Curriculum Materials. Add Event. Main Menu Home. Near the end of this violent time, an ambitious rich merchant, Lu Buwei , sought the favor of Zizhu, the crown prince of Qin. Later, this woman gave birth to a child, named Cheng, who eventually would become the first emperor of China. In any case, when Cheng was years-old, Zizhu became king of Qin and made Lu Buwei his chief adviser.
He also ordered all foreigners expelled from Qin. But a brilliant government official, Li Si, persuaded him to cancel the order. Li Si, himself a foreigner, convinced Cheng that many valuable people would end up serving the enemies of Qin if forced to leave.
Li Si so impressed Cheng that the king promoted him minister of justice in place of Lu Buwei. Cheng did not actually lead his troops into battle, but was a master military strategist. He also appointed his generals based on ability rather than family name. The young king used his mobile cavalry and lightly armored foot soldiers to outmaneuver the enemy's bulky war chariots. Cheng's warriors used the most advanced weapons including bronze swords, spears, and dagger-axes along with longbows and crossbows.
Acting on Li Si's advice, Shi Huangdi abolished the old feudal system, which had distributed most lands to powerful lords. Li Si organized China into 36 districts governed by officials appointed by the first emperor. To further his grasp of power and control, Shi Huangdi ordered all the royal families of the vanquished kingdoms to move to his capital city of Xianyang.
There he could keep watch over them. Before Shi Huangdi became emperor, Qin's rulers followed the teachings of the philosopher Confucius B. Confucius believed in a well-ordered society tied to tradition and the past.
He also valued learning and scholarship. In his view, the state resembled a large family guided by the righteous behavior of the ruler. The ideal leader ruled by compassion, not force, and avoided war while easing the burdens of the poor. According to Confucius, a ruler who failed to set the example of goodness for his subjects would lose the "Mandate of Heaven," and his reign would end in disaster. Li Si, the first emperor's grand counselor, was also a Legalist.
He created a law code to govern the newly unified China. Under the Qin Law Code, district officials, all appointed by the emperor, investigated crimes, arrested suspects, and acted as judges. When arrested, criminal suspects were often beaten to get a confession.
Those arrested were presumed guilty until they could prove their innocence. The Qin Dynasty saw rich cultural and technological innovation, but brutal rule, and gave way to the Han Dynasty after only 15 years. He renamed himself Shi Huangdi First Emperor , a far grander title than King, establishing the way in which China would be ruled for the next two millennia. He relied on brutal techniques and Legalist doctrine to consolidate and expand his power.
The nobility were stripped of control and authority so that the independent and disloyal nobility that had plagued the Zhou would not pose a problem.
The Qin Dynasty was one of the shortest in all of Chinese history, lasting only about 15 years, but it was also one of the most important. This laid the foundation for the consolidation of the Chinese territories that we know today, and resulted in a very bureaucratic state with a large economy, capable of supporting an expanded military. The First Emperor divided China into provinces, with civil and military officials in a hierarchy of ranks.
This canal helped send half a million Chinese troops to conquer the lands to the south. Qin Shi Huang standardized writing, a crucial factor in the overcoming of cultural barriers between provinces, and unifying the empire. He also standardized systems of currency, weights, and measures, and conducted a census of his people. Not surprisingly, the autocratic emperor was the target of several assassination attempts.
Perhaps in response, Shi Huangdi became obsessed with the idea of immortality. As Sima Qian records, his advisers counseled him that the herbs of immortality would not work until he could move about unobserved.
Accordingly, he built walkways and passages connecting his palaces so that he could move about in seeming invisibility. Doubtless the most megalomaniacal of his projects was his enormous tomb and buried terra-cotta horde , constructed at tremendous cost by , forced-labor conscripts. The thousands of life-size figures included infantrymen, archers, chariots with horses, officials, servants, and even entertainers, such as musicians and a strongman.
Arrayed in military formation, the soldiers bore traces of the bright paint that must have once enlivened them. Although formed from standardized pieces—with solid legs and hollow torsos—they were evidently finished by hand so that no two figures looked exactly alike.
Figures of acrobats and musicians would entertain the emperor through eternity. Find out what happened when an American stole a warrior's thumb. All rights reserved. Share Tweet Email. Read This Next Wild parakeets have taken a liking to London. Animals Wild Cities Wild parakeets have taken a liking to London Love them or hate them, there's no denying their growing numbers have added an explosion of color to the city's streets.
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The Qin empire is known for its engineering marvels, including a complex system of over 4, miles of road and one superhighway, the Straight Road, which ran for about miles along the Ziwu Mountain range and is the pathway on which materials for the Great Wall of China were transported. Overseen by the Qin road builder Meng Tian, , workers were brought to work on the construction of the Great Wall, and on the service roads required to transport supplies.
Qin Shi Huang was noted for audacious marvels of art and architecture meant to celebrate the glory of his new dynasty. Weapons from Qin conquests were collected and melted down, to be used for the casting of giant statues in the capital city Xianyang. For his most brash creation, Qin Shi Huang sent , workers to create an underground complex at the foot of the Lishan Mountains to serve as his tomb.
It now stands as one of the seven wonders of the world. Designed as an underground city from which Qin Shi Huang would rule in the afterlife, the complex includes temples, huge chambers and halls, administrative buildings, bronze sculptures, animal burial grounds, a replica of the imperial armory, terracotta statues of acrobats and government officials, a fish pond and a river.
Just short of a mile away, outside the eastern gate of the underground city, Qin Shi Huang developed an army of life-size statues—almost 8, terracotta warriors and terracotta horses, plus chariots, stables and other artifacts.
This vast complex of terracotta statuary, weapons and other treasures—including the tomb of Qin Shi Huang himself—is now famous as the Terracotta Army. Qin Shi Huang died in B. Officials traveling with him wanted to keep it secret, so to disguise the stench of his corpse, filled up 10 carts with fish to travel with his body.
In two years time, most of the empire had revolted against the new emperor, creating a constant atmosphere of rebellion and retaliation. Warlord Xiang Yu in quick succession defeated the Qin army in battle, executed the emperor, destroyed the capital and split up the empire into 18 states. Liu Bang, who was given the Han River Valley to rule, quickly rose up against other local kings and then waged a three-year revolt against Xiang Yu. Mark Edward Lewis. The Dynasties of China. Bamber Gascoigne.
Li Feng. National Geographic. Qin Dynasty.
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