Emperor Qin Shi Huang was great at reuniting China after it had become split into several waring kingdoms. However, he was not China's first emperor...not even close. People in the west get this wrong all the time. Shame on National Geographic, The History Channel, etc. Plenty of other kings came before him who qualified as emperor. For instance the Zhou dynasty...not to mention China's legendary first three emperors. Just because he gave himself the title of 1st (or Godlike) emperor, doesn't mean he was the 1st or a god.

Cleary he was very intelligent, cunning, strong, and visionary. His quest to become ruler of his kingdom was greatly aided, orchestrated, by an advisor who may have been his real biological father (he had a real close connection to his biological mother, a minor wife who was taken from a small town where she worked as a singer in a brothel).

As great as he was, he was also very cruel. By today's standards, he would qualify as a mass murderer. He killed thousand upon thousands: intellectuals, monks, other kings, officials, common folk. He often ordered the destruction and killing of entire towns/villages. He had one king after another killed, including the famous philospher-king who supported his conquests. He even had the very man/advisor (possible biological father) killed...yes, he got the silk rope gift too.

He did come up with some notable firsts: importance for a unified language and currency, Great Wall, etc.

Of course, the god complex thing was his demise. In his quest to live forever, he had his physician give him massive amounts of mercury. Supposedly, mercury was thought to enhance longevity. He ended up going insane and probably dying earlier than he would have otherwise, although he was in his late 60's...not too bad for back then.