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81-467: The title Taishang Huangdi was first used when Qin Shi Huangdi bestowed it upon his deceased father, King Zhuangxiang . Emperor Gaozu of Han bestowed the title Taishang Huangdi on his then-living father Liu Taigong . He bestowed it onto his father to express filial piety . Furthermore, it was intended to preserve the social hierarchy between father and son, as the former was a commoner and

162-461: A brilliant and pragmatic strategy. With the advanced technology of the Chinese states and tactics of the steppe nomads, Zhao's cavalry became a powerful force. As a result, the newly empowered Zhao were more evenly matched with their greatest threat, Qi. Zhao demonstrated its increased military prowess by conquering the state of Zhongshan in 295 BC after a protracted war and annexing territory from

243-481: A descendant of Confucius, described the alchemists as Confucianists and entwined the martyrs' legend with his story of discovering the lost Confucian books behind a demolished wall in his ancestral house. Qin Shi Huang also followed the theory of the five elements : fire, water, earth, wood, and metal. It was believed that the royal house of the previous Zhou dynasty had ruled by the power of fire, associated with

324-619: A generation below him while he belonged to the generation of leaders from Mao Zedong 's era. The term has also been applied to other Communist Party senior officials without formal titles who were seen as meddling in the affairs of their successors, such as Chen Yun and Jiang Zemin . Instances of Chinese rulers who were granted the title Taishang Huang and/or Taishang Huangdi : Qin Shi Huangdi Qin Shi Huang ( Chinese : 秦始皇 , pronunciation ; February 259  – 12 July 210 BC)

405-453: A head in 354 BC when Wei invaded Zhao, forcing Zhao to seek help from Qi. The resulting Battle of Guiling was a major victory for Qi, reducing the threat to Zhao's southern border. Zhao remained relatively weak until the military reforms of King Wuling of Zhao (325–299 BC). Zhao soldiers were ordered to dress like their Hu neighbours and to replace war chariots with cavalry archers ( 胡服骑射 ; 胡服騎射 ; húfúqíshè ). This reform proved to be

486-475: A larger group descended from a prominent ancestor , usually said to have lived during the time of the legendary Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors , and the clan name ( 氏 ) comprised a smaller group that showed a branch's current fief or recent title. The ancient practice was to list men's names separately— Sima Qian 's "Basic Annals of the First Emperor of Qin" introduces him as "given the name Zheng and

567-491: A signal, the muscular assassin hurled the cone at the first carriage and shattered it. However, the emperor was travelling with two identical carriages to baffle attackers, and he was actually in the second carriage. Thus the attempt failed, though both men were able to escape the subsequent manhunt. Numerous state walls had been built during the previous four centuries, many of them closing gaps between river defences and impassable cliffs. To impose centralized rule and prevent

648-657: A slab of lead, and Gao Jianli swung it at the king but missed. The second assassination attempt had failed; Gao was executed shortly after. In 230 BC, King Zheng began the final campaigns of the Warring States period , setting out to conquer the remaining six major Chinese states and bring China under unified Qin control. The state of Han , the weakest of the Warring States, was the first to fall in 230 BC. In 229, Qin armies invaded Zhao , which had been severely weakened by natural disasters, and captured

729-515: Is that these nine regions are unified into one state through the travels of the eponymous sage, Yu the Great , and the sending of each region's unique goods to the capital as tribute. Other texts also discussed these regional differences in culture and physical environment. One such text was Wuzi (The Book of Master Wu), a military treatise of the Warring States, written in response to a request from Marquis Wu of Wei for advice on how to deal with

810-520: The Classic of Poetry or the Book of Documents was to be punished especially severely. According to the later Shiji , the following year Qin Shi Huang had some 460 scholars buried alive for possessing the forbidden books. The emperor's oldest son Fusu criticised him for this act. The emperor's own library did retain copies of the forbidden books, but most of these were destroyed when Xiang Yu burned

