Qin Shi Huang: his name endures today not just in every "Made in China" label on the imports flooding western markets, but more significantly in China's strong political and economic presence on the world stage. Emperor of Stone: Qin and the Terra Cotta Armies takes a detailed look at Qin's major accomplishments, achievements whose long shadow through time continue to shape China today. But the book does more. It is impossible to understand Qin without a sense of culture into which he was born, so I have also described the shifting and evolving landscape from the practical optimism of Confucius in the perfectibility of man, through the "Mandate. of Heaven" and on to the legalist views of Li Si-that ultimately shaped his thinking and brought about the Great Wall, the terra cotta warriors...and his own ruin.
Before 2001,China was for me mostly rice and acupuncture. Chopsticks and fortune cookies.
But when l moved to Beijing to teach in 2001- and learned that there are no fonune cookies there-I began my love affair wim China.The next year I was invited to Shanghai Maritime University；it was the beginning of six memorable years of teaching writing and English. What’s more.when I participated in a transition of Margaret Atwood’s Blind Assassin. I was foreed to reconsider the magnifieence of language with new eyes.
But the heart of this rich mystery of a country is in Xi’an.I made four trips to the museum there.each one a journey in time and space.
In order to understand a thing.1 write about it. To enable my western mind to understand eastern culture-how people can bend for twelve hours a day seven days a week growing rice-I wrote. I have contributed articles on culture，health，travel，media and translation to that's Shanghai and Shanghsi Talk. One of those articles，in fact，on Oin Shi Huang and the terra cotta wardors. led me to the wrign of Emperor of Stone. Qin andthe Terra Cotta Armies.
Chapter11 Was Qin Shi Huang an Immortal?
Chapter12 Who Built the Terra Cotta Warriors?
With the decline of the Zhou dynasty, the country lacked a strong central government, so that relationships with the other states were unstable. But it had been that way even before the Warring States Period. During the time of Confucius （551-479 BC） in fact, which - if you believe the titles "Spring and Autumn Period" and "Age of Chivalry"-should have been a more congenial period, intrigue still lingered in the air like dust from battle. Confucius, a resident of Lu, had been appointed by the government as the Minister of Agriculture. At the time, farmers were unhappy and grain production was low. Grain merchants were using over-sized measures to tally the farmers' crops but crediting the farmers with only a standard one. In this way, the farmers were paid for much less than their actual production. Confucius executed the corrupt officials, and when he had finished his reforms, agricultural production was up and farmers were, for the first time in a long time, happy because they were no longer being cheated. He also strengthened the army to make Lu less vulnerable to attack.