Around the Ying Zheng, king of Qin, became the first emperor of China. He had new ideas and made new laws. He built big palaces – and a great wall. But life was difficult for his people and dangerous for the emperor. So he took an army with him into the next world.

The Terracotta Army is one of the greatest, and most famous, archaeological discoveries of all time. 6,000 life-size figures of warriors and horses were interred in the Mausoleum of the First Emperor of China - each is individually carved, and they are thought to represent real members of the emperor's army. This is the remarkable story of their creation, the man who ordered them made, their rediscovery and their continuing legacy as a pre-eminent symbol of Chinese greatness. The First Emperor, Qin Shi Huang, was king of the Chinese state of Qin and the first man to unite China into a single empire. He built the first Great Wall and brought a single written script to the whole country. He was an inspired and ruthless ruler, but one also beset by paranoia and a desire for immortality. He is still considered the founding father of the modern state of China. On his death in 210 BC he was buried in a giant mausoleum near modern-day Xi'an. Legends of the treasures contained therein still tantalize the imagination today. In 1974 local farmers digging a well for water broke through into the burial mound and found the first of the Terracotta warriors. Further excavations have revealed the full splendour of the buried army. But the majority of the mausoleum is yet to be opened, including the burial chamber itself - myth tells us that amongst the treasures yet to be uncovered is a vast map of the First Emperor's kingdom with rivers marked with channels of flowing mercury. The story of the First Emperor and the Terracotta Army is a fascinating one, not least for the discoveries yet to be made. Reviews

Explore the long and rich history of China's great dynasties. From the clans and legends of prehistory to the last Qing emperor, this book brings China's imperial history to life through its pivotal events, political forces, and powerful people, in a stunning collaboration between British and Chinese publishing houses. Covering more than 5,000 years of history and featuring images of artefacts not previously seen outside of China, this definitive visual guide will captivate readers with the key events that shaped Chinese history and laid the foundations of the modern nation. Starting with prehistory and early humans, Imperial China sets the scene for the arrival of China's first dynasty, and reveals how the warring states of early China gave birth to the emperor-led dynasties - and China's long imperial age. With illuminating features on important historical figures, cultural achievements, and philosophy - such as the rise of Confucianism and the silk and tea trades - Imperial China explores how the Chinese empire flourished and declined over the course of two millennia - from the unifying "first emperor" of the Qin and the golden ages of Tang and Song, to the final fall of the Manchu Qing dynasty. With stunning photography of art and artefacts to bring key events to life, this exquisite and comprehensive history is ideal for anyone who wants to learn more about China's extraordinary heritage.

More than two thousand years ago, with his land under constant attack from nomads, the First Emperor of China came up with a simple solution: build a wall to keep out enemies. It was a wall that kept growing and growing. But its construction came at a huge cost: it is believed that more than a million Chinese died building it, earning the wall its nickname--the longest cemetery on earth. Through the story of the wall, Patricia Brennan Demuth is able to tell the story of China itself, the rise and fall of dynasties, the greatness of its culture, and its present-day status as a Communist world power.

In Middlemarch, in the heart of England, Dorothea wants to change the world and Dr Lydgate hopes to make great scientific discoveries. But after disastrous marriages, they both lose control of their lives. Can they ever achieve their dreams? Middlemarch is generally considered to be one of the greatest novels in the English language. Retold by Jane Rollason.

The Emperor of China invites the nightingale of the forest to stay at court. She sings beautifully and everyone loves her. Things change when a colourful artificial bird arrives in the palace. The nightingale is not anymore the favourite one and flies away. All of a sudden the Emperor is not well and realises that what he needs is that beautiful, real singing. Will the nightingale ever be back?

Two babies are born on the same day in England. One boy is a prince and the other boy is from a very poor family. Ten years later, they change places for a game. But then the old king dies and they cannot change back. Will the poor boy be the new King of England? Retold by Jane Rollason.

Two babies are born on the same day in England. One boy is a prince and the other boy is from a very poor family. Ten years later, they change places for a game. But then the old king dies and they cannot change back. Will the poor boy be the new King of England? Retold by Jane Rollason.

Gwendolen thinks that she loves Ernest. Cecily thinks that she loves Ernest too. But who is Ernest really? What kind of man is he? Read this funny play and laugh. Or act it to your friends and they will laugh. This is a wonderful play by one of the greatest writers of his time. Retold by Jane Rollason.

