Qin Shi Huang: the Early Years

Today the Chinese Communist Party celebrated the centennial of its own founding. The CCP nowadays often identifies itself with Qin Shi Huang, the First Emperor, for his record of reunifying China after a prolonged period of division. Never mind that his dynasty lasted all of 15 years; never mind that he is mostly remembered as a brutal tyrant. Moreover, although everyone knows that Qin Shi Huang reunified China in 221 B.C., no one is certain whether he was even his own father's son. And that...