punishment. The following types of capital punishment were common: breaking out ribs, tearing by chariots, boiling in a large cauldron, cutting in half or into pieces, quartering, beheading and, after execution, displaying the head on a pole in public places. Particularly dangerous crimes were punishable by execution not only of the perpetrator, but also of all his relatives in three generations, and, given that the Chinese had large families, this measure often affected thousands of people.

At this time, wild tribes of nomadic Huns attacked China from the north. They ravaged the lands and took the inhabitants into captivity.

To defend the northern borders of the Empire, Qin Shi Huang began uniting disparate defensive structures into a single one - the Great Wall of China, stretching for almost 4 thousand kilometers. It was built over 10 years from compacted earth and stone blocks by more than 2 million people (soldiers, slaves, prisoners of war and criminals). Those who died from overwork, according to legend, were walled up in the wall. Construction conditions: bare steppe, periodic raids of tribes and half-starved existence. The watchmen's legs were cut off so that they could not escape from the towers when attacked by nomads. The Great Wall claimed an unprecedented number of victims; now modern Chinese say that every stone in the wall is someone’s life.

At the time of the creation of the empire, Qin Shi Huang was forty years old, which is a considerable age for those ancient times. The time had come to start searching for immortality - old wounds were bothering him, age was taking its toll, and it was planned to reign for another thousand years. In search of a wonderful elixir, he examined ancient manuscripts, interrogated sages, sent expeditions on large ships in search of a magic herb, which, according to legend, bestowed immortality.

Eventually, Qin Shi Huang issued a decree that the emperor would live forever. Therefore, even after his death, his body remained in the throne room for a long time, and the ceremonies were carried out in the same way as if he were alive.

The death of the emperor turned out to be somewhat awkward. Like any eastern ruler, Qin Shi Huang had a harem, and there were several thousand concubines in it. One of them killed the first emperor of China by sticking a large needle into his ear while he was sleeping. This happened in 210 BC, when Qin Shi Huang was 48 years old.

From the moment he ascended the throne, Qin Shi Huang gave the order to begin construction of his tomb. And 30 kilometers from the city of Xi'an, near Mount Lishan, over 38 years, 700 thousand workers built an entire burial city - a huge underground complex, designed as a mirror image of the capital of the Qin dynasty.

The emperor's mausoleum was a palace surrounded by two walls made of mud brick. The outer one stretches for more than six kilometers, the inner one is about four kilometers long. Behind the inner wall is the mausoleum itself: a rectangular underground structure half a kilometer long and slightly less wide. Several tunnels approach it. The entire complex covers an area of ​​60 square meters. km.

The crypt was filled with copies of palaces transported and placed there, figures of officials of all ranks, rare things and extraordinary valuables, countless treasures, including the golden throne of the first emperor.

On the floor of the tomb was a huge map of the world, with rivers and oceans made of mercury.

To protect the emperor and his wealth, terracotta warriors were buried 1.5 km east of the royal tomb. Initially, Qin Shi Huang was going to bury 4,000 real warriors, but such an attempt could cost both himself and his empire his life. And the advisers managed to convince the emperor to create clay ones, numbering more than 8,000, as well as about 200 horses. The harness, weapons, and details of the weapons of this mysterious army were real. The figures were modeled from real warriors, so that after death the souls of the warriors could move into sculptures and continue their service to the Emperor.

All wars were facing east. It was there that the kingdoms were destroyed by the great tyrant. The statues were made with jewelry precision and amazing diligence. It is impossible to find a single identical face. Among the warriors are not only Chinese, but also Mongols, Uighurs, Tibetans and many other nationalities. The only deviation from reality the sculptors made was in growth. The height of the statue is 1.90-1.95 meters. The Qin soldiers, of course, were not that tall. The warrior's weight is about 135 kilograms. The finished sculptures were fired by craftsmen in huge kilns at a temperature of 1,000 degrees. Then the best artists painted them in natural colors in accordance with the table of ranks.

