Ying Zheng

I rushed home from COI to watch this show. It turned out to be lousy cos its in english. Well, i expected it to be in english. but at least the re-enactment in chinese lah. So i decided to do my own research on him.

Zheng was born in Handan (邯鄲), the capital of the enemy Zhao.
He was the son of Zichu (子楚), a prince of the royal house of Qin who served as a hostage in the State of Zhao under an agreement between the states of Qin and Zhao. Zichu later returned to Qin after many adventures and with the help of a rich merchant called Lü Buwei, and he managed to ascend the throne of Qin, Lü Buwei becoming Prime Minister of Qin.

According to a widespread story, Zheng was not the actual son of Zichu, but the son of the Lü Buwei. This tale arose because Zheng's mother had originally been a concubine of Lü Buwei before he gave her to his good friend Zichu shortly before Zheng's birth.

Zheng ascended the throne at the age of 12 and a half, and was king under a regent until 21 whereby he staged a palace coup and assumed full power. He continued the tradition of tenaciously attacking and defeating the feudal states (dodging a celebrated assassination attempt by Jing Ke while doing so) and finally took control of the whole of China by defeating Qi.

There is a proverb or something regarding this assassination right? Can some1 remind me wat is it?

Anyway Lü Buwei resigned after Qin Shi Huang mistrusted him. Li Si took over. It is Li Si who changed the imperial edict for succession. Another well known figure during this part of history is Han Fei Zi.

Qin Shi Huang's three great achievements are unifying Chinese character, unifying money, and unifying measurement units.
Some of his projects: The Great Wall was built to defend his empire against the Xiongnu in the north, a lavish tomb, Terracotta Army (兵馬俑) was created, and canals and bridges were also built.

He is also the one who proclaim Emperor and was addressed as Wan Sui or Thousands Years, as he wanted his empire to be of Thousands Years.
He called himself Qin Shi Huang. His successors are to be Qin Er Shi, Qin San Shi, etc. But it ended within 50 years.
Hm... juz remembered a phrase "Chen You Liang conquer the world, Emperor Hong Wu sit."
Looks like it apply for Xiang Yu and Liu Bang also.

He also did a lot of things hated by the world and some of his silly things included: Burning of books, finding immortal pills ( He told he is Hou Yi...).

Another famous incident after his death is the burning of A-Fang Palace.

I wanted to go China sooner or later...