SHIH HUANG-TI

born c. 259 BC, Ch'in, northwestern China died 210/209 Pinyin Shi Huangdi, personal name (hsing-ming) Chao Cheng emperor of the Ch'in dynasty (221210/209 BC) and creator of the first unified Chinese empire (which collapsed, however, about four years after his death). Additional reading Derk Bodde, China's First Unifier (1938, reprinted 1967), is the pioneer study of Li Ssu and Shih huang-ti. Ch'ien Ssu-ma, Statesman, Patriot, and General in Ancient China (1940), contains biographies of three men (L Pu-wei, Li Ssu, and Meng Tien) who were connected with the emperor's life.