The soldier is dressed in a short robe and breastplate without decorations, his hair is tied in a knot, his feet are wrapped in windings and shoes with a square toe. The officer is wearing chest armor with decorations, a high hat, and boots on his feet. The general has scaly armor with decorations and a hat in the shape of two birds. Shooters with bows and crossbows, wearing breastplates and short robes. All details of clothing or hairstyle strictly correspond to the fashion of that time. Shoes and armor are reproduced with amazing accuracy.

To install this army, a pit the size of a football field was dug, and when the army took its place, the ancient craftsmen placed solid tree trunks on top, mats on them, then 30 cm of cement and 3 m of earth. Then the grass was sown and the army disappeared. She disappeared forever, not a single chronicler or robber knew about her.

After his death, Qin Shi Huang was buried in a golden coffin and placed in the middle of a sea of ​​mercury.

The craftsmen made and loaded crossbows so that they would shoot at those who tried to get into the tomb. The heir to the throne ordered to bury alive all the wives and 3 thousand concubines of the emperor, thousands of his slaves, dancers, musicians and acrobats, as well as 17 sons and some ministers.

Then 70 thousand workers were herded there, who equipped and built the crypt with their families, servants who knew about its location. And then the jade doors closed... The entrance was walled up, a hill 120 meters high was poured on top, bushes and trees were planted on the hill so that no one would guess how to get in there.

The tomb of Emperor Qin Shi Huang is inviolable to this day. The Terracotta Army serves its Emperor faithfully, and neither grave robbers nor archaeologists have yet disturbed it.

For more than 2000 years, no one in the whole world knew where the grave of the emperor and his army was, until in 1974, a simple Chinese peasant, Yan Ji Wang, and five of his friends decided to dig a well. They didn’t find water, but they found a life-size statue of an ancient warrior at a depth of 5 meters. This was the main battle formation of Qin Shi Huang - about 6,000 figures. Yan Ji Wan became a millionaire overnight. Now he writes books about his discovery and signs autographs for tourists every day.

Today, a whole city has arisen on the site of the historical find. A huge roof was built over the “army”, like over a large train station. Not all the warriors have been excavated yet, because most of the statues were crushed by a once collapsed roof and a load of earth, they have to be restored piece by piece.

Three large pavilions shelter the funeral army of the first Chinese emperor from the weather. Three crypts with a total area of ​​more than 20 thousand square meters. meters

Excavations have been going on for more than 25 years, and there is no end in sight. In 1980, scientists excavated a second column - about 2,000 statues.

In 1994, an underground general staff was discovered - a meeting of senior military leaders.

However, there is an opinion that the found army is only one of the few guarding the Emperor’s necropolis

The reason for the creation of such an army, which could only be created by thousands of sculptors and tens of thousands of workers, apparently lay in the beliefs that forced ancient kings from Northern Europe to Japan to take wives, slaves, warriors and servants with them into the afterlife. But if the leader of the Vikings or Scythians limited himself to dozens of victims who were killed at his grave, then the death of Qin Shi Huang, the Lord of the Universe, entailed the death of thousands of people - everyone who knew access to the tomb. Although by that time human sacrifice was no longer practiced in China, everyone who was supposed to serve the deceased was sent to a better world with the despot.

But no matter how impressive the finds in the crypts of the warriors are, the number of which continues to grow, the main attention of archaeologists is drawn to the tomb of the emperor.

Archaeologists began to lay exploration pits to determine what was under and around the hill. This work is being carried out carefully and slowly.

According to Chinese press reports, over the past ten years, more than forty thousand pits and trenches have been drilled in the area of ​​the tomb over an area of ​​more than ten square kilometers. But this explored area represents approximately a sixth of that occupied by the tomb and its accompanying structures.

When pits were laid in order to determine the size and configuration of the mausoleum, archaeologists twice came across tunnels made by robbers in ancient times. Both tunnels touched the wall of the mausoleum, but did not penetrate it. And although the western and southern walls of the tomb have not yet been fully explored, according to indirect data, scientists are increasingly convinced that the emperor’s mausoleum was not destroyed and plundered, as the chroniclers reported. This allows us to hope that everything inside the mausoleum remains the same or almost the same as on the day the jade doors closed.

