¹ Shiji (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1985), 15.685. For other similar associations between Qin and its tribal neighbours, see Shiji, 5.202 and 68.2234.

² Shiji, 44.1857.

³ Yu Xianhao, Li Bai xuanji (Shanghai: Shanghai guji, 1990), 461–4 (‘Gu feng’).

⁴ Lothar von Falkenhausen, ‘Mortuary Behavior in Pre-Imperial Qin: A Religious Interpretation’, Religion and Chinese Society vol. 1, ed. John Lagerwey (Hong Kong: The Chinese University Press, 2004), 155; Gideon Shelach and Yuri Pines, ‘Secondary State Formation and the Development of Local Identity: Change and Continuity in the State of Qin (770–221 BC)’, in Archaeology of Asia, ed. Miriam T. Stark (Oxford: Blackwell Publishing, 2006), 216.

⁵ See Shiji, 5.183 and Mengzi zhengyi (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1996), 63 (‘Liang Hui wang’).

⁶ Von Falkenhausen, ‘Mortuary Behavior in Pre-Imperial Qin: A Religious Interpretation’, 129–30.

⁷ People’s Daily Online (15 August 2006), originally reported by the Xinhua News Agency.

⁸ Shiji, 6.280.

⁹ Petra Kolonko, ‘Am Grab der Kaiser-Ahnen’, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (1 June 2006), 10.

¹⁰ Marc Grellert, Manfred Koob, and Mieke Pfarr, ‘Eine dreidimensionale Computerrekonstruktion der Kaisergräber von Xi’an’, in Xi’an: Kaiserliche Macht im Jenseits (Mainz: Verlag Philipp von Zabern, 2006), 131–4.

¹¹ Lion Television in early 2006 aired a two-hour documentary entitled ‘The First Emperor: The Man who Made China’ on the Discovery Channel that summarizes some of the recent work on the tomb. While it reviewed new evidence about the tomb, this documentary also presented as fact much fanciful speculation, ranging from claims that the First Emperor was an illegitimate child—a claim dating at least to Sima Qian’s time—to charges that the First Emperor became a madman who lost his grip on reality in his last years due to mercury poisoning.

¹² For images of these various finds, see Xu Weimin, Dixia Junchen: Qin Bingma Yong Keng Kaogu Da Faxian (Hangzhou: Zhejiang wenyi chubanshe, 2002); War and Peace: Treasures of the Qin and Han Dynasties (Hong Kong: Hong Kong Museum of History, 2002) and Xi’an: Kaiserliche Macht im Jenseits.

¹³ Martin Kern, The Stele Inscriptions of Ch’in Shih-huang: Text and Ritual in Early Chinese Imperial Representation (New Haven, CT: American Oriental Society, 2000), 160.

¹⁴ ‘First Emperor of China’ (National Film Board of Canada, Canadian Museum of Civilization and China Xi’an Film Studio, 1989).

¹⁵ ‘The First Emperor: The Man who Made China’ (Lion Television, 2006) aired on the Discovery Channel on 29 January 2006.

¹⁶ Shiji, 15.685–6.

¹⁷ Shiji, 6.283.

¹⁸ Dawson’s translations do not include the Jia Yi essay. See Burton Watson’s translation of Records of the Grand Historian: Qin Dynasty (New York: Columbia University Press, 1993), 74–83, or William H. Nienhauser’s edition entitled The Grand Scribe’s Records: The Basic Annals of pre-Han China by Ssu-ma Ch’ien (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1994), 163–9.

¹⁹ For six examples of questionable interpolations in the Historical Records, see Derk Bodde, ‘The State and Empire of Ch’in’, The Cambridge History of China vol. 1, eds. Denis Twitchett and Michael Loewe (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1986), 94–8.

²⁰ Jonathan Clements, The First Emperor of China (Phoenix Mill, England: Sutton Publishing, 2006); Maurice Cotterell, The Terracotta Warriors: The Secret Codes of the Emperor’s Army (Rochester, VT: Bear & Company, 2004).

²¹ ‘Qin: Tomb of the Middle Kingdom’ (SouthPeak Interactive, 1995).

²² ‘Sid Meier’s “Civilization IV” ’ (Firaxis Games, 2005). The author of this Preface is proud to report that, in his role as First Emperor, he won the space race but sadly had to wipe out the British, Roman, and Aztec empires in the process.

²³ ‘Prince of Qin’ (Strategy First, 2002). The author of this Preface regrets to report that, in his role as Fu Su, he never made it very far south of the Great Wall before he was eaten by a ‘tiger-fish’.

²⁴ Kishore Mahbubani, Can Asians Think? Understanding the Divide between East and West (South Royalton, VT: Steerforth Press, 2002), 26–7.

²⁵ Kolonko, ‘Am Grab der Kaiser-Ahnen’, 10.