LU PU-WEI

died 235 BC, Szechwan province, China Pinyin L Buwei Chinese statesman, minister of the state of Ch'in, one of the small feudal kingdoms into which China was divided between 771 and 221 BC. Under L's clever management the state of Ch'in, in northwest China, engulfed many of its neighbouring states, and by the end of L's ministry, China was well on the way to unification. Originally a merchant, L used his influence to have one of the princes of Ch'in declared the heir apparent to the throne. And when the prince fell in love with one of L's concubines, L relinquished her, even though she was rumoured to be pregnant at the time. In return for these favours, the prince, when he became ruler of Ch'in, made L minister of state, a position he continued to hold after the ruler died and the concubine's son Cheng, or Ying, formally acceded to the throne in 246 BC. Implicated in a revolt against the boy emperor in 238 BC, L was banished from the capital. Accused of involvement in a second plot, he was again banished, this time to the present-day central province of Szechwan, where he is said to have ended his life by poison. Calling himself Shih huang-ti (First Sovereign Emperor), Cheng completed the unification of China begun by L and founded the Ch'in dynasty (221206 BC). While serving as minister, L engaged a number of scholars to produce an encyclopaedia of knowledge. The result was the first expertly arranged, full-length book, the famous L-shih Ch'un Ch'iu (The Spring and Autumn of Mr. L), a compendium of folklore and pseudoscientific and Taoist writings.