Short answers, pulled from the story.
Qin Shi Huang was born in the city of Handan in 259 BC and his birth name was Zhao Zheng. This name was derived from the month of his birth and the clan of his birthplace rather than his father's lineage.
Qin Shi Huang unified China by launching a systematic campaign to conquer the remaining six major states beginning in 230 BC. The process took nine years to complete and ended in 221 BC when the Qin armies captured the state of Qi.
In 213 BC Qin Shi Huang ordered most existing books to be burned to eliminate the Hundred Schools of Thought. The following year the emperor had some 460 scholars buried alive for possessing the forbidden books according to the later Shiji.
Qin Shi Huang died in July or August of 210 BC at the palace in Shaqiu prefecture at the age of 49. The cause of his death remains unknown though one hypothesis holds that he was poisoned by an elixir containing mercury.
Qin Shi Huang was succeeded by his younger son Hu Hai who started his brief reign as the Second Emperor. Chancellor Li Si and the chief eunuch Zhao Gao conspired to kill the eldest son Fusu and forged a letter from Qin Shi Huang commanding Fusu and General Meng to commit suicide.
The terracotta statues were discovered by a group of farmers digging wells on the 29th of March 1974. There are around 6,000 statues excavated whose purpose was to protect the Emperor in the afterlife from evil spirits.