
The Use of Mercury by the First Emperor of China (2015) - dr_dshiv
https://www.chemistryworld.com/features/flowing-rivers-of-mercury/8122.article
======
kijin
> _Yet even if this mercury was indeed used for fantastical landscaping, Duan
> doubts that there can have been much of it... he thinks the chamber might
> have contained at most 100 tons of the liquid metal: around 7m3._

That's a LOT of mercury. 7 cubic meters of a liquid can cover an area the size
of a football field to a depth of 1.3 millimeters. Concentrated in a few
narrow channels representing rivers and peripheral seas, the depth could be
increased to several inches.

Why do historians go to such lengths to try to argue that ancient records are
fantastical exaggerations? These people had the technology, resources, and
political will to build a football field-sized map of China with rivers of
mercury. If there are records saying that they built one, chances are they
actually did.

By the way, it's also enough mercury to poison millions of people. That tomb
should be a Superfund site.

~~~
tyingq
_" it's also enough mercury to poison millions of people. That tomb should be
a Superfund site."_

It's a bit terrifying to imagine if the tomb is intact, that someone could
drill, pump, and dump it all in a river. On a relatively low budget.

~~~
partialrecall
Then maybe for their next act of senseless mustache twirling villainry , they
could put razor blades in Halloween candy.

~~~
tyingq
It's 7 cubic meters of poison. That's pretty unique.

~~~
partialrecall
My point is why would anybody other than a Captain Planet villain go through
the effort of pumping several tons of mercury out of a historic site into a
river just for shits and giggles?

The environmental terrorism angle to this story is just fear mongering
paranoia.

~~~
tyingq
Rajneeshees did mass poisoning, and not as "environmental terrorism". Non-
state actor sarin gas attacks happen. As do ricin, anthrax, etc. There's no
shortage of terrible people that want to do terrible things with terrible
stuff.

~~~
partialrecall
Exceptionally rare events. You may as well fear that somebody could put razor
blades in apples and give them to kids. Opportunities to hurt other people are
abundant but psychos who'd want to are not.

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tony
Emperor Qin was seeking to become immortal. The most famous remnant of this
emperor are the Terracotta warriors
([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terracotta_Army](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terracotta_Army)).

The cool thing Qin did was introduce and enforce standardization of writing /
measurements / item parts. This is mentioned in _The Fall and Rise of China_
by Richard Baum at UCLA. I didn't know until today this inspiration came from
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Han_Feizi](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Han_Feizi).

Qin also was known for having many attempts to assassinate him. For those
interested in a fictional portrayal of the first Qin emperor, _The Emperor and
the Assassin_ is a very good movie. (Mandarin, english subtitles)

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Emperor_and_the_Assassin](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Emperor_and_the_Assassin)

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tyingq
Interesting they mention cinnabar, one of the candidates for the origin of the
"red mercury" myth. The myth was discussed here a few days ago:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20948788](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20948788)
(ahh, appears to have been the catalyst for this being posted)

------
avian
> He had sent a minister on a voyage far over the eastern seas in search of a
> mythical potion of eternal life. But that expedition never returned

Makes me wonder about the details of that arrangement. What promise could
possibly make the minister return from such an expedition?

If he does find the secret to eternal life, the obvious choice for the
minister would be take it himself. The emperor would have a strong motive to
get rid of anyone else knowing the secret after he got it from the minister.

If he doesn't, well, why go back to a tyrant and face potential punishment for
failure?

~~~
winkeyless
Hardly any reason to return to the emperor. To quote Wikipedia if I may:

> The Records of the Grand Historian says he came to a place with "flat plains
> and wide swamps" (平原廣澤) and proclaimed himself king, never to return.

> Ancient scholars credited Xu Fu for being the founding father, and catalyst
> of the development of ancient Japanese society.

~~~
garmaine
Except that genetically there is no connection between China and Japan...

~~~
stjohnswarts
Lol WTF are you talking about? If you diff Chinese and Japanese DNA (typical
population) there is a hell of a lot less than if you were to do the same with
a European or African genetics. Of course Japanese and Chinese genetics
overlap a lot; so of course they're related, but distinct genetic groups.

~~~
garmaine
Racial stereotyping aside, genetic and anthropological studies show no
connection between the mainline populations of Japan and China. They derive
from different migrations into asia.

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wallflower
Slightly OT. In Barcelona, Spain there is a work of art called the Calder
Mercury Fountain.

It is absolutely mesmerizing. It reminds me of when I broke a thermometer as a
kid and the poison control center instructed my parents to use magnets to
clean it up. I still remember the shimmering beauty.

[https://youtube.com/watch?v=Q35_zuffGqk](https://youtube.com/watch?v=Q35_zuffGqk)

[https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/calder-mercury-
fountain](https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/calder-mercury-fountain)

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dr_dshiv
A highly recommended BBC/natGeo film about the tomb of the first emperor of
China, who built a complex 200 times bigger than Egypt's valley of the kings.
Supposedly took over 700,000 men. The tomb itself has never been excavated.
And probably won't in our lifetime.

[https://wwjw.businesswire.com/news/home/20161011006769/en/Ma...](https://wwjw.businesswire.com/news/home/20161011006769/en/Mausoleum-
China%E2%80%99s-Emperor-Partners-BBC-National-Geographic)

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gumby
> ‘We have no mature technologies and effective measures to protect the
> relics,’ he says.

A great attitude! Much the opposite of uncovering Troy with dynamite.

Also, given the toxicity of mercury, a wise caution.