And one more interesting detail: the soil samples from the hill have a high mercury content. She could not get there by natural means, therefore, the reports of the historian Sima Qian that on the floor of the tomb there was a huge map of the world, with rivers and oceans made of mercury, are true.

So far, only three crypts have been discovered, 1.5 km east of the tomb, containing thousands of terracotta figurines (known as bing ma yun) and two sets of huge bronze chariots and horses to the west of the mausoleum.

For centuries, robbers have tried to find treasures in the imperial tombs. For some, these attempts cost their lives. Surprisingly, the clay soldiers protected the spirit of their master as best they could. It is said that not a single human skeleton was found among the excavated statues.

Today even the clay from which the walls are made has turned golden. One clay brick from the Qin Shi Huang era costs tens of thousands of dollars. The owner of just one brick can exchange it for, say, a decent mansion in the vicinity of Beijing.

Looking into the empty clay eyes, you are overcome with involuntary trepidation. There is something there, inside. Maybe it’s true that the souls of the warriors, after their earthly life, inhabited the shells prepared for them, and are now forced to languish in terracotta bodies forever, to protect their king, despite the passing millennia.

By about 480 BC. e. On the territory of Ancient China there were seven kingdoms that were constantly at war with each other. By 221 BC. e. The Qin kingdom conquered all other kingdoms. A colossal empire came under the rule of King Qin. He called himself Qin Shi Huang, which means “first emperor of China.”

To prevent the powerful nobles from rebelling against their emperor, Shi Huangdi ordered them to move to the capital Xianyang. Here he could keep them under constant control. The weapons that belonged to the nobles' own troops were taken and melted down.

Qin Shi Huang ordered the construction of new roads and canals in ancient China to establish connections between different parts of the empire. He also forced everyone to use coins of the same mintage, to use a single system of measures and weights. These measures made it possible to revive trade between the subjects of the huge empire.

Qin Shi Huang, in order to be sure that his orders were clear to everyone, introduced a single type of writing throughout the empire.

Burning of books and burial of scribes

Qin Shi Huang was convinced that people were vicious and that they should be forced to obey the law. Any disobedient person is subject to severe punishment. He ordered to burn all books that contradicted his views. Scientists who dared to rebel were thrown into a pit and buried alive. Material from the site

When in 210 BC. e. Qin Shi Huang died and was buried in a huge tomb guarded by an army consisting of more than 7,500 life-size sculptures of warriors. The warriors were made of terracotta (a type of ceramic) and their weapons were real. All the warriors had different faces. Terracotta warriors placed around the tomb reliably guarded their emperor. They say that the mounted crossbows were shot at anyone who tried to enter the tomb.

Qin Shi Huang was the ruler of the Chinese kingdom of Qin from 246 BC to 221 BC. Also known as Ying Zheng. Became the first emperor of a unified China in 221 BC, after the end of the Warring States era. He ruled the empire until his death in 210 BC.

Qin Shi Huang is one of the key figures in the history of Ancient China. After the unification of the country, he and his chief advisor Li Si carried out a series of successful economic and political reforms; It was during his time that a number of titanic projects, even by today’s standards, were laid - like the first version of the Great Wall of China, a city-sized mausoleum guarded by the legendary Terracotta Army, or a global system of roads throughout the country. Of course, all these projects claimed many lives in the process of implementation; Shi Huangdi's harshness as a ruler was also manifested in the fact that he outlawed and burned almost all the books in the country - the only exceptions were literature on agriculture, medicine and fortune-telling and works from the personal imperial library.

The future emperor was born in Handan, Principality of Zhao. His mother was the concubine of the influential courtier Lü Buwei; in fact, it was Buwei’s actions that helped the young Ying Zhei come to power; because of this, rumors began to actively circulate that it was Buwei who was the guy’s real father.

