Emperor Qin Shi Huang (259 BC - 210 BC) fascinates people when they talk about the Great Wall and the Terracotta Warriors and Horses - his two greatest achievements to China. As the first emperor of China, he indeed has a profound influence on Chinese history and culture.
How did he come to the throne?
Emperor Qin Shi Huang, born as Ying Zheng in 259 BC, was the son of the king of the Qin State. At the age of thirteen, he succeeded his father's regality. Ying Zheng was very aggressive and ambitious at an early age. He assumed full power at 22 by ridding himself of his premier, Lu Buwei, who acted as regent while he was a minor. He wanted to unify and subjugate all the states like Han, Zhao, Wei, Chu, Yan and Qi by the powerful political, economic and military strength of the Qin State. Ying Zheng realized his ambition and built the first feudal and centralized empire in Chinese history in 221 BC. This was what we called - the Qin Dynasty (221 BC - 206 BC). Ying Zheng was the first emperor of a united China, so he proclaimed himself Qin Shi Huang.
"Qin Shi Huang"When Ying Zheng unified China, he considered his achievement surpassing the legendary "San Huang (three emperors)" and "Wu Di (five sovereigns)". He created a new title for himself: "Huangdi" together with "Shi (means the first)", hence get the name "Qin Shi Huang" or "Qin Shi Huangdi", which means he was the first emperor of China. He hoped his descendants would follow in his steps to rule China for eternity.
Achievements and Defects
In order to consolidate the nascent empire, Qin Shi Huang reformed politics, economy and culture. In politics, he abolished the hereditary vassal enfeoffment system and established prefectures and counties, ruled directly by the emperor. Based on the original rules of the Qin State, the emperor adopted some regulations of other rival states to form a workable law of the Qin Dynasty. In economy, he claimed that both the agriculture and commerce were very important. People should have them developed together. Besides, tax system began to function and coinage and metrology were all standardized. In culture, the emperor unified the Chinese characters in writing, which promoted the development of the Chinese culture. However, he also suppressed scholars who were not to his liking. Consequently, many scholars involved were killed in Xian Yang.
The symbol of the Chinese ancient civilization, the Great Wall bears witness to Qin Shihuang's centralism. He ordered conscript laborers to link together the defensive works against marauding nomads already built by the former states. That was the forerunner of the modern Great Wall. Another world-famous achievement is the Terracotta Warriors and Horses in Xian, which was discovered nearby the mausoleum of Emperor Qin Shi Huang. Both are the wonders of China. But during their construction, countless conscripts lost their lives. It's really wasting manpower and resources.
Decline of the First Emperor
Qin Shi Huang longed for longevity, so he sent his ministers to go on quests seeking for an elixir of immortality. However, death claimed him before he could find success on that matter. The emperor departed from the world of the living in 210 BC while traveling. The Peasant Uprising led by Chen Sheng and Wu Guang broke out soon after Hu Hai, the second generation, got onto the throne. Accordingly, the Qin Dynasty came to an abrupt end in 206 BC. Qin Shi Huang is truly an epoch-making historic emperor in China's history.
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Travelers' Voices on Emperor Qin Shi Huang
1.
Jun. 30,2009 09:26 Reply
Ms.E(S'PORE) said:
ERM... BUT WHAT ARE HIS WEAKNESS? BEING A CRUEL KING IN SOME WAYS HE'VE DONE? IM NOT SURE ABOUT THIS...ANYONE KNOWS?
Jun. 30,2009 20:50
Mr.Simpson replied:
I think one of his weakness is his cruelty. He burned the books and buries the scholars alive, which later excited a rising of people.
2.
Jun. 21,2009 23:30 Reply
Mr.james(Canada) said:
yes Qin was the emperor in the Qin dynasty.A very powerful man back then and extended the great Wall of china to prevent the invading Barbarians from coming into china. back then there was more than 1.9 billion people in China. Lol
Jun. 23,2009 11:50
Ms.nim(Cambodia) replied:
we are doing a project on qin can u give us some important thing we should put on our poster
Jun. 28,2009 22:42
Ms.kiki(hk) replied:
yeah my school is doing a team project on qin
3.
May. 30,2009 14:14 Reply
Ms.ecogirl1000 (US) said:
Did anyone try to murder him?
May. 30,2009 22:50
Ms.Emma replied:
Yes, in fact many killers wanted to kill him. The most famous one is Jing Ke, and the story is shoot in a Chinese film by a well-know director, Chen Kaige.
Jun. 3,2009 20:29
Ms.Ella(USA) replied:
many people hated him and he was in constant threat. People wanted to kill him so bad that he built the terracotta warriors to protect him in the afterlife.
Most people think he is mean and selfish but he actually did some great things to china during his rule. Even though he was a cruel ruler.
Jun. 17,2009 21:47
Ms.grade-interfound(Singapore) replied:
eh? i thought he build the terracotta warriors so that he can build a dynasty after he die, or at least that was what he thought...
