"Qin Shi Huangdi created the first unified Chinese empire that emerged from the “Warring States Period’. By 221 Bc he had successfully destroyed the last remaining rival kingdoms within China and made himself supreme ruler: the First Emperor. A remarkable, ruthless statesman and conqueror, of manic gifts, haunted by madness, sadism and paranoia, Qin Shi Huangdi’s reign quickly degenerated into a brutal and bloody tyranny. His reputation in China has always been that of a tyrant, but it was Chairman Mao Zedong, another monstrous dictator, who associated himself with the ‘First Emperor’ and promoted him as his glorious precursor."