Qin looks too much like a caricature of a scheming Chinese merchant.
The First Emperor is a martial warlord who commanded the respect of his elite soldiers. His countenance should be take of a scholar-warrior.
- His robes should be blacker and decorated with crimson. This is from Wikipedia and I'd say most Chinese would think him as such - stately, upright, with a hint of height:
- His girth is the result of the layers of cloth he wears (not unlike maiko in Kyoto wearing the traditional full-garb kimono). The one in Civ VI looks like he earned it over the dinner table. It's very different.
- Face shape is also a bit too deformed/caricatured.
- The buckle feels a bit too gaudy. People of his era are often seen with only cloth belts without buckles. Lose those flicked-up shoulders and maybe we might get something better. Traditionally Chinese robes do not have those flicked-up shoulders - they look exaggerated without good reason to be there. Those extremely wide sleeves, on the other hand, existed for effect and Firaxis shouldn't have made them conventional-sized.
- The Qin word at the front of his robes should be written in the proper style of his times. (Small Seal Script), which would be the top-left character in this picture:
The one in Civ VI is written poorly even by modern standards, probably because it's not written by someone used to writing Chinese script. It looks decidedly haphazard.
- In any case a Chinese emperor will not wear those words on his clothes. As emperor his robes will have Dragons (not his buckle). 'Dragon robes' are a cultural artefact of Chinese history - they are the sign of the right of imperial rule.
- There are also too few strands of beads for his hat, and those strands are too short. Overall it looked too comical - like someone wearing a hat that's too small.
