The Terracotta Warriors were buried near the Emperor,
so that they could protect him in the afterlife.
The Terracotta Warriors represent only a small portion
of the eight thousand strong underground army
buried in front of the Emperor Qinshihuang's tomb (r. 221-207 BC)
to defend him in the afterlife.
The craftsmanship attested by each of the statues is as stupendous
as the scale of the project.
So who was the Emperor Qinshihuang to merit such magnificence?

One of the most important rulers in Chinese history,
this Emperor leaves a legacy as morally complicated as that of Peter the Great.
For, like the Russian Tsar, he is as well-known for his contributions to the modern state
as he is for sacrificing the lives of thousands of laborers to his visionary projects.
Made King of the state of Qin at the age of thirteen,
by the time he was thirty-eight
he conquered the six neighboring states to unify China for the first time.