秦始皇，中国历史上第一个大一统王朝——秦王朝的开国皇帝。嬴姓，赵氏，名政，秦庄襄王之子。出生于赵国首都邯郸（今河北省邯郸市），公元前247年，秦王政13岁时即王位，因年幼朝政由太后和相邦吕不韦及嫪毐掌管。公元前238年（秦王政九年），秦始皇22岁时，在故都雍城举行了国君成人加冕仪式，开始“亲理朝政”，除掉吕不韦、嫪毐等人，重用李斯、尉缭，自公元前230年至前221年，先后灭韩、赵、魏、楚、燕、齐六国，39岁时完成了统一中国大业，建立起一个以汉族为主体、多民族统一的中央集权的强大国家——秦朝。定都咸阳。公元前210年，秦始皇东巡途中驾崩于沙丘（今河北省邢台市）。秦始皇认为自己的功劳胜过之前的三皇五帝，将大臣议定的尊号改为“皇帝”。秦始皇是中国历史上第一个使用“皇帝”称号的君主，对中国和世界的历史均产生了深远而重大的影响，被明代思想家李贽誉为“千古一帝”。

The Collection of Critical Biographies of Chinese Thinkers, under the general editorship of the late honorary president of Nanjing University, Professor Kuang Yaming, is the largest-scale project of research materials on Chinese thinkers undertaken since thebeginning of the twentieth century. Standing on the shoulders of this great man and other 200 well-known Chinese professors, this collection of concise Chinese-English version is not only based ona profound academic foundation, but also exhibits a brand newfeature which is the virtue of explaining the profound in a simpleway, hence leading readers to mastery of the contents; it alsoincorporates a refined principle of selection, a simple mode of evaluation and commentary, and a moving narration of the stories and their wisdom.

Emperor Qin Shihuang conquered other six states to realize the authentic unification of China in history for the first time. Iron-handedly he reformed, constructed his imperial architecture,expanded the frontier and promoted cultural community and psychological recognition for Chinese. He is a terminator of the old history and a creator of the new era.

一 引言

二 君王的诞生

三 走向成熟

四 吞并六国

五 图穷而匕首见

六 决战齐楚

七 帝国的鸿业

八 统一度量衡与文字

九 开拓边疆

十 帝国工程

十一 巡游在现实与仙境中

十二 帝国的崩溃