Ying Zheng became the ruler of the Qin kingdom at the age of thirteen; at that time, this kingdom was already, in fact, the most powerful of the warring kingdoms of ancient China. At first - until 238 - Shi Huangdi was considered a minor; his regent was, of course, the same Lü Buwei. Ying Zheng, however, did not waste time and carefully studied the difficult process of governing the empire; at twenty-two, he expelled his adoptive father into exile, accused of preparing a rebellion.

Taking power into his own hands, Zheng began the unification of the Under Heaven

sleep. Over time, he managed to capture all six major kingdoms of ancient China; at thirty-nine years old he became the sole ruler of the Middle Kingdom; it was then that he was given the throne name Qin Shi Huang.

Of all the legacies of the first emperor of united China, the most famous in our time are the Great Wall of China and the tomb guarded by the Terracotta Army. The wall in the form in which it exists now was created during the Ming kingdom; Qin Shi Huang only laid its foundations. The Terracotta Army, on the other hand, is solely his legacy. According to the research of the Chinese historian Sima Qian, seven hundred thousand people were employed in the construction of the mausoleum and the army. The British historian John Man later questioned these figures - according to his calculations, there were not so many inhabitants in the time of Shi Huang in any of the largest cities in the world; Man himself is inclined to believe that only sixteen thousand people were employed in the construction. Qian never mentioned the Terracotta Army in his writings; It was discovered only on March 29, 1974. A group of farmers were digging new wells and came across a humanoid statue in the ground. As further research showed, the soldiers were first made in several large batches using clay molds, and then finished by hand.

One of the first projects that the young ruler started was his own crypt. Its construction began in 215 BC; the work employed - according to various sources - from three hundred to seven hundred and twenty thousand people; however, according to the same Manu, these figures are greatly exaggerated.

Great conquerors Rudycheva Irina Anatolyevna

Qin Shi Huang - first emperor of a unified China

Just like in other ancient civilizations, in Ancient China they believed in life after death, or, as we used to say, in the afterlife. The Chinese believed that in the other world they would live the same way as on earth. It was believed that the more wealth a person has, the more luxuriously he lives, the more wealth and servants he needs after death. Therefore, Chinese emperors began construction of their tombs in advance. As a rule, imperial tombs were in no way inferior to the palaces in which the rulers lived during their lifetime. The ancient Chinese were confident that the people who surround and serve the ruler in this world will undoubtedly continue to fulfill their duties in the afterlife. When a representative of the noble nobility died, not only luxury goods and money went with him on the afterlife journey, his servants also went with the owner. For example, the Chinese rulers of the Shang state (XVI-XI centuries BC) buried servants and concubines in their tombs so that they would accompany them in the afterlife. And a thousand years later, their distant descendants, completing their earthly journey, had enough to equip with them statues made of stone or terracotta, so as not to feel alone in the other world. However, no one went to another world with such a large retinue as the great emperor and unifier of China Qin Shi Huang. Although by that time human sacrifices were no longer practiced in China, not only the thousands-strong Terracotta Army was sent to a better world with the despot, but also all those who should have served the deceased - childless wives, concubines and servants.

Qin Shi Huangdi, the first emperor of a united China, went down in history as a powerful and cruel, but wise ruler who implemented two grandiose projects at once. Firstly, he united the six scattered small states into which China was divided at that time, and in 221 BC. e. created a vast empire, turning it into the most powerful state in Asia. For the first time in history, China became united, and Shi Huang took the title of “first emperor.” The second undoubted merit of this powerful ruler was that he united already existing defensive structures and, subordinating them to a single plan, built one of the most unique and grandiose structures of all times and peoples - the Great Wall of China.