891-551: The Shiji written by Sima Qian during the Han dynasty, the first emperor was the eldest son of the Qin prince Yiren, who later became King Zhuangxiang of Qin . Prince Yiren at that time was residing at the court of Zhao , serving as a hostage to guarantee the armistice between Qin and Zhao. Prince Yiren had fallen in love at first sight with a concubine of Lü Buwei , a rich merchant from

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972-552: The Twelve Metal Colossi , which he used to adorn his Palace. Each statue was said to be 5 zhang [11.5 meters] in height, and weighing about 1000 dan [about 70 tons]. Sima Qian considered this as one of the great achievements of the Emperor, on a par with the "unification of the law, weights and measurements, standardization of the axle width of carriages, and standardization of the writing system". During 600 years,

1053-619: The Baidi state of Dai in the mid-5th century BC. At the end of the Spring and Autumn period, Jin was divided between three powerful ministers, one of whom was Zhao Xiangzi , patriarch of the Zhao family. In 403 BC, the Zhou king formally recognised the existence of the Zhao state along with two other states, Han and Wei. Some historians, beginning with Sima Guang , take this recognition to mark

1134-528: The Han dynasty that succeeded the Qin. Since the mid-20th century, scholars have begun questioning this evaluation, inciting considerable discussion on the actual nature of his policies and reforms. According to the sinologist Michael Loewe "few would contest the view that the achievements of his reign have exercised a paramount influence on the whole of China's subsequent history, marking the start of an epoch that closed in 1911 ". Modern Chinese sources often give

1215-513: The Han dynasty . Before Qin Shi Huang unified China in 221 BC, each region had its own customs and culture, although elite culture was identical throughout. In the Yu Gong (Tribute of Yu) chapter of the Book of Documents – probably written in the 4th century BC – China is described as divided into nine regions, each with its own distinctive peoples and products. The central theme of this section

1296-522: The Northern and Southern dynasties , this institution was employed by non-Han regimes in the north as a strategy to cast away from the tradition of the horizontal succession in favor of the Han tradition of a male primogenitor pattern of succession. In contrast, due to their Han heritage, the southern regimes had no need to make use and never employed the institution as a means to stabilize successions. In 617, Li Yuan (later Emperor Gaozu of Tang) bestowed

1377-528: The Ordos Plateau from the nomadic Xiongnu , although the Xiongnu later rallied under Modu Chanyu . Qin Shi Huang also worked with his minister Li Si to enact major economic and political reforms aimed at the standardization of the diverse practices among earlier Chinese states . He is traditionally said to have banned and burned many books and executed scholars . His public works projects included

1458-592: The Xiongnu in the Zhao–Xiongnu War and later against Qin. By the end of the Warring States period, Zhao was the only state strong enough to oppose the mighty Qin . An alliance with Wei against Qin began in 287 BC, but ended in defeat at Huayang in 273 BC. The struggle then culminated in the bloodiest battle of the entire period, the Battle of Changping in 260 BC. Zhao's forces were utterly defeated by Qin. Although

1539-530: The state of Wey . Lü consented for her to be Yiren's wife, who then became known as Lady Zhao after the state of Zhao. He was given the name Zhao Zheng, the name Zheng ( 正 ) came from his month of birth Zhengyue , the first month of the Chinese lunar calendar ; the clan name of Zhao came from his father's lineage and was unrelated to either his mother's name or the location of his birth. ( Song Zhong  [ zh ] says that his birthday, significantly,

1620-478: The weights and measurements . Wagon axles were prescribed a standard length to facilitate road transport. The emperor also developed an extensive network of roads and canals for trade and communication. The currencies of the different states were standardized to the Ban Liang coin. The forms of Chinese characters were unified. Under Li Si, the seal script of the state of Qin became the official standard, and

1701-412: The Emperor, to cover the foul smell of his body decomposing in the summer heat. Pretending he was alive behind the wagon's shade, they changed his clothes daily, brought food, and pretended to carry messages to and from him. After they reached Xianyang, the death of the Emperor was announced. Qin Shi Huang had not liked to talk about his death and had never written a will. Although his eldest son Fusu

