Ashes of Power: The Biography of Li Si

Set between the final years of the Warring States period and the collapse of the Qin Empire, The Empire’s Founder: The Biography of Li Si offers a sweeping portrait of the legendary life and complex fate of Li Si, the famed chancellor of the ages. It explores how this minor Chu official, awakened by the insight of “the hamster’s wisdom,” traveled west to the powerful state of Qin and used Legalist thought to help the First Emperor unify the realm, establishing such enduring institutions as the commandery-and-county system, the standardization of writing, and uniform axle widths, which shaped China for two thousand years. Through his intellectual clashes with Han Fei, his political maneuvering against Zhao Gao, and the agonizing choices he faced during the burning of books and burying of scholars, the novel reveals the ideals and moral corruption of intellectuals caught in the machinery of power. It portrays his extraordinary vision as the architect of an empire, while also reflecting on the tragedy of his later years and his entanglement in the Coup at Shaqiu. The age-old lament of the “yellow dog at the east gate” serves as a mirror, revealing the profound paradoxes of power, institutions, and human nature.