Changes

The young king entrusted affairs of state to Lü Buwei for a time, but after Lü was implicated in a plot against the throne c. 238 BCE, the king instead turned to the [[Legalism|Legalist]] [[Li Si]] to advise him.

The young king entrusted affairs of state to Lü Buwei for a time, but after Lü was implicated in a plot against the throne c. 238 BCE, the king instead turned to the [[Legalism|Legalist]] [[Li Si]] to advise him.

Defeating all his neighbors and rivals, and surviving a famous assassination attempt in 227 BCE at the hands of [[Jing Ke]]<ref>This assassination attempt forms the core of the plot of the Jet Li film ''Hero''.</ref> the king united all of central China under his rule in 221 BCE. He would reign as "emperor" for only about ten years, but during this brief reign, he established standardized systems of weights & measures, language, and currency, as well as the geographical/political divisions of provinces and counties, and established a standard ideological or intellectual tradition through the practice of "burning books and burying scholars" - in other words, destroying those traditions, and their supporters, of which he disapproved.

Defeating all his neighbors and rivals, and surviving a famous assassination attempt in 227 BCE at the hands of [[Jing Ke]]<ref>This assassination attempt forms the core of the plot of the Jet Li film ''Hero''.</ref> the king united all of central China under his rule in 221 BCE. He would reign as "emperor" for only about ten years, but during this brief reign, he established standardized systems of weights & measures, language, and currency, as well as the geographical/political divisions of provinces and counties, and established a standard ideological or intellectual tradition through the practice of "burning books and burying scholars" - in other words, destroying those traditions, and their supporters, of which he disapproved. The Emperor also conducted a sword hunt, consolidating his power by confiscating weapons from the people, and melting them down to make giant statues 11.5 meters in height, quite remarkable for that time.<ref>Timon Screech, ''Obtaining Images'', University of Hawaii Press (2012), 94.</ref> The Emperor is also said to have built new gardens or palaces for each state he defeated, "collecting" their culture or treasures, and displaying his incorporation of them into his empire.<ref>Marsall Sahlins, "Cosmologies of Capitalism," Nicholas Dirks and Sherry Ortner et al. (eds.), ''Culture/power/history: a reader in contemporary social theory'', Princeton University Press (1993), 424.</ref>

The First Emperor is said to have grown obsessed with immortality in his final years, trying numerous elixirs, and dispatching people to the islands to the east (i.e. Japan, possibly [[Ryukyu|Ryûkyû]]) in search of the immortal land of [[Mt. Horai|Mt. Penglai]]. Rather self-important, the First Emperor is also said by [[Sima Qian]] to have climbed [[Mt. Tai]] and written three inscriptions praising his own greatness.

The First Emperor is said to have grown obsessed with immortality in his final years, trying numerous elixirs, and dispatching people to the islands to the east (i.e. Japan, possibly [[Ryukyu|Ryûkyû]]) in search of the immortal land of [[Mt. Horai|Mt. Penglai]]. Rather self-important, the First Emperor is also said by [[Sima Qian]] to have climbed [[Mt. Tai]] and written three inscriptions praising his own greatness.