The First Emperor

1
The First Emperor
2
Introduction

• His name was Qin Shi Huangdi.
• Born in 259 B.C. in the western State of Qin he
  would grow up and become the man who would
  change China forever.
• He declared himself the first emperor of China
  and named himself Shi Huangdi (meaning First
  Emperor).

3
Unification of China

• Qin Shi Huangdi was cruel to people who did not
  follow him. He did not want to remember the past
  and so he burned all the old books.
• He liked to fight and he won wars.
• As a powerful man he brought together the warring
  foreign States and formed China in 221 B.C.

4
The Great Wall of China

• Qin Shi Huangdi also repaired, joined up and
  lengthened the ruins of the wall that kept out
  the barbarians along the north of China.
• It is today known as the Great Wall and was
  completed in about 220 B.C.
• The Great Wall stretched 3,000 miles, from the
  Urnu River in Korea to the Gobi Dessert in
  Western China. It stood 25 ft high.
• It was built by man, and is possibly visible from
  outer space .
• If placed end to end it would reach from New York
  on the east coast of the USA to Los Angeles on
  the West coast..

5
Some Pictures of The Great Wall of China
6
Other developments by Qin

• The Emperor standardised Chinese writing,
  government, teaching, law , currency, weights and
  measures.
• He expanded the Chinese empire.
• He built a capital for China called Xian.
• He built roads and many large fortresses and
  palaces.

7
The end of the Qin Dynasty

• He was not very old when he died. In 210 B.C. He
  was only 49 years old.
• The Qin dynasty ended in 2006 B.C. soon after the
  first emperor died in 210 B.C.
• China has stayed as one country now for over 2000
  years.
• The name of the country China comes from Qin
  which you pronounce Chin.
• Today we can still see the memory of Qin in Xian
  where thousands of life-sized terra cotta
  warriors and horses from the first emperors tomb
  can be viewed by the public.