210 BC

Events in 210 BC 2

• 221 BC – 210 BC Qin Shi Huang — First Emperor of China 221–210 BC — unifier, tyrant, visionary Ying Zheng became king of Qin at age 13 and conquered all rival states by 221 BC, aged 38. As First Emperor he standardised writing, currency, weights and measures across China, built the first Great Wall, and connected the empire with roads and canals. He also burned books and buried scholars alive to suppress dissent. He spent his final years obsessively seeking immortality. His terracotta army of 8,000 warriors was discovered in 1974.
• 210 BC Terracotta Army buried with Qin Shi Huang 8,000 warriors guard the emperor in death Qin Shi Huang was buried in a vast mausoleum near Xi'an, guarded by an army of 8,000 life-size terracotta soldiers, horses and chariots — each with individual facial features. The tomb complex also reportedly contained rivers of mercury representing the empire's waterways. The terracotta warriors were accidentally discovered by farmers digging a well in 1974 and are now considered one of the greatest archaeological discoveries in history.