James Fenimore Cooper was a prolific and popular American writer of the first half of the 19th century. His historical romances of frontier and Indian life in the early American days created a unique form of American literature. Precaution is the first novel written by Cooper written in imitation of Jane Austen's novels of English gentry manners. It is mainly interesting today as a document in the history of American cultural colonialism and as an example of an attempt to imitate Jane Austen's investigation of the ironic discrepancy between illusion and reality.

James Fenimore Cooper was a prolific and popular American writer of the first half of the 19th century. His historical romances of frontier and Indian life in the early American days created a unique form of American literature. Precaution is the first novel written by Cooper written in imitation of Jane Austen's novels of English gentry manners. It is mainly interesting today as a document in the history of American cultural colonialism and as an example of an attempt to imitate Jane Austen's investigation of the ironic discrepancy between illusion and reality.

James Fenimore Cooper was a prolific and popular American writer of the first half of the 19th century. His historical romances of frontier and Indian life in the early American days created a unique form of American literature. Precaution is the first novel written by Cooper written in imitation of Jane Austen's novels of English gentry manners. It is mainly interesting today as a document in the history of American cultural colonialism and as an example of an attempt to imitate Jane Austen's investigation of the ironic discrepancy between illusion and reality.

James Fenimore Cooper was a prolific and popular American writer of the first half of the 19th century. His historical romances of frontier and Indian life in the early American days created a unique form of American literature. Precaution is the first novel written by Cooper written in imitation of Jane Austen's novels of English gentry manners. It is mainly interesting today as a document in the history of American cultural colonialism and as an example of an attempt to imitate Jane Austen's investigation of the ironic discrepancy between illusion and reality.

James Fenimore Cooper was a prolific and popular American writer of the first half of the 19th century. His historical romances of frontier and Indian life in the early American days created a unique form of American literature. Precaution is the first novel written by Cooper written in imitation of Jane Austen's novels of English gentry manners. It is mainly interesting today as a document in the history of American cultural colonialism and as an example of an attempt to imitate Jane Austen's investigation of the ironic discrepancy between illusion and reality.

Framed as a letter from the Roman Emperor Hadrian to his successor, Marcus Aurelius, Marguerite Yourcenar's Memoirs of Hadrian is translated from the French by Grace Frick with an introduction by Paul Bailey in Penguin Modern Classics. In her magnificent novel, Marguerite Yourcenor recreates the life and death of one of the great rulers of the ancient world. The Emperor Hadrian, aware his demise is imminent, writes a long valedictory letter to Marcus Aurelius, his future successor. The Emperor meditates on his past, describing his accession, military triumphs, love of poetry and music, and the philosophy that informed his powerful and far-flung rule. A work of superbly detailed research and sustained empathy, Memoirs of Hadrian captures the living spirit of the Emperor and of Ancient Rome. Marguerite de Crayencour (1903-88), who went by the inexact anagrammatic pen name 'Marguarite Yourcenar', was a Belgian-born French novelist and essayist, the first woman to be elected to the Academie francaise. Her first novel Alexis was published in 1929; in 1939 she was invited to America by her lover Grace Frick, where she lectured in comparative literature at Sarah Lawrence College in New York. When Memoires d'Hadrien was first published in 1951, it was an immediate success and met with great critical acclaim.

Acclaimed historian and TV presenter Michael Scott guides us through an epic story spanning ten centuries to create a bold new reading of the classical era for our globalised world. Scott challenges our traditionally western-focused perception of the past, connecting Greco-Roman civilisation to the great rulers and empires that swept across Central Asia to India and China - resulting in a truly global vision of ancient history. With stunning range and richness Ancient Worlds illustrates how the great powers and characters of antiquity shared ambitions and crises, ways of thinking and forms of governing: connections that only grew stronger over the centuries as political systems evolved, mighty armies clashed, universal religions were born and our modern world was foreshadowed. Scott focuses on three epochal 'moments' across the ancient globe, and their profound wider significance: from 509-8 BCE (birth of Athenian democracy and Rome's republic, also the age of Confucius's teachings in China); to 218 BCE (when Hannibal of Carthage challenged Rome and China saw its first emperor); to 312 CE, when Constantine sought to impose Christianity on the Roman world even as Buddhism was pervading China via the vast trading routes we now know as the 'Silk Roads.' A major work of global history, Michael Scott's enthralling journey challenges the way we think about our past, re-draws the map of the classical age to reveal its hidden connections, and shows us how ancient history has lessons for our own times.