Shi Huangdi << shihr hwahng dee >> (259-210 B.C.), also spelled Shih Huang-ti, was a Chinese emperor who founded the Qin dynasty (221-206 B.C.). He created the first united Chinese empire and began construction of the Great Wall of China. His name means first emperor. Shi Huangdi is also known by the name Qin Shi Huang.
Shi Huangdi’s personal name was Zheng. He was born in 259 B.C. His father, Zhuangxiang, was a prince of Qin. Centered in what is now Shaanxi Province, Qin was the westernmost of seven states that fought one another for control of China at that time.
When Zheng was born, Zhuangxiang was living as a hostage in the neighboring state of Zhao. Zhuangxiang served as a guarantee for a truce between Qin and Zhao. Zheng’s mother was from Zhao. She had been the concubine (wife of lower rank) of Lü Buwei, a rich merchant in Zhao, until Lü Buwei gave her to Zhuangxiang. Lü Buwei helped to establish Zhuangxiang on the throne of Qin in 249 B.C. and then became the new king’s chief adviser. He continued to lead the government after Zhuangxiang died in 246 B.C., and Zheng, at age 13, became king of Qin.
Zheng came of age in 238 B.C. He soon exiled Lü Buwei, who had become involved with a rebel plot. Li Si, a scholar of the Chinese philosophy of Legalism, became the king’s chief adviser. Legalism claimed that effective government should be strong and centralized, enforced by both rewards and harsh punishments. From 230 to 221 B.C., Zheng conquered the other Chinese states and replaced local rule with a strong central government. In 221 B.C., he marked this achievement by inventing the new title huangdi, usually translated as emperor. He was the first ruler to hold this title. Chinese rulers were called by their titles and not their personal names, so he was called Shi Huangdi, meaning first emperor. As emperor, Shi Huangdi continued to conquer new territories. 
To more closely control China’s powerful noble families, Shi Huangdi required them to live in the Qin capital of Xianyang. He standardized weights and measures, laws, and the Chinese script.
Shi Huangdi used harsh, oppressive methods to enforce his rule. He executed many people who opposed him, including scholars who called for a return to the Confucian philosophy of government by tradition and moral principles. He burned writings that might have turned people against him. To keep out northern invaders, Shi Huangdi linked short walls built by earlier rulers, marking the start of the Great Wall of China. He used forced labor to build the Great Wall, as well as canals, roads, palaces, and his tomb complex. 
Shi Huangdi died in 210 B.C. His successors could not maintain his tight control. The Qin dynasty ended in 206 B.C., but the idea of a unified and efficiently administered China remained as a lasting legacy.
Shi Huangdi’s tomb was an underground palace protected by an army of life-sized terra-cotta (baked clay) statues. In 1974, Chinese farmers discovered the buried terra-cotta army near the city of Xi’an. Archaeologists have excavated more than 7,500 warrior statues, along with statues of full-sized horses and chariots. However, they have not excavated the tomb itself, which lies about 1 mile (1.6 kilometers) west of the terra-cotta army. 
