Qin Shi Huandgi: The First Emperor Of China

The earliest Emperor of the Qin dynasty was Qin Shi Huang, who was born in 259BCE and ultimately came into power at the age of 21. Despite accomplishing many significant achievements, he attained this in a brutal and callous way. Arguments that will be clearly discussed and explained in this assignment to emphasize the negative aspects of Qin Shi Huang are: the severe punishments he enforced for criminals, his fierce and deceitful war strategies and the prohibiting and burning of Confucius teachings.

iii. “Shi Huangdi was a brutal ruler but effective under the circumstances” p44 (diff) “Han rulers retained the centralized administration of the Qin, but sought to reduce the brutal expression of that period” Pg 45( Diff) The text states about the Han dynasty, “established distinctive political structures…” pg 45 ( sim) The text states about the Qin dynasty, “China was organized into large provinces ruled by bureaucrats appointed by the emperor.” pg 45

However, Qin Shihuangdi killed innocent people and destroyed countless records simply because he did

Emperor Qin was a great leader in my opinion because he was a very capable man who had a massive influence over China. Although he was also a man indulged with power, he built many fascinating structures including the Terracotta Army, and after creating the Qin dynasty made many revolutionary and positive impacts in his society.

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

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.

They feared that if they were to go against him, they would not have a pleasant afterlife. Therefore, with nobody to stop him, Qin Shi Huang was a tyrant that refused to allow people to think for their own and would burn scholars’ books and bury them alive. He was not very wise, and because he was cruel and angered the peasants, they revolted and cause the downfall of the Qin Dynasty. However, legalism has

The Warring States Period was dangerous, but the lack of central authority allowed intellectuals to flourish. Confucianism and a number of other philosophies blossomed prior to China 's unification. However, Qin Shi Huang viewed these schools of thought as threats to his authority, so he ordered all books not related to his reign

Before Qin became emperor, the government system was not fair. He improved it by ranking officials according to their achievements and abilities. Instead of having status because of family, soldiers would be promoted

The Han dynasty was a golden era for China. It saw the greatest land confiscation of the nation’s history and economic success. In this paper I will be focusing on the structure of the national government, the monopolizing of iron and salt, the Yumen Pass and the Yellow Turban rebellion. Join me as we take a trip back in time to visit a time in Chinas history that is highly revered.

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.

Nylan suggests that the reason Han dynasty scholars charged the Qin with destroying the Confucian Five Classics was partly to "slander" the state they defeated and partly because Han scholars misunderstood the nature of the texts, for it was only after the founding of the Han that Sima Qian labeled the Five Classics as “Confucian.” Nylan also points out that the Qin court appointed classical scholars who were specialists on the Classic of Poetry and the Book of Documents, which meant that these texts would have been exempted, and that the Book of Rites and the Zuozhuan did not contain the glorification of defeated feudal states which the First Emperor gave as his reason for destroying them. However, it still in conclusive until today because no text earlier than the Shiji mentions the executions, the Shiji mentions no Confucian scholar by name as a victim of the executions, and in fact, no other text mentions the executions at all until the 1st century AD. The earliest known use of the famous phrase “burning the books and executing the Confucians” is not noted until the early 4th

Even though the Qin Dynasty deprived the civilization of education, it created a strong bureaucratic system that limited feudal power and developed a cooperative population. Each Warring state followed a different political system, before it was conquered by Qin. The First Emperor, Qin Shi Huang, felt it was necessary to legitimize his power to unify the city states and for a cooperative population. In the Qin Dynasty, “the institution of emperor had a special meaning in China as the repository of imperial legitimacy” (Feng 2013, 249). In other words, the first emperor was given the title of being a “mythical ruler” that had godly powers and is the righteous leader of the empire based on the Mandate of Heaven

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

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.