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1782-698: The First Emperor, creating the title which would be used as the title of the Chinese sovereign for the next two millennia. Qin Shi Huang also ordered the Heshibi to be crafted into the Heirloom Seal of the Realm , which would serve as a physical symbol of the Mandate of Heaven , and would be passed from emperor to emperor until its loss in the 10th century. During 215 BC, in an attempt to expand Qin territory, Qin Shi Huang ordered military campaigns against

1863-468: The First Emperor. However, a number of modern scholars have doubted this account of his birth. Sinologist Derk Bodde wrote: "There is good reason for believing that the sentence describing this unusual pregnancy is an interpolation added to the Shiji by an unknown person in order to slander the First Emperor and indicate his political as well as natal illegitimacy". John Knoblock and Jeffrey Riegel, in their translation of Lü Buwei's Lüshi Chunqiu , call

1944-466: The Qin script itself was simplified through removal of variant forms. This did away with all the regional scripts to form a universal written language for all of China, despite the diversity of spoken dialects. According to Chinese records, after unifying the country in 221 BC, Qin Shuhuang confiscated all the bronze weapons of the conquered countries, and cast them into twelve monumental statues,

2025-536: The Second Emperor, later known as Qin Er Shi or "Second Generation Qin". The immediate family members of Qin Shi Huang include: Qin Shi Huang had about 50 children (about 30 sons and 15 daughters), but most of their names are unknown. He had numerous concubines but appeared to have never named an empress. Zhao (state) Zhao ( traditional Chinese : 趙 ; simplified Chinese : 赵 )

2106-625: The Xiongnu nomads in the North. Led by General Meng Tian , Qin armies successfully routed the Xiongnu from the Ordos Plateau , setting the ancient foundations for the construction of the Great Wall of China . In the South, Qin Shi Huang also ordered several military campaigns against the Yue tribes , which annexed various regions in modern Guangdong and Vietnam. In an attempt to avoid a recurrence of

2187-516: The Yan army, along with King Xi of Yan , were able to retreat to the Liaodong Peninsula . After Qin besieged and flooded their capital of Daliang , the state of Wei surrendered in 225 BC. Around this time, as a precautionary measure, Qin seized ten cities from Chu, the largest and most powerful of the other Warring States. In 224, Qin launched a full-scale invasion of Chu, capturing

2268-464: The baby was born after an unusually long period of pregnancy. According to translations of the Lüshi Chunqiu , Zhao Ji gave birth to the future emperor in the city of Handan in 259 BC, the first month of the 48th year of King Zhaoxiang of Qin . The idea that the emperor was an illegitimate child, widely believed throughout Chinese history, contributed to the generally negative view of

2349-480: The beginning of the Warring States period. At the beginning of the Warring States period, Zhao was one of the weaker states. Despite its extensive territory, its northern border was frequently harassed by the Eastern Hu , Forest Hu, Loufan , Xiongnu , and other northern nomadic peoples. Zhao lacked the military might of Wei or the wealth of Qi, and became a pawn in the struggle between them. This struggle came to

2430-535: The best generals of the period), Wang Jian was unable to make any headway. The invasion ended in a stalemate. The Qin emperor, Qin Shihuang , realised that he needed to get rid of Li Mu in order to conquer Zhao, and tried to sow discord among the Zhao leadership. The Zhao king Youmiu fell for the plot: on the false advice of disloyal court officials and Qin infiltrators, he ordered Li Mu's execution and relieved Sima Shang of his duties. Li Mu's replacement, Zhao Cong,

2511-446: The capital of Handan in 228. Prince Jia of Zhao managed to escape with the remnants of the Zhao army and established the short-lived state of Dai , proclaiming himself king. In 227 BC, fearing a Qin invasion, Crown Prince Dan of Yan ordered a failed assassination attempt on King Zheng. This provided casus belli for Zheng to invade Yan in 226, capturing the capital of Ji (modern Beijing ) that same year. The remnants of

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2592-480: The capital of Shouchun in 223. In 222, Qin armies extinguished the last Yan remnants in Liaodong and the Zhao rump state of Dai. In 221, Qin armies invaded the state of Qi and captured King Jian of Qi without much resistance, bringing an end to the Warring States period . By 221 BC, all Chinese lands had been unified under the Qin. To elevate himself above the feudal Zhou kings, King Zheng proclaimed himself

