The Qin dynasty was the first unified, multinational and power centralised state in Chinese history. It lasted from 221 BC to 207 BC. Even if the Qin dynasty only survived 15 years, it held an important role and influence on other dynasties. Emperor Qin was a legalist which means he thought that people were "bad" and were needed to be controlled all the time, and so in order to consolidate his rules, he created a penal code for all, the Qin Code.
One of the disturbing thing I found in the Qin Penal Code is
Qin's penal code tells us that he ruled China with absolute control. Punishments for those who disagreed with him were harsh and swift. You could be put to death simply by suggesting another way to do things. He, however, did not think
With China united, Qin became the first emperor of United China (China) and created the Qin dynasty, surpassing the long-lasting and powerful Zhou dynasty. He then established his own form of government. He removed Feudalism, where the people had to listen to the nobles. Instead, he split his empire into 36 provinces, each one having two government officials
Qin Shi Huang (or Shi Huangdi) was the First Emperor of a unified China, who ruled from 246 BCE to 210 BCE. In his 35-year reign, he managed to create magnificent and enormous construction projects. He also caused both incredible cultural and intellectual growth, and much destruction within China.
Qin Shi Huang had many faults and unattractive features during his reign, he punished those who opposed him and destroyed much knowledgable literature. One of his most well-known traits is harshness. He ruled by force and violence maintaining strict order over his kingdom, and valued obedience above all. As the first ruler to have united the Warring States, and subsequently impose a central government with astonishing alacrity, this trait may seem expected in some ways. Hou and Lu, Scholars of the Qin court in 221BC highlighted the emperor’s wrong doings by saying ‘The emperor, never hearing his faults condemned, is growing prouder and prouder while those below cringe in fear and try to please him with flattery and lies.’ This tell us tat man were afraid to even think about disobeying him, let alone suggesting an idea, many just did as they were told without going their opinion. Qin Shi Huang was a a barbaric ruler, millions died through slavery or face brutal punishments if they disobeyed any of his rules or orders. He did indeed invent and build many projects but it was all at the expense of thousands of lives.Qin Shi Huang is most frequently faulted for the Burning of the Books and burying of scholars. The treasured literature of
He made everything from currency to law much easier in the countries. He standardised many things that were different in the separate states, which made life easier for travellers. The currency, measurements, weight and script were made the same throughout the country, which simplified what merchants had to go through when selling to other people. He made all the laws the same throughout all the provinces and put all the houses into groups that were responsible for each other's wrongdoing. Qin's way of ruling was carried out for many dynasties after his death, and changed the way China was ruled forever.
Qin Shi Huangdi (Born 259 BCE), initially named Ying Zheng, was the founder of the Qin dynasty, and the first emperor of a unified China. He took the throne of the state of Qin at the juvenile age of 13 years old (246 BCE) after his father passed away. He proceeded to play a vital role in national-decision making, and later prevailed over 6 rival states. Under his rule, Qin’s most prominent impact was unifying China, including building projects, new forms of government control, and standardisation. He will always be deemed for becoming the first emperor of China, and for his prevalent efforts in unifying the country. Despite thwarting two assassination attempts, and two of his own advisers attempting to overthrow him, he passed away due to
The Qin Dynasty was possibly one of the most tough, yet effective dynasties, because of Shi Huangdi, the first emperor of China, who was strict and made many changes to China, such as getting rid of Confucianism and introducing Legalism and building many new roads for use and protection. After Shi Huangdi died, Liu Bang took over and the Han Dynasty was born, and it brought back Confucianism, provided protection for the empire, an organized government, and Daoism. China was known for inventing and producing many of the things that we use today, like tools and weapons for working or war, paper, and what China is most famously known for,
In 221 BC, emperor Qin Shi Huang began the unification of China which was also known as the period of the Qin Dynasty. He ended 500 years of political fragmentation and warfare. In order to establish such a great empire, Qin Shi Huang did plenty in order to keep organized and have his empire run smoothly. He created reforms in areas such as government, economy, and construction. Qin Shi Huang had to assure a stable government was in order for his empire to function properly. A key component to the unification of China also derived from its economy. The creation of a common currency system benefitted China into running smoother as well. Lastly, Qin Shi Huang made improvements to the foundations of construction in China by adding the Great Wall of China. Although not all of his changes went well as he anticipated, Emperor Qin Shi Huang was able to keep his empire for fourteen years with these improvements he made.
