Shi Huangdi Censorship

Shi Huangdi was a part of China. He was the first to unite all the states in China during the Warring States period and became the first self-proclaimed Emperor of China. Also to top it off, Shi Huangdi was considered a ruthless tyrant; a person who is cruel to all the people of China and is considered this in history. Shi Huangdi’s strict attitude towards the empire was essential for his Legalist beliefs. Although he is considered to be a tyrant, Shi Huangdi helped China to be in a strong, well-vised government.

Qin Shi Huang was feared by his subjects as he was seen as a barbaric and ruthless autocrat who took extreme measures to preclude rebellion in his empire, mostly by enforcing severe punishments for criminals. (Source 1) The penalty for major crime

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

“Qin Shi Huang was a fierce leader who was feared by his people.”(Source 1) Believing that knowledge about the past was dangerous, as were ideas that encouraged free and independent thinking, he banned the teaching of Confucius. He instead preferred what is known as legalism. Han Fei-tzu, a Legalist and the tutor of Shi Huangdi, wrote, "The ruler alone should possess the power, wielding it like lightning or like thunder." Qin Shi Huang ordered books and writing that did not support his ideas to be burned. Over 460 scholars were killed or enslaved for owning banned books. As religion played a big role in Ancient China the disrespecting of his subject’s beliefs, made him a forbidding

Additionally, literature was discouraged under Legalism because they were believed as poisons to the mind. The Legalists believed this way because not all the information in books contains the truth. Agriculture and war were promoted on the other hand, because it would carve a rich and powerful empire (Walker 39). Many argue that the harshness of Legalism caused the downfall of the Qin Dynasty. However, it was one of the main reasons by the Qin Dynasty stood as the strongest among the Chinese states and possibly in the world. The reason why is because harsh punishments encouraged good conduct and discipline. When this is brought upon, there will be more room to contribute to society and there will be fewer worries about crimes being committed. In addition, the conduct and discipline was a plus for the military. By doing what they are told, the military can execute their job perfectly. All in all, Legalism flourished the Qin Dynasty; it did not cause it to go downhill.

Even though Shi Huangdi made some improvements such as creating a writing system and protected China, he made China worse because he killed many people and destroyed historical records. For example, during the Qin dynasty he created one writing system. This evidence shows that he improved China by allowing for easy communication throughout the country. To add on, he built the Great Wall of China by connecting other walls in the north.This means that China will be protected from any invaders that attack from the north of China. This also made communication during trade easier. In document 4, Shi Huangdi ordered that all writing and teachings of Confucius to be burned and to execute anyone who opposed his rule. This shows that he made China

Legalism is an ancient Chinese philosophy of administration that believes that humans are more inclined to do wrong than right because they are motivated entirely by self-interest. Shi Huangdi was the founder of the Qin dynasty. After conquering the seven kingdoms in ancient China, he halted the Warring States Period and took the throne as the first emperor of the unified Chinese nation. He ruled on the basis of Legalism. To prevent criticism of his rule, Shi Huangdi ordered that all books that seemed to be useless or against him be burned. This included all poetry from the Chou dynasty and all books written by Confucian scholars. The only books from previous eras that Shi Huangdi let off were the practical ones about medicine and farming. Focusing on the issue of media censorship, the current Chinese government governs in a similar way to the way Qin Shi Huangdi once governed. China still blocks and monitor citizens access to several social media services and shuts down media entertainment programs during government events. While some may see this as an extreme form of censorship, we must consider the fact that several other countries have similar policies in place.

Censorship in China has gained much attention recently because of the conflict between Google and the Chinese government’s self-censorship policies. In fact, censorship has been practiced since ancient China and the intensity only increases by the years. Nowadays, the most notable measure of censorship is being done on the Internet. More and more restrictions have been put into actions by the Chinese government, which make the life of Chinese Internet users, the Chinese netizens, very inconvenient. With the intensity of censorship increasing and the censoring technology improving, Internet censorship has mainly negative effects on Chinese society.

The government used this propaganda to glorify the communist party and show western power and capitalism as evil. During the 1960s and 1970s, the Cultural Revolution in China relaxed some of the censorship in China but the government still maintained a tight grasp on the information people could find.

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.

In Communist China, thought confining and regulation for access to banned book are existing. The authoritarian government controls all the knowledge, spiritual and cultural disseminating channel, for example, media, publishing, films, drama, etc. (Chen 2006 p.5)

Now, many Chinese citizens are attempting to access these applications and searches without censorship by “connect[ing] to virtual private networks that provide them with communications channels to servers outside the Chinese mainland” (Bradsher 4). Though, many citizens have found loopholes in order to post their messages to these websites. For example, on Weibo (the Chinese version of twitter), if a user were to post using a specific keyword, the post would automatically be deleted, if not manually by a superior on the site if it slipped through the system. However, because the use of “abbreviations, neologisms, homophones, and homographs” by users, many political satirists, revolutionists, or regular citizens find themselves sliding through the cracks thus escaping the censoring governments reach (Wang and Mark 5). In addition, because the government also changes from time to time, a man named Yu Jia, a government critic stated that “Today's China is very different from Chairman Mao's China. I think then, it used to be like an iron slab, and there was only really one idea. It was completely impermeable. But now, it's more like a fishnet, and there are holes” (Jia, Han and Fu 4). This further proves the argument that legislation in regard to behavior online is too varied in

In the United States, every child, teenager and adult uses Wikipedia, YouTube and Facebook, among numerous other sites, regularly. The internet is open and uncensored for the most part, other than parental controls. In China, most, if not all of those types of sites are or have been blocked. As in, you could not go to them, unless you found some way around the web filters and firewalls the Chinese government runs in their country. While China defends their practice of internet censorship, based on “protecting” the people, heavy internet censorship is a block to free speech and impedes economic and social development in the 21st century.

The Chinese government had enforced these rules and regulations through blocking, filtering and shutting down Internet cafes. According to Amnesty International, the Chinese government routinely blocks news sites, especially those with dissident views or banned groups. Anniversary’s such as the 1989 pro-democracy protests are heavily guarded days that see increase Internet blocking. Internet blocking of major search gateways is also

The Freedom of Speech is granted to every American citizen and has been since it was founded in 1776; however, not every nation grants that right. China, as a communist nation, retains most individual freedom rights from its citizens. Although in the Peoples Republic of China’s (PRC) 1982 constitution, people are guaranteed Freedom of Expression and Press; it is often violated by the current corrupt government. The government demands the news to be 80% positive and 20% negative, altering the facts n occasion. In contrast to that, America has recently become more involved with the pressing issue as well because of the involvement of Google. Thus it has shined the light on government censorship and corruption. China’s government corruption