In niche corners of the Chinese internet, discussions of the very first dynasty stand in for critiques of today’s China.

History becomes legend. Legend becomes myth. At best, historians hope that at least a kernel of truth lingers lost among centuries’ worth of embellishment, propaganda, and hype. But the gap between ...

The burial mound of China’s first emperor has remained untouched since workers sealed it in 208 BC, even as the surrounding necropolis has become one of the world’s most famous archaeological sites. I ...

Archaeologists are too scared to open up the tomb of China’s first emperor for one reason ...

In 1974, farmers in Shaanxi, China, digging for water near the Li Mountains, unearthed fragments of terracotta figures. This ...