李开元

Also known as: 「中」李开元, 李開元

Notable works: The Qin Enigma: Rediscovering Qin Shi Huang The Collapse of Qin: From the First Emperor to Liu Bang The Fall of Chu: From Xiang Yu to Han Xin

8 written works

About the author

Li Kaiyuan is a Chinese author of history books for general readers, with a focus on the Qin dynasty. Public information about him is limited, and no systematic account of his life has been made available. The five works held in the catalog all revolve around the rise and fall of the Qin: Qin Mi: Rediscovering Qin Shi Huang reexamines the First Emperor and his era, while Qin Beng: From Qin Shi Huang to Liu Bang and Chu Wang: From Xiang Yu to Han Xin continue the story into the collapse of Qin and the Chu-Han contention; two further titles, Ci Qin: Reunderstanding the Qin Dynasty and Qin Beng · Chu Wang, belong to the same body of work. Aimed at ordinary readers, these books combine a questioning approach with narrative prose, sifting historical sources and reassessing received views, and turning scholarly debate into accessible history writing.

Written (8)

The Qin Enigma: Rediscovering Qin Shi Huang cover

The Qin Enigma: Rediscovering Qin Shi Huang 李开元 Shanghai People's Publishing House · 2026 The Qin dynasty is more than 2,000 years away from us; most historical sources have been lost, many historical facts cannot be verified, and the life …

The Collapse of Qin: From the First Emperor to Liu Bang cover

The Collapse of Qin: From the First Emperor to Liu Bang 李开元 SDX Joint Publishing Company · 2025 Ying Zheng, the First Emperor who unified the six states, and Liu Bang, founder of the Han Empire, seem like two founding monarchs from different gene…

The Fall of Chu: From Xiang Yu to Han Xin cover

The Fall of Chu: From Xiang Yu to Han Xin 李开元 SDX Joint Publishing Company · 2025 In his Records of the Grand Historian, Sima Qian composed the timeless epic of the struggle between Chu and Han. In that age of heroes, from the upris…

Assassinating the King of Qin: Reassessing the Qin Dynasty cover

Assassinating the King of Qin: Reassessing the Qin Dynasty 李开元 Shanghai People's Publishing House · 2025 Why did Jing Ke fail to assassinate the King of Qin? Had Jing Ke killed the King of Qin, how would history have unfolded? What role did the “Memorial …

The Fall of Qin, the Fall of Chu cover

The Fall of Qin, the Fall of Chu 李开元 SDX Joint Publishing Company · 2025 This volume comprises two works: The Fall of Qin: From the First Emperor to Liu Bang and The Fall of Chu: From Xiang Yu to Han Xin. Ying Zheng, the Fi…

The Assassination of Qin: Rediscovering the Qin Dynasty cover

The Assassination of Qin: Rediscovering the Qin Dynasty 李开元 Shanghai People's Publishing House · 2025 The story of Jing Ke's attempt to assassinate the King of Qin is known to every household, but how much of the record is factual and how much is later…

Sima Qian Arrives at the History Department of B University cover

Sima Qian Arrives at the History Department of B University 李开元 SDX Joint Publishing Company · 2025 Sima Qian Arrives at the History Department of B University is the first collection of essays on history and culture by Li Kaiyuan, a scholar of Qin a…

The Fall of Chu: From Xiang Yu to Han Xin cover

The Fall of Chu: From Xiang Yu to Han Xin 李开元 SDX Joint Publishing Company · 2015 From Chen Sheng and Wu Guang's uprising in 209 BC to Liu Bang's proclamation as emperor in 202 BC, eight short years saw Qin fall, Chu perish, and Han…

Publishers

Shanghai People's Publishing House SDX Joint Publishing Company