Ying Zheng, in the future Qin Shi Huang, was born in 259 BC in Handan (in the Principality of Zhao), where his father Zhuang Xiangwan, the son of a Wang from a simple concubine, was a hostage. At birth, he was given the name Zheng - “first” (after the name of the month of birth, the first in the calendar). The mother of the future ruler was a concubine who had previously been in a relationship with the influential courtier Lü Buwei. It was thanks to the latter's intrigues that Zheng inherited the throne, which gave rise to rumors that Lü Buwei was Zheng's real father. Already at the age of 13, Ying Zheng took the place of the ruler of one of the feudal kingdoms of China - the Kingdom of Qin, which was the most powerful state in the Celestial Empire. The state structure of this kingdom was distinguished by a powerful military machine and a large bureaucracy. Everything was moving towards the unification of China led by the Qin dynasty. However, the states of Central China looked at Shaanxi (the mountainous northern country that served as the core of the Qin possessions) as a barbarian outskirts. Until 238, Zheng was considered a minor, and all government affairs were handled by Lü Buwei as regent and first minister. Zheng owed him a lot, primarily for strengthening his authority in the palace. Lü Buwei taught his ward: “He who desires victories over others must defeat himself. Anyone who wants to judge people must learn to judge himself. He who seeks to know others must know himself.”

During these years, the future emperor absorbed the totalitarian ideology of legalism, popular at court, the most prominent representative of which at that time was Han Fei. Growing up, the persistent and capricious Ying Zheng strove to concentrate all power in his hands and, apparently, had no intention of following the lead of his first adviser. The rite of passage into adulthood was supposed to take place in 238, when Ying Zheng turned twenty-two years old. Available historical material indicates that a year before this event, Lü Buwei tried to remove Ying Zheng. A few years earlier, he brought one of his assistants, Lao Ai, closer to his mother, giving him an honorary title. Lao Ai very soon achieved her favor and began to enjoy unlimited power. In 238 BC. e. Lao Ai stole the royal seal and, together with a group of his followers, mobilizing part of the government troops, tried to capture the Qinyan Palace, where Ying Zheng was located at that time. However, the young ruler managed to uncover this conspiracy - Lao Ai and nineteen major officials, the leaders of the conspiracy, were executed along with all members of their clans; over four thousand families involved in the conspiracy were stripped of their ranks and exiled to distant Sichuan. All warriors who participated in the suppression of Lao Ai's rebellion were promoted by one rank. In 237 BC. e. Ying Zheng removed the organizer of the conspiracy, Lü Buwei, from his post. The continued arrests and torture of rebels apparently worried the former First Councilor. Fearing further revelations and impending execution, Lü Buwei in 234 BC. e. committed suicide. Having brutally dealt with the rebels and restored order within the kingdom, Ying Zheng began external conquests.

In attempts to subjugate the scattered kingdoms, Ying Zheng did not disdain any methods - neither the creation of an extensive spy network, nor bribery and bribes, nor the help of wise advisers, the first place among which was taken by the influential dignitary, a native of the kingdom of Chu, Li Si. Possessing enormous efficiency and analytical talent, this man later took the position of chief adviser (otherwise known as prime minister or chancellor) at the court of Qin Shi Huang. During the performance of these duties, Li Si determined the policy and ideology of the Qin state, in accordance with his ideas, the state turned into a brutal militarized machine controlled by a complex bureaucratic apparatus. Under the leadership of Li Si, measures and weights were streamlined, Chinese writing was brought to a single standard, and a single font was introduced. Li Si, like Qin Shi Huang, was a fierce opponent of Confucianism, and subsequently many scholars who were supporters of this teaching were subjected to severe repression.

In 230, on the advice of Li Si, Ying Zheng sent a huge army against the neighboring Han kingdom. The Qin defeated the Han troops, captured the Han king An Wang and occupied the entire territory of the kingdom, turning it into a Qin district. This was the first kingdom conquered by the Qin. In subsequent years, the Qin army captured the kingdoms of Zhao (in 228), Wei (in 225), Yan (in 222), and Qi (in 221). “As a silkworm devours a mulberry leaf,” says the “Historical Notes,” so the young king conquered six large kingdoms. At the age of thirty-nine, Ying Zheng united all of China for the first time in history. “Such an insignificant person like me,” Zheng declared with false modesty, “raised troops to punish the rebellious princes, and with the help of the sacred power of the ancestors, punished them as they deserved, and finally established peace in the empire.”

