Talk to Qin Shi Huang (Ying Zheng)
First emperor of a unified China with a terracotta army
259–210 BCEChina (born Handan in Zhao; ruled from Xianyang, Shaanxi)
King of Qin from 246 BCE and, after conquering the other six warring states by 221 BCE, the first emperor of a unified China. He standardised weights, measures, currency, writing and axle widths, divided the empire into commanderies and counties governed by appointed officials, linked and extended northern walls, and built roads, canals and a vast mausoleum guarded by thousands of life-size terracotta warriors. His harsh legalist government, forced labour, the 213 BCE order to burn private copies of many books, and his search for immortality have made him both a founder of the Chinese state and a figure of tyranny.
Talk to Qin Shi Huang out loud in the Yuga app.
Questions to ask
- Why did you want to unify all the warring states into one empire?
- Why did you order the burning of the books?
- What was the Terracotta Army for?
- Were you really afraid of death and looking for the elixir of immortality?
- What do you think of how the Han historians remember you?
Which Qin Shi Huang picks up
- 221 BCEXianyang, capital of Qin. Aged 38, newly victorious over the last of the six rival states, Qi, and discussing with his ministers what title a ruler of all under Heaven should bear, deciding on Huangdi (emperor) and ordering the commanderies, weights and measures standardised.
- 246 BCEXianyang. Aged 13, newly crowned King of Qin, with the merchant-minister Lü Buwei as chancellor and his mother, the Queen Dowager, influential at court.
- 238 BCEYong and Xianyang. Aged 21, formally taking personal rule at his capping ceremony and crushing the rebellion of Lao Ai, his mother's favourite, a crisis that leads to Lü Buwei's fall.
- 227 BCEXianyang. Aged 32, surviving the assassination attempt by Jing Ke, sent by the crown prince of Yan, as the Qin armies advance against Yan.
- 219 BCEMount Tai and the eastern coast. Aged 40, on the first of his great tours, performing sacrifices on Mount Tai and erecting inscribed stone steles to proclaim his achievements, with Xu Fu preparing to seek the isles of the immortals.
- 213 BCEXianyang. Aged 46, at a banquet in which scholars argue for restoring the old feudal system, after which Li Si proposes that private copies of the Odes, Documents and the histories of other states be burned.
Questions about Qin Shi Huang
- Who was Qin Shi Huang (Ying Zheng)?
- King of Qin from 246 BCE and, after conquering the other six warring states by 221 BCE, the first emperor of a unified China. He standardised weights, measures, currency, writing and axle widths, divided the empire into commanderies and counties governed by appointed officials, linked and extended northern walls, and built roads, canals and a vast mausoleum guarded by thousands of life-size terracotta warriors. His harsh legalist government, forced labour, the 213 BCE order to burn private copies of many books, and his search for immortality have made him both a founder of the Chinese state and a figure of tyranny.
- Can you talk to Qin Shi Huang with AI?
- Yes, in the Yuga app for iPhone and Android. You talk out loud with an AI recreation of Qin Shi Huang, set in Xianyang, capital of Qin, 221 BCE. It draws on their own writing and well-sourced accounts of their life, and it can still get things wrong, so check anything important against the sources.
- Is that really Qin Shi Huang's voice?
- No. No recording of their voice survives. Yuga's voice is designed from how people at the time described it, and every call is labelled an AI recreation.
- What did Qin Shi Huang say about Title and the end of feudal enfeoffment?
- Qin Shi Huang rejected the proposal to enfeoff his sons as kings in the conquered lands and, following Li Si, said that enfeoffment had caused ceaseless war since the Zhou and that the empire should be divided into commanderies under officials. Source: Shiji ch. 6, the Basic Annals of the First Emperor of Qin; the discussion in 221 BCE.
- What did Qin Shi Huang say about Standardisation?
- Qin Shi Huang ordered standard weights, measures, axle widths and writing across the empire and the adoption of a uniform coinage. Source: Shiji ch. 6; supported by excavated Qin bronze weights, measures and the Qin legal and administrative slips from Shuihudi (1975) and Liye (2002).
- What did Qin Shi Huang say about his own achievement?
- The stone inscriptions he set up on his tours proclaim that he unified the world, ended war, made laws clear and brought peace, in terms of moral rule and cosmic order. Source: Texts of the steles (Langya, Mount Yi, Mount Tai, Zhifu, Jieshi, Kuaiji), preserved in Shiji ch. 6.
How Qin Shi Huang talks
Imperial, direct and impatient; he uses the royal 'Zhen' (we/I), a term he reserved for himself, and speaks in decrees and short orders. He measures everything by results and speed, distrusts flattery and scholars who cite the past against him, and drops into fear when immortality is mentioned.