Creator of Wonders
Ying Zheng, the first emperor of China, was the creator of many unforgettable wonders of world.
He did many incredible things.
Chief among them are –
- Construction of the Great Wall of China by uniting regional walls of forts.
- Designing a terracotta army of 7,000 soldiers to guard his tomb as picturized in the Hollywood film – ‘The Mummy, The Tomb of The Dragon Emperor’.
The importance of Zheng in China’s History:
For the first time in history, Emperor Zheng had established the imperial United China in 221 B.C.E.
Thus he is called the “First Emperor” of China.
Before his reign, China was divided into 7 provinces under different native kings.
At that time all the regional kings used to fight each other to claim supremacy.
This period is called “Warring States Period” and was lasted for about 200 years.
Qin province in the west of China is one of the 7 provinces.
During that war period, around 246 B.C.E., Zheng became the king of the Qin province at the very young age of 13.
Overtime Zheng emerged as the most powerful of other rival kings.
Around 238 BCE when he attained young age, he planned to unite China under one rule.
For this purpose he adopted new strategies to defeat other rival kings.
He set out a combination of guerilla-type attacks and other surprising strategic plans.
He introduced clever espionage techniques to down his rivals.
He offered bribes to key personalities of the rival states into submission.
He had defeated all the rival kings of the remaining six provinces one by one by 221 BCE.
Thus he held the title “Shi Huangdi” (The First Emperor).
He himself announced that his dynasty would rule China for “Ten Thousand Generations”.
He and his chief minister Li Si imposed centralized rule in a ruthless manner to put the whole China under their firm control.
The Remarkable Achievements of Zheng as an Emperor:
1. He implemented a standardized system of weights and measures throughout the country overruling the regional variations.
2. He set standardized laws.
3. He made the Chinese script into a standard form.
4. He built roads and canals throughout the nation.
5. He strengthened the borders to nullify the attacks from enemies.
6. More importantly, he began the construction of one of the wonders of the world, “The Great Wall of China”, linking the frontier fortresses in the north.
7. He built a large complex to protect his tomb. More than 700,000 people worked for this. The tomb complex consisted of a large terracotta army of over 7,000 life-sized clay warriors to protect his tomb.
This massive tomb complex was discovered in 1974 while digging a well.
Thus the first emperor of China, Zheng gave great wonders to China – The Great Wall of China and unbelievable Terracotta Army.
It is believed that this army guarded his tomb for over 2000 years.
- Another Interesting Fact about the First Emperor of China:
Mystical Beliefs:
The Search of Immortality:
Emperor Zheng had some mystical beliefs about cosmic world.
He searched for the elixir to avoid his death. It is also said that he went to Japan with the aim of attaining the elixir.