2673-407: The capital, Lao Ai successfully fled the battlefield. A price of 1 million copper coins was placed on Lao Ai's head if he was taken alive or half a million if dead. Lao Ai's supporters were captured and beheaded; then Lao Ai was tied up and torn to five pieces by horse carriages, while his entire family was executed to the third degree. The two hidden sons were also killed, while the mother Zhao Ji

2754-651: The centuries. In 214 BC the Emperor began the project of a major canal allowing water transport between north and south China, originally for military supplies. The canal, 34 kilometres in length, links two of China's major waterways, the Xiang River flowing into the Yangtze and the Lijiang River , flowing into the Pearl River . The canal aided Qin's expansion to the south-west. It is considered one of

2835-476: The colour red. The new Qin dynasty must be ruled by the next element on the list, which is water, Zhao Zheng's birth element. Water was represented by the colour black, and black became the preferred colour for Qin garments, flags, and pennants. Other associations include north as the cardinal direction , the winter season and the number six. Tallies and official hats were 15 centimetres (5.9 inches) long, carriages two metres (6.6 feet) wide, one pace ( 步 ; bù )

2916-466: The current Great Wall of China . Transporting building materials was difficult, so builders always tried to use local materials: rock over mountain ranges, rammed earth over the plains. "Build and move on" was a guiding principle, implying that the Wall was not a permanently fixed border. There are no surviving records specifying the length and course of the Qin walls, which have largely eroded away over

2997-452: The dagger unrolled from the map, the king leapt to his feet and struggled to draw his sword – none of his courtiers were allowed to carry arms in his presence. Jing stabbed at the king but missed, and King Zheng slashed Jing's thigh. In desperation, Jing Ke threw the dagger but missed again. He surrendered after a brief fight in which he was further injured. The Yan state was conquered in its entirety five years later. Gao Jianli

3078-578: The emperor's personal name written as Ying Zheng, using the ancestral name of the House of Ying . The rulers of the state of Qin had styled themselves kings from the time of King Huiwen in 325 BC. Upon his ascension, Zheng became known as the King of Qin or King Zheng of Qin. This title made him the nominal equal of the rulers of Shang and Zhou , the last of whose kings had been deposed by King Zhaoxiang of Qin in 256 BC. Following

3159-430: The forces of Wei and Chu saved Handan from a subsequent siege by the victorious Qin, Zhao would never recover from the enormous loss of troops in the battle. In 229 BC, invasions led by the Qin general Wang Jian were resisted by Li Mu and his subordinate officer Sima Shang ( 司馬尚 ) until 228 BC. Li Mu was one of the finest generals of the Warring States period, and although he was unable to defeat Wang Jian (also one of

3240-681: The generations. (In fact, the scheme lasted only as long as his immediate heir, the Second Emperor .) The new title carried religious overtones. For that reason, sinologists starting with Peter A. Boodberg or Edward H. Schafer —sometimes translate it as "thearch" and the First Emperor as the First ;Thearch. The First Emperor intended that his realm would remain intact through the ages but, following its overthrow and replacement by Han after his death, it became customary to prefix his title with Qin. Thus: As early as Sima Qian, it

3321-433: The incorporation of diverse state walls into a single Great Wall of China and a massive new national road system, as well as his city-sized mausoleum guarded by a life-sized Terracotta Army . He ruled until his death in 210 BC, during his fifth tour of eastern China . Qin Shi Huang has often been portrayed as a tyrant and strict Legalist —characterizations that stem partly from the scathing assessments made during

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3402-597: The king of Qin , after which he became King Zheng of Qin . By 221 BC, he had conquered all the other warring states and unified all of China , and he ascended the throne as China's first emperor. During his reign, his generals greatly expanded the size of the Chinese state: campaigns south of Chu permanently added the Yue lands of Hunan and Guangdong to the Sinosphere , and campaigns in Inner Asia conquered