It took Ying Zheng only 17 years to conquer all six kingdoms into which China was divided at that time, and unite them into one powerful state, the capital of which was the city of Xi'an. Historians estimate that many hundreds of thousands died or were captured in the conquest that extended Zheng's dominion from the western plateaus to the 1,200-mile eastern seas and made him the first ruler of a unified China.

So, by 221, the Qin kingdom victoriously ended the long struggle for the unification of the country. In place of scattered kingdoms, a single empire with centralized power is created. Having won a brilliant victory, Ying Zheng still understood that military force alone was not enough to firmly hold in his hands a territory whose population was more than three times the number of inhabitants of the Qin kingdom. Therefore, immediately after the end of hostilities, he carried out a series of measures aimed at strengthening the conquered positions. First of all, Ying Zheng published a decree in which he listed all the sins of the six kings, who allegedly “created unrest” and prevented the establishment of peace in the Celestial Empire. Ying Zheng stated that the death of the six kingdoms was primarily to blame for their rulers, who tried to destroy Qin. The issuance of such a decree was necessary for the moral justification of both the conquest itself and the cruel methods by which it was carried out. The second step towards strengthening the supreme power of the Qin over the entire conquered territory was the adoption by Ying Zheng of a new, higher title than the royal one. His conquest, as he believed, had no analogues in history and gave him a well-deserved right to a new name and title. Judging by the message of the ancient Chinese historiographer Sima Qian, Ying Zheng invited his entourage to discuss the choice of his throne name.

Based on the suggestions of his advisors, Ying Zheng adopted the throne name of Qin Shi Huang. To show his superiority over an ordinary king - Wang, the ruler chose the title “huang”, which means “august ruler”. To this title he added the word "shi", meaning "first", and the word "di", which after a millennium came to mean "emperor", but originally meant "divine ruler". The title chosen by the emperor was consonant with the name of one of the greatest characters of ancient Chinese myths and national history - Huangdi, the Yellow Lord. Ying Zheng, having adopted the name Qin Shi Huang, believed that the great glory of Huangdi awaited him and his descendants. “We are the First Emperor,” he declared majestically, “and our successors will be known as the Second Emperor, the Third Emperor, and so on, in an endless succession of generations.” Initially, the terms “huang” (ruler, august) and “di” (emperor) were used separately, and their further unification was intended to emphasize the autocracy and power of the ruler of a huge state. The imperial title created in this way lasted for a very long time - until the Xinhai Revolution of 1912, until the very end of the imperial era.

The colossal campaign to unify the Celestial Empire was completed. The former capital of the Qin kingdom, the city of Xianyang on the Weihe River (modern Xian), was (in 221 BC) declared the capital of the empire. The dignitaries and nobles of all the conquered kingdoms were transferred there. When the unification of the entire country was completed, the question arose of what to do with the conquered kingdoms. Some dignitaries advised Emperor Shi Huang to send his sons there as rulers. However, the head of the court order, Li Si, did not agree with this decision and, referring to the sad example of the Zhou dynasty, stated: “The Zhou Wen-wang and Wu-wang granted possessions in abundance to their sons, younger brothers and members of their family, but subsequently their descendants became alienated and fought each other as sworn enemies, the ruling princes increasingly attacked and killed each other, and the Zhou Son of Heaven was not able to stop these civil strife. Now, thanks to your extraordinary talents, the entire land among the seas is united into one whole and divided into regions and districts. If now all your sons and honored officials are generously rewarded with income from incoming taxes, then this will be quite enough, and the Celestial Empire will become easier to govern. The absence of different opinions about the Celestial Empire is the means to establishing calm and peace. If we again install sovereign princes in the principalities, it will be bad.” Qin Shi Huang followed this advice. Fearing internecine wars, he refused to provide independent land holdings to his sons, citing concerns about preserving peace in the Middle Kingdom. Thus, he strengthened his personal power.