Qin Shi Huang Analysis

Qin Shi Huang-Di has left a large impact on China, and by extension the world, that has lasted many years. Qin created the foundation of the Chinese country of today. Some scholars even believe that without Qin Shi Huang-Di, there would be no China at all (Gracie). Qin’s impact on the world was the creation of an entire country, a pretty impressive feat. Especially in his time, when nothing like China had ever been created before, his unification and reformation of China into a lasting country is inspiring. Qin is sometimes credited “with establishing the world’s first truly centralized bureaucratic empire” (Gracie). Furthermore, his format of a centralized bureaucratic empire would be the basis for many other empires and countries that would

ruled with autocracy which is where the government has unlimited power and runs their dynasty similar to a tyrant. When Shi Huangdi built the Great Wall of China, he forced laborers to work on the wall or die. The Qin dynasty was not afraid of cruelty and Confucian scholars were given no mercy. Because the Qin were legalists, any citizen who broke the law was executed. The emperor was hated for burning books and for forcing citizens to work on the wall. Shi Huangdi helped China centralize which unified them at the cost of human freedom.

“All the peasants and soldiers to the wall.” Imagine being a laborer and having to contribute in the construction of the wall. During the Qin and Han dynasties, the Great Wall of China was built. The continuous wall protected the dynasties from the Mongols. The benefits of the wall did not outweigh the costs because of the soldiers , the economy that went down, and the forced labor from peasants and laborers.

China, up until the Qin Dynasty, consisted of independent states controlled by kings fighting each other for land and power. This time period was called The Era of Warring States, which lasted two hundred years. After this time, the Qin Dynasty rose to power. They conquered all other dynasties, and established a centralized government, unifying China for the first time. The dynasty that succeeded the Qin, the Han, continued the centralized government and they started a westward expansion that would encourage trade and cultural diffusion. The Qin and Han Dynasties were similar in that they both believed in a strong centralized government, which strengthened and unified their empires, but they differed in that the Qin followed the strict Legalism while the Han followed the more flexible Confucianism, and the way they interacted with outsiders; the Qin tended to be more defensive of outsiders while the Han were more interactive and wanted to build relationships with foreigners.

After the Qin dynasty, the Han ruled China for four centuries, enacting numerous political changes and governing one of the most efficacious dynasties in Chinese history. Gaozu, the founder of the Han dynasty was the first low-ranked official to found a dynasty in imperial China. In 209BC, Gaozu spearheaded the rebellion against the tyrannical practices of the Qin dynasty. The changes enacted by the Han’s first emperor are central to understanding the political rule and authority in Han China due to the fact that the rulers that succeeded him follow suit in a majority of his policies.

During the rule of Qin Shi Huangdi during the Qin dynasty, China’s government was based upon the philosophies of legalism. Legalists believed that all people were created amoral, and morality could only come from harsh punishments in society. As punishments, hundreds of thousands of peasants were forced into slave labor. Due to the extreme conditions, many slave laborers died from malnutrition and exhaustion. Today, China is still one of the most frequent instigators of human rights violations, which can be described as the deprivation of the most basic rights that all people are entitled to on birth. Those who are deemed “enemies of the state” can have their families tortured by the government without recourse, and activists can often be attacked

Another factor of how and why China succeed in unifying in contrast to India, is where there were many different views, and being opposed of things changing in India, If someone “opposed the polices of the new regime in the Qin Dynasty those individuals would be punished and

Third of all, Qin Shihuangdi could have been a great ruler. What I mean is that Qin Shihuangdi did many good things during his time too while being ruler. According to the article “ The First Emperor “ it states that, Qin Shihuangdi finish the great wall of china, but it took 30 years to built, and it cost lives of countless thousand of laborers. Also on the article “Ancient Civilization” Qin Shihuangdi had an organized country with laws, punishments,and taxes but no one like him as a ruler because he like to wasted money on himself and not his country. Also his tomb took 30 years to built, and it cost lives of countless thousand of laborers just like the great wall of china.

Although Qin Shi Huang-Di is sometimes seen as a fantastic leader and unifier, he was also paranoid, oppressive, and tyrannical. For example, he was constantly worried about people who opposed him and about keeping control of his country. When Confucian scholars talked behind his back or criticized him because his administration was built on Legalism, he decided to get rid of them and ordered the arrest and execution of over 400 scholars (Gracie). This dislike of opposition and debate has carried over to the communist party of China today, showing just how much of Qin’s legacy has lasted. Along with the arrest of the scholars, he also used other means to end intellectual opposition. In 213 BCE, he ordered that all books be burned, except for

The government became a bureaucracy he strengthen the military, and made giant technological advances. Qin developed legalism forcing his power of the government on people, only forcing his power that enabled him to build his tomb. If his people did not follow these rules they would have been severely punished. Like other second wave civilizations China absorbed the religion of

The different schools of thoughts have seen to prosper during the Warring State Period. The Warring State period witnessed intensive warfare. Some of the ambitious king fought with the aim of gaining more territory and power, while some were fighting to survive and retain their power. Consequently, many states were not only competing with their military power but also with the philosophy they adapted in court and the state. Some of the notable schools of thought included Confucianism, Daoism, Legalism and Mohism. However, in this paper, I will be highlighting on Confucianism and Legalism as these two philosophies differ vastly in their perception on whether human nature is kind or evil.

“With bronze as a mirror one can correct one 's appearance; with history as a mirror, one can understand the rise and fall of a state; with good men as a mirror, one can distinguish right from wrong.”

Before the Han dynasty came into power, the Uins ruled China with Shi Huangdi as the emperor. Shi Huangdi sought to centralize China and set up a bureaucracy. He was also responsible for a number of innovations in Chinese

He unified all elements of Chinese history and made it one, he brought a modern and uniformed state, including language system, measuring system, weight system, writing system and currency. Qin Shi Huang wanted and thought his family would rule forever, although his whole empire collapsed only three years after he had died. His mythical tomb was planned by himself long before he died, he planned it so that his body is would be buried under a miniature mountain so that he can be a part of China’s landscape, although, no one knows if this is true since his tomb is

Then in 221 BCE, was the first emperor to rule the entire country of China. In power, he immediately set up centralized government ideas and neutralizing the power of the Warring Nobles. Shi Huangdi abolished feudalism, a class in which people worked and fought for nobles who gave them protection and the use of land in return, so the whole country would be under unified rule. The nobles were then moved to the capital where they had no local power.