He became the Emperor of a unified China in 221 BCE – the presumed date of this inscription – which counts his rule as being in its “26th year” since his crowning as the King of the State of Qin [247 BCE] (rather than the 1st year as the Qin Empire [221 BCE]). There is an ongoing debate within China’s academic community as to whether the inscription is a) authentic, and b) the above interpretation is correct (the text appears to say “37” – some think this is a weathered inscription that should read “26”*. I have followed with the “26” narrative as this equals 221 BCE – whereas “37” would equal 209 BCE. As the Emperor Qin died in 210 BCE – this latter dating would not make sense. Furthermore, line 8 states the branch and stem year is “己卯” [Ji Mao] – which implies the year in question is “221 BCE”). A local Tibetan herdsman said he knew about the inscription as early as 1986 – and all his older relatives said it had always been present.
SANGHA KOMMUNE (SSR) 