Qin Shah Huang Di The First Emperor Of China

Qin Shih Huang Di, the first official emperor of a united China, was an extraordinary, yet brutal, ruler. Born Ying Zheng, Emperor Qin took to the throne at age 13 in 246 BCE. He believed in military power, and rapidly expanded China's borders with force. He is also credited for building the first part of what is now known as the Great Wall of China. 

Through his life, Qin was on a quest for immortality and was obsessed with death. Almost immediately after ascending to the throne, he commissioned his tomb to be built in modern-day Xi'an. He employed 700,000 workers to build a personal army of 6,000 terracotta statues of soldiers and horses, each one with individualized features and insignia of rank. Uncovered in the 1970s, this "terracotta army" would accompany the king in life just as they did in life.