Premiering last night on the Discovery Channel was “The First Emperor”. Known by its full title, “The First Emperor: The Man Who Made China”, the show offered a very great viewing experience. Essentially the show was a 2-hour long docu-drama that focuses on the man who united China and what he did. The show also follows Dr. Jeffrey Riegel of UC Berkeley as he researches the emporers burial site with Chinese researchers.

The first emperor of China was Qin Shi Huang. He united his empire, Qin, with the kingdoms of Wei, Zhao, Han, Yan, Chu, and Qi. The show follows his life through the time that he takes the thrown at age 13 to his death and beyond. Aside from uniting China Qin Shi Huang is mostknown for constructing the Great Wall of China and building the Terracotta Army. The violence created and endured by this man is very well indentified in the show.

The First Emporer, Qin Shi Huang united China through war in the 200s BC. He violently conquered the other nations. He executed tens-of-thousands of Zhao prisoners and more. Upon almost being overthown in an attempted coup by his mother’s lover, he killed many people, including his step-brothers, and more. After mostly completing his conquest, he became paranoid mostly because of realizing the fact of all the people that he had killed. That explains why he had the Terracotta Army. This huge army of clay soldiers was made for the purpose to protect him from vengeful souls in the afterlife. He also became obsessed with immorality and wished to live forever. In those times, the element Mercury was thought to prolong life. Instead this made him go pretty much insane and ultimatly caused his death at the age of 50. The man left a legacy of which is amazingly huge. I could go much, much more in-depth but I bet you’d rather watch the show yourself.

Qin Shi Huang is played by actor James Pax (Pak Chin-Sek). He does a really great job of playing this role. The role of The First Emperor obviously required many different acting elements. From his young and violent years, to his paranoia, to his complete insanity as a result of mercury poisoning, the role is very diverse.

The show has many well-done battle sequences and great CG graphics of his burial complex. The highlight of the show comes at the end. It is a startling climax. Towards the end, the show follows Dr. Jeffrey Riegel of UC Berkeley and a team of Chinese researchers as they investigate a legend concerny the emperors burial. It is said, in the enclosed tomb of the emperor, he had jewels placed in the cieling to represent stars and a miniature map of the Chinese Empire on the ground. The map had rivers and bodies of water represented with rivers of flowing Mercury. Supposedly powered by an ancient waterclock, the Mercury was to flow. That massive amount of Mercury in that time would have been incredible. The researches to not have a desire to unearth and possibly disturb the 2200 year-old tomb. Instead they took core samples of the ground above the tomb to test for evaporated Mercury. I cannot and will not spoil their findings.

If you missed the show, it re-airs on the Discovery Channel on May 3rd, at 12pm (et/pt). It’s definetly worth catching.

“THE FIRST EMPEROR” — GREAT STUFF