Qin Shi Huang was the first ruler in Chinese history to have the title “emperor”. Between the ages of thirteen and thirty-nine, he unified six kingdoms, created the Qin Dynasty, initiated the large-scale unification of China and established hegemony. He abolished feudalism and set up counties, he made sure all books used the same language, carts used the same roads, and people used the same measurements. He also ordered the construction of the Great Wall, as well as that the Confucian classics be burned and the scholars buried alive. Later in life, he began to get even more superstitious about the art of healing and so he sent people to the East Sea in search of medicine which would grant him immortality.…

The book contains a total of six chapters and the author conveys the wars between Shi Huang and famous generals of enemy nations through the eyes of a legalist philosopher called Han Fei, who was also one of the highest-ranking military generals in the Qin Dynasty. The scenes and plot are filled with dramatic tension and present Shi Huang as a first emperor for the ages, a “graceful young man with the heart of a wolf/tiger” who was gloriously heroic as he navigated the unstable, treacherous circumstances that occurred during early years of uniting the six kingdoms. 

When Shi Huang was first published between 1998-1999 in Morning, a weekly Japanese manga magazine, and was a huge hit with readers. In February 2000, it was published as a single volume simultaneously in Japan and Taiwan, which was unprecedented at the time. Chen Uen is considered an “Asian treasure”, Shi Huang won the Japan Cartoonists Association Award and displays his vivid drawing skills and years of creative experience. This revised edition was published in 2012 which was an unmissable event for book fans and history fans alike!