History:
2500 YEARS AGO
China was a country ravaged by war. Ruthless warlords struggled for control of the nation while the common people suffered in endless tyranny, violence, and famine.  In 221 B.C. a savage and brilliant warlord named Ch'in Shih-huang-ti annihilated all opposition and declared himself the First Emperor of China.
Emperor Ch'in ruled China with an iron fist, torturing and killing anyone who opposed his absolute authority. Shortly after his inauguration, Ch'in conscripted 700,000 peasant workmen to begin construction of the mighty Great Wall of China, the largest engineering project in history.
Emperor Ch'in became more and more obsessed with the occult as his power grew. Ch'in surrounded himself with an army of alchemists and astrologers whom he set to work night and day, reading the stars and searching for a mystical means to grant him eternal life. Eventually, Ch'in's sanity began to erode beneath a constant fear of assassination and the toxic effects of "magical" potions prepared for him by the court alchemists.
Sensing that his own doom was close at hand, Ch'in intensified his search to discover a mystical means to extend his own life. The Emperor disappeared from public life for a period of two years. It was rumored the Emperor traveled throughout China in disguise, conferring with holy men and soothsayers, hoping to discover a means to cheat his fate.
When the Emperor finally returned to the Dragon Throne at the end of his two year absence, he ordered the court astrologers and magicians buried alive. The Emperor's agents then scoured China, burning every historical book and scroll they could find. In one year, 3000 years of China's accumulated history was completely erased.
Historians have pondered why Ch'in Shih-huang-ti would order the commission of such a loathsome crime. One theory holds that the Emperor was merely trying to cover up an even greatercrime that he himself had committed.
THE DEATH OF THE DRAGON - 211 B.C.
In 211 B.C. Emperor Ch'in Shih-huang-ti died. Ch'in's body was placed in the completed tomb complex in Shensi. The finished tomb contains numerous wonders of art and engineering, including:
An army of thousands of life-sized terracotta warriors
A planetarium inside which the positions of the stars and constellations are marked with diamonds
A massive necropolis, containing guard towers, servants' quarters, and a magnificent sacrificial palace
Concealed traps designed to shoot grave robbers with crossbows and crush them with heavy stones
A gigantic map of China that covers the floor of one huge chamber. Rivers are represented on the map with streams of flowing liquid mercury, pumped by hidden machinery
An estimated 20-30,000 people were killed and buried with Emperor Ch'in, including thousands of Ch'in's fanatically loyal warriors. For centuries, the tomb's contents remained a closely guarded secret.
Historical Note: Ch'in's tomb site was excavated for the first time in 1974, but for fear of angering a superstitious population (Chinese peasants believe desecration of the tomb will bring bad luck down on the whole country), the Communist government has elected to restrict excavations to a few outer areas of the tomb complex. To this day, the tomb's inner sanctum has never been opened, and Ch'in Shih-huang-ti's body has never been found.
1935 A.D., PRESENT DAY  -  INDIANA JONES AND THE EMPEROR'S TOMB
China is once again a land ravaged by war. Powerful warlords battle Nationalists, Communists, the Japanese Imperial Army, and each other for control of the country. Violence is inescapable. Starvation and atrocities are commonplace.
The last Manchu Emperor has been deposed, ending 2,000 years of dynastic rule. Once again, China cries out for unification. The search is on for a new leader with the strength to drive out the foreign invaders and unite the warring Chinese factions into a single force.
Meanwhile, in Germany, the Nazi war machine prepares to invade Europe. Hitler secretly dispatches agents to the corners of the globe to seek out some mystical means to guarantee his dream of a thousand-year Reich. *  Fierce fighting action and hand-to-hand combat from street brawls to martial arts battles.
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