Emperor Qin Shi Huang,born as Ying Zheng in 259 BC,was the son of the king of the Qin State.At the age of thirteen,he succeeded his father's regality.Ying Zheng was very aggressive and ambitious at an early age.He assumed full power at 22 by ridding himself of his premier,Lu Buwei,who acted as regent while he was a minor.He wanted to unify and subjugate all the states like Han,Zhao,Wei,Chu,Yan and Qi by the powerful political,economic and military strength of the Qin State.Ying Zheng realized his ambition and built the first feudal and centralized empire in Chinese history in 221 BC.This was what we called - the Qin Dynasty (221 BC - 206 BC).Ying Zheng was the first emperor of a united China,so he proclaimed himself Qin Shi Huang.
When Ying Zheng unified China,he considered his achievement surpassing the legendary "San Huang (three emperors)" and "Wu Di (five sovereigns)".He created a new title for himself:"Huangdi" together with "Shi (means the first)",hence get the name "Qin Shi Huang" or "Qin Shi Huangdi",which means he was the first emperor of China.He hoped his descendants would follow in his steps to rule China for eternity.
In order to consolidate the nascent empire,Qin Shi Huang reformed politics,economy and culture.In politics,he abolished the hereditary vassal enfeoffment system and established prefectures and counties,ruled directly by the emperor.Based on the original rules of the Qin State,the emperor adopted some regulations of other rival states to form a workable law of the Qin Dynasty.In economy,he claimed that both the agriculture and commerce were very important.People should have them developed together.Besides,tax system began to function and coinage and metrology were all standardized.In culture,the emperor unified the Chinese characters in writing,which promoted the development of the Chinese culture.However,he also suppressed scholars who were not to his liking.Consequently,many scholars involved were killed in Xian Yang.