The first emperor of China was always yearning for immortality but died at the age of 49 due to a “elixir of life”.
The tomb of Qin Shi Huang. (Photo: Flickr)
Qin Shi Huang (259 – 210 BC) was the founder of the Qin dynasty and the first emperor to unify China. Since his youth, he sought to achieve immortality, mobilizing countless scholars, alchemists, physicians, and envoys to search for the elixir of life from all over the country. Qin Shi Huang viewed death as a complete failure and dreamed of living for a thousand generations. He began consuming mercury-laden potions concocted by alchemists.
In a 2019 study by experts at the University of British Columbia, Canada, the ancient idea of using mercury to create elixirs stemmed from observations that mercury could absorb gold and silver from ores. In small-scale gold mining, mercury is mixed with material containing gold, forming a mercury-gold amalgam. When heated, the mercury vaporizes, leaving behind gold and silver.
According to popular belief during the Qin dynasty, when a person dies, the most precious part—the soul—leaves the body. The soul ascends to heaven while the physical body is buried. Therefore, ancient people sought ways to keep the soul within the body after death. Alchemists believed that consuming mercury could prevent the soul from leaving the body, thus achieving immortality. Qin Shi Huang regularly consumed low doses of mercury and gradually became poisoned. He died suddenly at the age of 49, with the cause of death believed to be related to mercury poisoning.
One hundred years after Qin Shi Huang’s death, historian Sima Qian wrote that his tomb was filled with treasures, featuring rivers of mercury and a ceiling inlaid with jewels mimicking the stars. However, Sima Qian did not mention the location of the tomb. When the underground tomb of Qin Shi Huang was discovered in 1974, archaeologists sent probes down to examine heavy metals in the soil. Their research revealed an unusually high concentration of mercury, 100 times greater than natural levels. Subsequent geochemical studies also helped confirm Sima Qian’s records. Mercury was used in the construction of Qin Shi Huang’s tomb, simulating rivers and streams across the land. Diamonds and pearls were used to represent the Sun, Moon, and stars.
Mercury exists as a silvery liquid metal at room temperature. During the Three Kingdoms period, mercury was a common ingredient in many medicines used to treat pain, scabies, ringworm, agitation, and insomnia. In ancient times, the source of mercury metal came from cinnabar. This mineral was particularly abundant in western China. The province of Shaanxi alone contained nearly one-fifth of the country’s cinnabar reserves. The ancient cinnabar mines in Shaanxi may have been the source of mercury found in Qin Shi Huang’s tomb.
