The Many Lives of the First Emperor of China

The First Emperor is one of the most complex and controversial figures in all of Chinese history. Because of his special status as the first emperor, there is also a long history of multifarious ways in which he has been understood. Barbieri-Low's book not only delves into the exciting story that is the First Emperor's life but also discusses the many different constructions and interpretations of the First Emperor across millennia. A major contribution of this book is to explore the current appeal of the Qin emperor lore in contemporary popular culture and mass media. By placing this lore in a contemporary context, Barbieri-Low brings ancient Chinese history and culture to life.As Barbieri-Low states in the introduction, the purpose of his book is to offer “a meta-analysis, a longue durée examination of the historical interpretations and cultural reception of the First Emperor” (8). The book as a whole comprises ten chapters divided into four parts. Part 1 (the first three chapters) discusses the historiography of the First Emperor. Chapter 1 investigates Sima Qian's depiction of the First Emperor as a tragic hero in his masterpiece Records of the Grand Scribe (Shiji), as well as the sources Sima Qian used to compose his biography. Chapter 2 discusses how the image of the First Emperor has shifted over the course of Chinese history due to different ideologies, intellectual environments, and sociopolitical conditions. To a large extent, Confucian scholars depicted the First Emperor as a villain as part of an anti-Qin narrative used to legitimate the governance of imperial dynasties in China from the Han to the Ming. Chapter 3 moves to the twentieth century and provides some socioeconomic perspectives on the construction of the modern image of the First Emperor.After tracking the historical reception of the First Emperor up to the present day, in the second part, Barbieri-Low shifts his focus to excavated materials from the Qin dynasty, attempting to arrive at a more accurate and comprehensive portrait of life in ancient Qin. Chapter 4 examines Qin governance by analyzing troves of Qin edicts and other legal documents recently discovered by archaeologists. These findings have challenged traditional understandings of Qin governance as strict, oppressive, and terrible. Where the fourth chapter focuses on high officials, chapter 5 turns to people from lower social classes of the Qin, using appeals, confessions, denunciations, letters, and poems to provide insight into the lives they led.Part 3 (chapters 6 and 7) focuses on figures and events important to the First Emperor lore. The subjects of chapter 6 are the would-be assassin Jing Ke and the infamous courtier Zhao Gao. Barbieri-Low analyzes these figures through a reading of their Shiji biographies, four pictorial representations of Jing Ke in stone relief and tomb paintings, and the reception of their stories in popular and digital culture since the 1960s. Chapter 7 investigates the famous event of “burning books and killing Confucian scholars” (Fenshu kengru). In premodern accounts, the event demonstrated the despotism of the First Emperor, but this negative reading was reversed during the Cultural Revolution, when Chairman Mao instead hailed the First Emperor as a strong revolutionary who unified China.The final three chapters highlight the cultural construction of the First Emperor. Chapter 8 compares the lore of the First Emperor in China and the West, contrasting three premodern folk stories, two modern works of fiction, and four portrayals of the First Emperor by Western writers. Chapter 9 explores the representations of the First Emperor in digital and mass media as an ambitious leader unifying the country, a cruel dictator destroying people's lives, and an obsessive seeking the elixir of immortality. Chapter 10 brings the many themes and approaches of the book together in a discussion of the tomb of the First Emperor that touches upon textual accounts, archaeological discoveries, video game images, and tourist experiences.To summarize, The Many Lives of the First Emperor of China is a clearly written, pioneering book that makes tremendous scholarly contributions to Chinese history and culture. Barbieri-Low has translated many important primary sources and consulted with a deep and diverse collection of secondary scholarship. His meticulous discussions of a broad range of excavated and transmitted materials is a testament to his erudition. This book is very useful for courses on Chinese history and culture. It will likely draw students in with its discussion of the current appeal of the First Emperor. Overall, this book is highly recommended for scholars and students who are interested in Chinese civilization

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