THE FIRST EMPEROR OF CHINA was Qin Shi Huang, who lived in the third century BC. He started constuction of the Great Wall of China, and commissioned 7,000 terracotta warriors to guard his tomb. Not all the ‘warriors’ were soldiers: the army included terracotta acrobats, terracotta musicians and terracotta tax collectors.
Qin Shi Huang was terrified of death. While still in his teens he commissioned the construction of his mausoleum, an underground tomb over 21 square miles in size. Determined to try to live forever, he consumed quantities of an elixir derived from cinnabar, the ore from which mercury is extracted.
The Emperor died (of mercury poisoning) while on a tour of Eastern China. His Chancellor, Li Si, decided not to announce the death until after they had returned to the capital, telling his retinue that the Emperor wished to remain in his carriage. But that the journey back took three months, and in the heat of the summer the Emperor began to stink. So Li Si arranged for carts of rotten fish to be driven in front and behind, to cover up the smell.