Subsequent to the unification, the laws and punishments were harsh due to the different ruling in each of the 7 warring states. Qin Shi Huangdi the first emperor of the Qin dynasty was a dictator, thus, people were discontent. As a result, there were assassination attempts that attributed in his phobia of death and foreigners were banned from the area. To reduce the chances of a rebellion amongst the people, books were burnt restricting their knowledge on other philosophies and “to silence criticism of imperial rule, the kings banished or put to death many dissenting Confucian scholars” (HELLO). Since they did not have free will, the citizens were constantly in fear, this held the empire together, instead of breaking apart into different ruling systems. The Han dynasty also resembles this trait of isolation as expansion did not start immediately.The dynasty had to establish rules and a proper government to rule the people. At the start it was quite successful but there were a few disputes and an attempt to change the royal bloodline. Only when emperor Wudi took throne did expansion move forward. Due to his persistence, he built up their army and defeated the Huns in spite of previous attempts to avoid battles with people outside of China. However, militarism was expensive, causing the taxes to rise and the contentedness of the people to
Emperor Qin Shi Huangdi ruled Ancient China from 221 till 210BC and was the founder of the Qin Dynasty. He came into ruling at the young age of thirteen after his father’s death. He was a very effective ruler who during his reign accomplished unifying China and building monuments such as the Terracotta warriors and the Great Wall of China. Although Shi Huangdi did numerous things to help China and make it better, he also burnt books to destroy records of the past and punished those who did not follow his rules. Even though some of Qin Shi Huangdi’s methods were questionable he impacted China in many ways and was an effective leader because of his desire to unify China and make it better.
The Zhou dynasty lasted from about 1045 to 256 B.C.E. They claimed to be given the mandate of heaven to justify overthrowing the Shang. Under the Zhou many different kinds of ruling took place. During feudalism the king gave his most trust worthy subjects called lords chunk of land to rule over. Feudalism worked for China until somewhere in the 700s B.C.E. When the power hungry lords stated to rival the king. Then the Chinese switched to confucianism. Confucius wanted men to work in fair and honest government. In Confucianism there were five basic relationships. The lower one must respect and obey the higher one. In exchange the higher one must always set a good example. Taoism's encouraged rulers to be strict but not harsh. Taoism's
Due to the burning of any books unrelated to Legalism and the execution of anyone against the philosophy, the dissipations of the Qin Dynasty’s legalism made the government very unpopular with the people of the
The Qin state was the major key player in who succeeded in the unification of China even if it was just a small state in the west. In 238 BC, Ying Zheng, the Qin King, with the help lent by Li Si, Wei Liao and other advisers, was the one who formulated and shaped a plan to triumph over and unify China. (“The Unification of China”, 2015)
In 221-210 B.C.E., Qin, a militant Roman ruler, “created an empire by defeating all rival states and assuming absolute responsibility for maintaining order” (Fiero 88). Many individual kingdoms during this era and under Qin’s leadership, unit as one which brings about many prosperous changes in China.
The Qin worked tirelessly to strengthen the state as a whole, by recruiting advisors, strategists, and diplomats from other territories and developing their military capabilities. Furthermore, they strengthened the power of their ruler with Legalist measures (which they applied ruthlessly in war as well), which resulted in a law-abiding population. Healthy agricultural production and a large tax base helped bring about a stable society, as well as significant funding and supplies for the king’s military campaigns. Building a
When the power of the Zhou royal family at last declined in 403 B.C., wars broke out among some 170 feudal lords, throwing China into an era of political anarchy now labeled the Warring States Period. Chaos prevailed for nearly 100 years, until a single family managed at last to defeat the rival lords and bring China again under a common rule. The new emperor, Qin Shi Huang, then set out to establish a universal and everlasting empire. During his 11-year tyrannical reign, Qin killed thousands of Confucian scholars, divided the estates of other lords into smaller private plots, and undertook great public projects such as the reconstruction of the Great Wall of China. To ensure that his empire remained intact, Qin also established a formal system of government that linked the villages to central provinces and thence directly to the emperor. Between the emperor and the people he created an elaborate imperial bureaucracy that was to dominate China for the next two millennia.