3483-610: The latter was a dynastic founder. In 301, during the War of the Eight Princes , Sima Lun became the emperor by forcing his puppet Emperor Hui of Jin to become the Taishang Huang . The title had strictly served as an honorific before, but it had become a tool of political infighting over the course of this incident. Another significant occurrence of development was in 399, when Lü Guang of Later Liang abdicated. Lü Guang

3564-666: The lower reaches of the Yellow River , and someone inscribed the seditious words "The First Emperor will die and his land will be divided" ( 始皇死而地分 ). The Emperor sent an imperial secretary to investigate this prophecy. No one would confess to the deed, so all living nearby were put to death, and the stone was pulverized. During his fifth tour of eastern China, the Emperor became seriously ill in Pingyuanjin ( Pingyuan County, Shandong ), and died in July or August of 210 BC, at

3645-467: The mandatory ideology of the Qin dynasty. Beginning in 213 BC, at the instigation of Li Si and to avoid scholars' comparisons of his reign with the past, Qin Shi Huang ordered most existing books to be burned , with the exception of those on astrology, agriculture, medicine, divination, and the history of the state of Qin . This would also serve to further the ongoing reformation of the writing system by removing examples of obsolete scripts. Owning

3726-467: The minds of the best scholars on the Emperor's quest. Some of those buried alive were alchemists, and this could have been a means of testing their death-defying abilities. The emperor built a system of tunnels and passageways to each of his over 200 palaces, because traveling unseen would supposedly keep him safe from evil spirits. In 211 BC, a large meteor is said to have fallen in Dongjun in

3807-509: The mission in 227 BC. The assassins gained access to King Zheng by pretending a diplomatic gifting of goodwill: a map of Dukang and the severed head of Fan Wuji . Qin Wuyang stepped forward first to present the map case but was overcome by fear. Jing Ke then advanced with both gifts, while explaining that his partner was trembling because "[he] had never set eyes on the Son of Heaven ". When

3888-584: The modern provinces of Inner Mongolia , Hebei , Shanxi and Shaanxi . It bordered the states of Qin, Wei, and Yan , as well as various nomadic peoples including the Hu and Xiongnu . Its capital was Handan , in modern Hebei province. Zhao was home to the administrative philosopher Shen Dao , Confucian Xun Kuang , and Gongsun Long , who is affiliated to the school of names . The Zhao clan within Jin had been accumulating power for centuries, including annexing

3969-436: The mystical Mount Penglai . They sought Anqi Sheng , a thousand-year-old magician who had supposedly invited Qin Shi Huang during a chance meeting during his travels. The expedition never returned, perhaps for fear of the consequences of failure. Legends claim that they reached Japan and colonized it. It is also possible that the Emperor's book burning, which exempted alchemical works, could be seen as an attempt to focus

4050-436: The neighbouring states of Wei, Yan, and Qin. During this time, Zhao cavalry also occasionally intruded into Qi during latter campaigns against Chu . Several brilliant military commanders of the period served Zhao contemporaneously, including Lian Po , Zhao She , and Li Mu . Lian Po was instrumental in defending Zhao against Qin. Zhao She was most active in the east, leading the invasion of Yan . Li Mu defended Zhao against

4131-399: The news could trigger a general uprising during the two months' travel for the imperial entourage to return to the capital Xianyang. Li Si decided to hide the emperor's death: the only members of the entourage to be informed were a younger son, Ying Huhai , the eunuch Zhao Gao , and five or six favourite eunuchs. Li Si ordered carts of rotten fish to be carried before and behind the wagon of

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4212-444: The ninth day of the eighth month, Emperor Gaozu abdicated in favor for his son Li Shimin (who became Emperor Taizong). He remained as Taishang Huang until his death in 635. In modern Chinese history after 1949, Deng Xiaoping has been called Taishang Huang in a pejorative context, because he wielded much of his power without assuming the titles normally taken on by China's paramount leader and wielded influence over leaders who were

4293-726: The other states. Wu Qi , to whom work is attributed, explained that the government and nature of the people are linked to the physical environment and territory in which they live. Of Zhao, he said: The two states of Han and Zhao train their troops rigorously but have difficulty in applying their skills to the battlefield. Han and Zhao are states of the Central Plain. Theirs are a gentle people, weary from war and experienced in arms, but have little regard for their generals. The soldiers' salaries are meager and their officers have no strong commitment to their countries. Although their troops are experienced, they cannot be expected to fight to

