Li Si

Li Si served as Qin state Chancellor from 246 to 208 BC, first under King Zheng, who became Qin Shi Huang, then under the second emperor, Qin Er Shi. A calligrapher, philosopher, and official drawn to the administrative ideas of Shen Buhai and the legal thought of Shang Yang, he helped unify laws, weights and measures, and the characters used in writing across the empire. He created a government based solely on merit, melted the weapons of the feudal states into bells and statues, lowered taxes, and eased the punishments Shang Yang had made draconian. Translator John Knoblock called him "one o…