Lü Buwei

(c. 291 BC - 235 BC)

A wealthy merchant by trade, Lü Buwei quickly rose to the highest ranks of King Zhuangxiang of Qin’s court. He also oversaw the compilation of the Annals, an attempt to gather all world knowledge into one encyclopedia. Lü was said to be so pleased with the result that he offered a gold prize to anyone who could add or subtract even one word. In 235 BC, after being implicated in a scandal, Lü was stripped of his posts and titles and banished to the remote Shu region in the south of Qin.