4374-484: The palace in Shaqiu prefecture , about two months travel from Xianyang, at the age of 49. The cause of Qin Shi Huang's death remains unknown, though he had been worn down by his many years of rule. One hypothesis holds that he was poisoned by an elixir containing mercury , given to him by his court alchemists and physicians in his quest for immortality. Upon witnessing the Emperor's death, Chancellor Li Si feared

4455-514: The palaces of Xianyang in 206 BC. Recent research suggests that this "burying Confucian scholars alive" is a Confucian martyrs' legend. More probably, the emperor ordered the execution of a group of alchemists who had deceived him. In the subsequent Han dynasty, the Confucian scholars, who had served the Qin loyally, used this incident to distance themselves from the failed regime. Kong Anguo ( c.  165  – c.  74 BC ),

4536-408: The personal name of Qin Shi Huang as Ying Zheng, with Yíng ( 嬴 ) taken as the surname and Zheng ( 政 ) the given name. However, in ancient China, the naming convention differed, and the clan name Zhao ( 趙 ), the place where he was born and raised, may be used as the surname. Unlike modern Chinese names , the nobility of ancient China had two distinct surnames: the ancestral name ( 姓 ) comprised

4617-689: The political chaos of the Warring States period , Qin Shi Huang and Li Si worked to completely abolish the feudal system of loose alliances and federations. They organized the empire into administrative units and subunits: first 36 (later 40) commanderies , then counties , townships, and hundred-family units (里, Li , roughly corresponding to modern-day subdistricts and communities ). People assigned to these units would no longer be identified by their native region or former feudal state, for example "Chu person" (楚人, Chu rén ). Appointments were to be based on merit instead of hereditary right. Qin Shi Huang and Li Si unified China economically by standardizing

4698-408: The queen dowager. He found a man named Lao Ai . According to The Record of Grand Historian , Lao Ai was disguised as a eunuch by plucking his beard. Later Lao Ai and queen Zhao Ji got along so well that they secretly had two sons together. Lao Ai was ennobled as Marquis, and was showered with riches. Lao Ai had been planning to replace King Zheng with one of his own sons, but during a dinner party he

4779-461: The resurgence of feudal lords, the Emperor ordered the destruction of walls between the former states, which were now internal walls dividing the empire. However, to defend against the northern Xiongnu nomads, who had beaten back repeated campaigns against them, he ordered new walls to connect the fortifications along the empire's northern frontier. Hundreds of thousands of workers were mobilized, and an unknown number died, to build this precursor to

4860-416: The same father but from a different mother. After Zhao Zheng inherited the throne, Chengjiao rebelled at Tunliu and surrendered to the state of Zhao. Chengjiao's remaining retainers and families were executed by Zhao Zheng. As King Zheng grew older, Lü Buwei became fearful that the boy king would discover his liaison with his mother, Lady Zhao . He decided to distance himself and look for a replacement for

4941-522: The statues were commented upon and moved around from palace to palace, until they were finally destroyed in the 4th century AD, but no illustration has remained. While the previous Warring States era was one of constant warfare, it was also considered the golden age of free thought. Qin Shi Huang eliminated the Hundred Schools of Thought , which included Confucianism and other philosophies. With all other philosophies banned, Legalism became

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5022-428: The story "patently false, meant both to libel Lü and to cast aspersions on the First Emperor". Claiming Lü Buwei—a merchant—as the First Emperor's biological father was meant to be especially disparaging, since later Confucian society regarded merchants as the lowest social class . In 246 BC, when King Zhuangxiang died after a short reign of just three years, he was succeeded on the throne by his 13-year-old son. At

5103-418: The surname Zhao " —or to combine the clan surname with the personal name: Sima's account of Chu describes the sixteenth year of the reign of King Kaolie as "the time when Zhao Zheng was enthroned as King of Qin". However, since modern Chinese surnames (despite usually descending from clan names) use the same character as the old ancestral names, it is much more common in modern Chinese sources to see

