WHO TOOK CHARGE OF THE MAUSOLEUM’S CONSTRUCTION?

  The immensity of the First Emperor's Mausoleum constrution, thenmuber of workers employed in the project, and the long duration of the work are all unprecedented in the history of China and that of the foreign countries. Who was the supervisor of this large-scale civil engi- neering work then?

  What name Records of the Historiau states clearly is only Li Si. AccoMing to this book, in the 37th year of the First Emperor's reign, when Li Si reported to tile First Emperor about the mausoleum con-struction, he claimed, "I, the Prime Minister Li Si, make bold to say to your majesty: 1, your humble servant, have commanded seven hun-dred thonsand slaves and conscripts to harness Mount Li, and the workJuts gone into its depth and extremity  ....  "There, fore Li Si as thePrime Minister was in charge of the large-scale mausoleum constructionwork. In fact, it had become a customary practice since the late War-ring States Period (475-221 B. C. ) for the prime minister to takecharge of the mausoleum's construction for the king. For example,Prime Minister Yong was in charge of the mausoleum construcction forthe King of Zhongshan State. It was undoubtedly an inheritance to tiffstradition that Li Si, the Prime Minister of Qin State, took charge of themausoleum construction for the First Emperor. 

  But Li Si did not become a Prime Minister until the 35th year ofthe First Emperor's reign, when it was only three years away from theEmperor's death. Then who wa., the supervisor for the mausoleum con-struction before this time? Some people hold the following opinion,"There is no historical record about who was the prime minister of Qin  State during the period of time from the dismissal of La Buwei from theoffice to the unification of China by the First Emperor of Qin. But fromthe inscriptions on the pottery wares unearthed in thc Mauso]eum of theFirst Emperor of Qin, both tile Left and the Right Minister of Construe-tion were in charge of the specific work in the project during this periodof time" (Figure 4). In fact, according to the system of the time thatthe prime minister should take charge of the mausoleum construction,we have every reason to say thai the predecessors of Li Si must havebeen in charge of the work, including Prime Minister Zhuang, PrimeMinister Wang Wan, Prime Minister Kui Li, Prime Minister LO Buweiand Right Prime Minister Feng Qtiji. Although all of them as primeministers took charge of the mausoleum construction at different stagesof the work, the two prime ministers who played a major role in super-vising the mausoleum construction were LO Buwei and Li Si.