The truth about the 'eternal immortality' drug that killed Qin Shi Huang

Tomb of Qin Shi Huang.

Qin Shi Huang (259 - 210 BC) was the founder of the Qin Dynasty, the first emperor to unify China. Ever since he was an adult, he has always sought to attain immortality, mobilizing countless scholars, sages, physicians, and emissaries to seek the elixir of immortality from all over the country. Qin Shi Huang considered death a complete failure and dreamed of living for a thousand lifetimes. He began taking mercury-containing potions prepared by alchemists.

In a 2019 study by experts at the University of British Columbia, Canada, the ancient idea of ​​​​using mercury to make elixir of life was based on the observation that mercury could absorb gold and silver from ores. In small-scale gold mining, mercury is mixed with gold-containing materials, forming a mercury-gold mixture. When the mixture was heated, the mercury evaporated leaving gold and silver.

According to popular belief during the Qin Dynasty, when a person dies, the most precious part is the soul leaving the body. The soul flies to heaven while the body is buried. Therefore, the ancient people sought to keep the soul in the body after death. Alchemists believed that drinking mercury could prevent the soul from leaving the body, thereby achieving immortality. Qin Shi Huang regularly drank low doses of mercury and gradually became poisoned. He died suddenly at the age of 49 and the cause of death is believed to be mercury poisoning.

100 years after Qin Shi Huang's death, historian Sima Thien wrote that his tomb was filled with treasures with rivers of mercury and gems encrusted on the ceiling simulating the stars. However, Sima Thien did not mention the location of the tomb. When the underground tomb of Qin Shi Huang was discovered in 1974, archaeologists brought down the probe and examined the heavy metals in the ground. Their study revealed unusually high concentrations of mercury, 100 times the rate in nature. Subsequent geochemical studies also helped confirm Sima Qian's record. Mercury was used to build the tomb of Qin Shi Huang, simulating rivers and streams in the country. Diamonds and pearls are 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 the metal mercury came from cinnabar. This mineral is especially abundant in western China. Shaanxi province alone contains nearly one-fifth of the country's cinnabar reserves. The ancient cinnabar mines in Shaanxi may have been the source of mercury in the tomb of Qin Shi Huang.