Traditional Chinese legend, retold in simple Mandarin
Qin Shi Huang, the First Emperor
秦始皇
Qin Shi Huang, the First Emperor (秦始皇, Qín Shǐhuáng) is a story from the Chinese classic by Sima Qian, retold in simple Mandarin as a 5-chapter story with audio for learners at about HSK 1 (Beginner).
Retold from Sima Qian's Records of the Grand Historian and old legends: a boy king joins seven countries into one, builds the Great Wall, and leaves a clay army underground.
Meet the voices
- Narrator · 旁白 — A warm storyteller who sets the scene.
- Lao Yang · 老杨 — A kind old farmer who digs a well and finds a clay soldier.
- Xiao Lan · 小兰 — His curious, cheeky granddaughter.
- King Zheng · 嬴政 — The thirteen-year-old king of Qin with a very big dream.
- Li Si · 李斯 — The clever minister who helps make the plans.
- Qin Shi Huang · 秦始皇 — The First Emperor, proud and strong, and later old and afraid.
- Meng Tian · 蒙恬 — The general who builds the wall.
- Da Shan · 大山 — A tired young laborer who misses his mother.
- Xu Fu · 徐福 — A smooth magician who promises medicine that stops death.
5 chapters, one journey
Chapter 1: The Well in the Dry Field
井里有泥兵
A farmer and his granddaughter dig a well in a dry year. Instead of water, their shovel hits a clay face looking back at them.
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Chapter 2: A Boy Called King
十三岁的大王
At thirteen, Zheng is king of Qin with a chair too big for him and a dream too big for anyone. Twenty years later, he wants a new name.
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Chapter 3: One Writing, One Money
一样的字和钱
The new emperor fixes the mess of seven kinds of money and writing. Then he looks north and asks his general for something huge.
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Chapter 4: The Long Wall
长城
The wall grows long, and the work is hard. A tired laborer misses his mother, and an old emperor listens to a magician's promise.
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Chapter 5: The Clay Army
泥兵和仙药
Xu Fu sails east and the emperor waits. Then the clay army takes shape. In 1974, a girl looks at the faces and learns what to remember.
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Key words in Qin Shi Huang, the First Emperor
Behind the story
Qin Shi Huang (259-210 BC) was the king of Qin who joined seven warring countries into one in 221 BC and took the new title huangdi, "emperor." The main source for his life is the historian Sima Qian's 史记, written about a hundred years after his death.
He was a powerful builder and a hard ruler. He made one writing system, one kind of money, and one width for cart wheels, and his workers built walls that later became part of the Great Wall (长城). Many people suffered from the heavy labor, so Chinese readers remember him as both a great unifier and a harsh emperor.
Did you know?
- In 1974, farmers digging a well near Xi'an found the first pieces of the clay army (兵马俑), a discovery now seen around the world.
- Every clay soldier has its own face, and they were once painted in bright colors.
- Sima Qian says Xu Fu (徐福) sailed east to look for medicine of immortality and never came back.