5184-425: The surrender of Qi in 221 BC, King Zheng reunited all of the lands of the former Kingdom of Zhou . Rather than maintain his rank as king, however, he created a new title of huángdì ( emperor ) for himself. This new title combined two titles— huáng of the mythical Three Sovereigns ( 三皇 , Sān huáng ) and the dì of the legendary Five Emperors ( 五帝 , Wŭ Dì ) of Chinese prehistory . The title

5265-631: The three great feats of ancient Chinese engineering, along with the Great Wall and the Sichuan Dujiangyan Irrigation System . As he grew old, Qin Shi Huang desperately sought the fabled elixir of life which supposedly confers immortality. In his obsessive quest, he fell prey to many fraudulent elixirs. He visited Zhifu Island three times in his search. In one case he sent Xu Fu , a Zhifu islander, with ships carrying hundreds of young men and women in search of

5346-521: The time, Zhao Zheng was still young, so Lü Buwei acted as the regent prime minister of the State of Qin, which was still waging war against the other six states . Nine years later, in 235 BC, Zhao Zheng assumed full power after Lü Buwei was banished for his involvement in a scandal with Queen Dowager Zhao. Zhao Chengjiao , the Lord Chang'an ( 长安君 ), was Zhao Zheng's legitimate half-brother, by

5427-597: The title Taishang Huang upon Emperor Yang of Sui in absentia. Here, Li Yuan used the honorific as a legitimating cover for his seizure of power, in which the newly-installed Yang You served as his puppet emperor. In 626 during the Xuanwu Gate Incident , Prince Li Shimin of Tang led his armed men in a coup for the throne. During the course of the coup, he succeeded in killing his rival brothers, Crown Prince Li Jiancheng and Prince Li Yuanji . Within three days, Emperor Gaozu created Li Shimin as his heir. On

5508-436: Was 1.4 m (4.6 ft). In 230 BC, the state of Qin had defeated the state of Han . In 218, a former Han aristocrat named Zhang Liang swore revenge on Qin Shi Huang. He sold his valuables and hired a strongman assassin, building a heavy metal cone weighing 120 catties (roughly 160 lb or 97 kg). The two men hid among the bushes along the emperor's route over a mountain during his third imperial tour. At

5589-405: Was a close friend of Jing Ke, and wanted to avenge his death. As a famous zhu player, he was summoned to play for King Zheng. Someone in the palace recognized him and guessed his plans. Reluctant to kill such a skilled musician, the king ordered his eyes put out, and then proceeded with the performance. The king praised Gao's playing and even allowed him closer. The zhu had been weighted with

5670-536: Was common to shorten the resulting four-character Qin Shi Huangdi to 秦始皇 , variously transcribed as Qin Shihuang or Qin Shi Huang. Following his elevation as emperor, both Zheng's personal name 政 and possibly its homophone 正 became taboo . The First Emperor also arrogated the first-person pronoun 朕 for his exclusive use, and in 212 BC began calling himself The Immortal ( 真人 , Others were to address him as "Your Majesty" ( 陛下 , in person and "Your Highness" ( 上 ) in writing. According to

5751-462: Was defeated by Liu Bang 's generals Han Xin and Zhang Er. Chen Yu was defeated by Han Xin in 204 BC, and later Zhao Xie was killed by Han forces. Liu Bang gave the state of Zhao to Zhang Er. In 154 BC, an unrelated Zhao , led by Prince of Zhao Liu Sui ( 劉遂 ), participated in the unsuccessful Rebellion of the Seven States ( Chinese : 七國之亂 ) against the newly installed sixth emperor of

5832-419: Was first in line to succeed him as emperor, Li Si and the chief eunuch Zhao Gao conspired to kill Fusu, who was in league with their enemy, general Meng Tian . Meng Tian's brother Meng Yi , a senior minister, had once punished Zhao Gao. Li Si and Zhao Gao forged a letter from Qin Shi Huang commanding Fusu and General Meng to commit suicide. The plan worked, and the younger son Hu Hai started his brief reign as

