Now King Zheng was leader of all of China.

He declared himself emperor and changed his name to Qin Shi Huangdi. Although Emperor Qin was a skilled leader, he also was a brutal leader. He outlawed Confucianism andTaoism requiring people to be loyal and obedient only to the legalist ways. He also ordered that most of the existing books be burned. He wanted history to begin with his rule and the Qin dynasty. Those scholars who did not bring their books to be burned were killed.

Prince Zheng was born in 259 B.C. His father was king of the Qin state. At the time Zheng was born, China was divided up into 7 major states. These states fought each other all the time. Historians call this time in Chinese history the Warring States period. At age thirteen he was king. He wanted to conquer all of the states when he was twentytwo he took full control of the Qin state. Once he had complete control of the state of Qin, King Zheng set out to conquer the other six Chinese states. He took them on one by one. The first state he conquered was the Han state. Then he quickly conquered the Zhao and the Wei. Next he took on the powerful Chu state. Once the Chu state was defeated the remaining Yan and Qi states fell easily.

The Qin Dynasty

This is the Chines flag.

This is a picture of what artists think Qin Shi Huang Di might have looked like.

Qin Shi Huang Di had many great accomplishments in his life but at a great cost. He standardized coinage, standardized the use of weight and scales, established a bureaucracy, land reform, established a system that forced labor to build roads and canals for travel, imposed heavy taxes, standardized a system of writing, burned all the books that did not teach the ways of legalism, and built the Great Wall of China.

and the harsh winters. They had no warm clothes to keep them warm, all they had was what they were waring when they got taken from their families. All together more than 12,000 people died making this empire thrive. Qin Shi Huang died while traveling on a tour of Eastern China in 210 BC. His second son, Huhai, was on the trip with him. He wanted to become emperor, so he hid his father's death and forged a letter from his father to his older brother telling him to commit suicide. After his brother killed himself, Huhai became emperor.

Today Qin Shi Huang may be most famous for his tomb. He had over 700,000 workers constructing his tomb throughout his life. They built a huge terracotta army of 8,000 soldiers, horses, and chariots that he thought would protect him in the afterlife.

This is a statue of Emperor Huhai. The statue is in China today.

Many died making these achievements possible. Alone the Great Wall killed

The tomb of Qin Shi Huangdi still has not been excavated but just imagine the wonders and treasures inside.