Person280 BC – 208 BC

Li Si

Also called: Li Ssu

Chancellor of Qin; a Legalist who helped the First Emperor unify China, create the commanderies and standardise the script, and proposed the burning of the books. After the emperor’s death he joined Zhao Gao in forging the will, but was executed on Zhao Gao’s slander

He worked as a minor clerk at Shangcai in Chu and studied under Xunzi alongside Han Feizi. Going to Qin he became a retainer of Lü Buwei, and when Qin moved to expel all officials from other states he stopped it with his “Memorial against the Expulsion of Guest Officials”. He helped the First Emperor unify the realm and became chancellor, championing the commandery system and standardising writing in the small seal script. He proposed the burning of the books and led the drive for ideological control. When the emperor died he joined Zhao Gao in forging the will, but was later slandered by Zhao Gao and executed by being cut in two in the marketplace of Xianyang.

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3 related events

1
221 BCQin Unification of China관련자
Qin conquered the other six Warring States and unified China for the first time. The First Emperor standardised script, coinage and measures.
2
213 BC – 212 BCBurning of the Books and Burying of the Scholarskey figure
In 213 BCE, on the advice of Chancellor Li Si, books other than Qin’s histories and practical manuals were burned; the next year, it is said, more than 460 scholars and magicians accused of slandering the emperor were buried alive at Xianyang.
3
210 BCDeath of the First Emperor and the Shaqiu Plotrelated figure
When the First Emperor died at Shaqiu on his fifth tour in 210 BCE, the eunuch Zhao Gao and Chancellor Li Si hid his death and forged his will, forcing his eldest son Fusu to kill himself and placing the youngest son Huhai on the throne as Second Emperor.

People who appear alongside

Qin Shi Huang259 BC – 210 BC
King of Qin (247–221 BCE) and first emperor (221–210 BCE) who conquered the six other states, unified China and created a centralised imperial system
Zhao Gao207 BC
Qin eunuch who placed Huhai on the throne as Second Emperor in the Shaqiu plot and seized power after bringing down Li Si; remembered for “calling a deer a horse”
Meng Tian210 BC
Qin general who drove the Xiongnu out of the Ordos with an army of 300,000 and joined up the frontier walls; after the Shaqiu plot he was forced to take his own life by a forged edict

Themes this person appears in

Ancient China and India770 BC – AD 220
From the Hundred Schools of the Warring States to the unified empires of Qin and Han, and from the Buddha to the Maurya and Kushan empires — the millennium that shaped East and South Asian civilisation