5913-430: Was heard bragging about being the young king's stepfather. In 238 BC, while the king was travelling to the former capital, Yong ( 雍 ), Lao Ai seized the queen mother's seal and mobilized an army in an attempted coup d'état . When notified of the rebellion, King Zheng ordered Lü Buwei to let Lord Changping and Lord Changwen  [ zh ] attack Lao Ai. Although the royal army killed hundreds of rebels at

5994-502: Was intended to appropriate some of the prestige of the Yellow Emperor , whose cult was popular in the later Warring States period and who was considered to be a founder of the Chinese people. King Zheng chose the new regnal name of First Emperor ( Shǐ Huángdì , Wade-Giles Shih Huang-ti) on the understanding that his successors would be successively titled the "Second Emperor", "Third Emperor", and so on through

6075-609: Was later killed by his subordinate Li Liang ( 李良 ), Zhang Er ( 張耳 ) and Chen Yu ( 陳餘 ), former officials of Zhao, created the Zhao royal Zhao Xie ( 趙歇 ) as King of Zhao. In 206 BC, the rebel lord Xiang Yu of Chu defeated the Qin dynasty and made himself and seventeen other lords kings , appointing Zhao Xie the king of Dai. Chen Yu helped Zhao Xie reclaim the land of Zhao from Zhang Er, so Zhao Xie created Chen Yu as Prince of Dai. In 205 BC, Chen Yu's subordinate in Dai, Xia Yue ( 夏說 ),

6156-412: Was old and had become mortally ill, but he wished to secure the transition of imperial power to his designated heir , the eldest son from his main consort, in the presence of another son who was older and posed a threat to the legitimate succession. Even though Lü Guang failed in his efforts, this incident was the earliest example where imperial retirement served as a method to secure succession. During

6237-462: Was on the first day of Zhengyue . ) Lü Buwei's machinations later helped Yiren become King Zhuangxiang of Qin in 250 BC. However, the Shiji also claimed that the first emperor was not the actual son of Prince Yiren but that of Lü Buwei. According to this account, when Lü Buwei introduced the dancing girl to the prince, she was Lü Buwei's concubine and had already become pregnant by him, and

6318-409: Was one of the seven major states during the Warring States period of ancient China. It emerged from the tripartite division of Jin , along with Han and Wei , in the 5th century BC. Zhao gained considerable strength from the military reforms initiated during the reign of King Wuling , but suffered a crushing defeat at the hands of Qin at the Battle of Changping . Its territory included areas in

6399-591: Was placed under house arrest until her death many years later. Lü Buwei drank a cup of poisoned wine and committed suicide in 235 BC. Ying Zheng then assumed full power as the King of the Qin state. Replacing Lü Buwei, Li Si became the new chancellor . King Zheng and his troops continued their conquest of the neighbouring states. The state of Yan was no match for the Qin states: small and weak, it had already been harassed frequently by Qin soldiers. Crown Prince Dan of Yan plotted an assassination attempt against King Zheng, recruiting Jing Ke and Qin Wuyang for

6480-479: Was promptly defeated by Wang Jian. Qin captured King Youmiu and defeated Zhao in 228 BC. Prince Jia, half-brother of King Qian, was proclaimed King Jia at Dai and led the last Zhao forces against the Qin. This regime lasted until 222 BC, when the Qin army captured him and defeated his forces at Dai. A rebel named Wu Chen , following the example of Chen Sheng and Wu Guang in Chu , proclaimed himself King of Zhao. Wu

6561-654: Was the founder of the Qin dynasty and the first emperor of China . Rather than maintain the title of " king " ( wáng 王 ) borne by the previous Shang and Zhou rulers, he assumed the invented title of "emperor" ( huángdì 皇帝 ), which would see continuous use by monarchs in China for the next two millennia. Born in Handan, the capital of Zhao , as Ying Zheng ( 嬴政 ) or Zhao Zheng ( 趙政 ), his parents were King Zhuangxiang of Qin and Lady Zhao . The wealthy merchant Lü Buwei assisted him in succeeding his father as

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