Jun. 23,2009 07:32
Mr.Passer-By(Singapore) replied:
He bulit the terracotta warriors and horses to protect him after he died. Yeah, he's cool.
Jun. 23,2009 07:38
Mr.Passer-By(Singapore) replied:
Just an add-on: All of the terracotta warriors had different faces. After the sculptors finished making the terracotta army, he killed everyone involved in the making of his tomb, so that noone would let out the secret place of his tomb. Most of the people who were killed because of that are warriors as there a bigger percentage of warriors. the terracotta warrior had different faces as they were from different soldiers and a face was not repeated twice! But that meant that a large sum of soldiers were killed when building his tomb.
4.
Jun. 17,2009 04:54 Reply
Ms.Frogster(UK/France) said:
He was a precursor and a visionary as far as economy (agriculture and commerce being two of the major priorities in the development of his empire) goes, let s credit the tyrant for understanding the bases of a successful country (unification of measures,currency, written language etc) before anyone really realised. Many geniuses or key leaders were great tyrants...it goes with the character. Their madness was their drive to conqueer and reach their goals.Now...human rights....come on...we can t have it all can we?! ;P
5.
May. 22,2009 07:14 Reply
Ms.abby(u.n) said:
he looks so mighty and strong!
Jun. 11,2009 05:50
Ms.CHEErs replied:
LOOKS does not = to CHARACTER...
anyway, i agree with ms pirouettetress. he really does have good and bad points, but we usually just judge him by his BAD ones.
basically, all emperors have their pros and cons, not a single emperor is perfect... for example, kangxi. he may well be a gd emperor who is well-liked by his country, but that does mean that he has not done something that pisses them off...
so don't just judge someone by his faults, we should also acknowledge his GOOD side...
anyway, the great wall now is like a huge worldwide attraction, so it's like he helped china in the past in the form of military, now it's in the form of economically...
cheers and do tell me your comments.
6.
Jun. 11,2009 05:38 Reply
Ms.PirouetteTRESS(Singapore) said:
basically, he has contributed as well as caused great harm to China. but I guess he was too mean such that no one really cared about his contributions… still, let us just acknowledge them.
7.
Apr. 30,2009 20:02 Reply
Ms.LOOK(ny) said:
He was a terrible man. He was ambitious and cared about no one but himself and his desires. He killed thousands of men for the labor they did for him. Men died because they constructed things like the great wall. He chose Legalism to rule. He forced people to love him. This man got rid of Feudalism. He tortured Confucians by burning their books and marking their skin so they would be sent to special labor and at the end be killed. He believed in immortality and went to look for a magic potion so he would become immorta. Only he only ruled for about 11 year .
May. 11,2009 19:17
Ms.Ellixia(Australia) replied:
Actually he ruled for 15 years but it was a good thing that he got rid of Feudalism.
I think we all believe in an immortal life ... after life that is.
May. 22,2009 12:11
Ms.KNOCK OUT(LOS ANGELES) replied:
i feel you my nigga cause he was a legalist and he was very selfish
Jun. 11,2009 05:34
Ms.PirouetteTRESS(singapore) replied:
but still, he had some contributions:
the unification of China. Qin Shi Huang wanted to avoid the recurrence of the political chaos of the Warring States Period. Thus, he abolished feudal system. Feudalism is the system in which the King ruled only the capital and its surrounding areas. He established the totalitarian rule. He divided his empire into 36 Provinces. Each Province was in the hands of governors – run by a civilian governor, assisted by a military governor – and an inspector is posted to each commandery and he is in-charged of informing the central governor about the local implementation of central policy and governor’s exercise of power. Governors are dismissed at will of the ruler. Qin Shi Huang also ordered the former royal family of the conquered states to move to Xiangyang, the capital of Qin, so that they will be kept under tight surveillance of rebellious activities.
He also extended roads and canals connecting the provinces to accelerate trade between them as well as to accelerate military marches to revolting provinces.
Qin Shi Huang united China economically by standardizing China’s units of measurements such as weights and measures and the currency.
Source: http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Qin_Shi_Huang
8.
May. 1,2009 13:05 Reply
Mr.8500 8 said:
He was one of china's best emperors
May. 11,2009 19:15
Ms.Ellixia(Australia) replied:
He Unified China so in a certian way he is alright
May. 22,2009 07:15
Ms.abby(u.n) replied:
yes he was
May. 30,2009 14:12
Ms.ecogirl1000(US) replied:
I disagree. He didn't care about people dying to get what he wanted done and he suppressed the people who had different opinions. He was an evil emperor.
Jun. 2,2009 14:24
Ms.1234(usa) replied:
Qin was a very powerful emperor.
Jun. 6,2009 17:00
Mr.qin(artic) replied:
he was evil (in a way)
9.
Jun. 6,2009 16:51 Reply
Mr.bob(Russia) said:
was cruel and mean but was brilliant in a way
10.
Jun. 3,2009 20:21 Reply
Ms.Rose(USA) said:
He was a leagleist but he did have some great ideas.