Qin Shi Huang, born Ying Zheng (嬴政) or Zhao Zheng (趙政), was the founder of the Qin dynasty and the first emperor of China. He is widely regarded as the first ever supreme leader of a unitary dynasty in Chinese history. Rather than maintain the title of "king" or "overlord" (共主) borne by the previous rulers of Xia, Shang and Zhou dynasties, he assumed the invented title of "emperor", which would see continuous use by monarchs in China for the next two millennia.