Qin Shi Huang was born in 259 BC and eventually ascended to the throne of the kingdom of Qin at the age of 21 creating a war and declaring himself China’s first emperor (Source 1). Although he did bring unification to China, Qin Shi Huang was a forbidding and brutal dictator who abused his power and dishonoured his people and country. This assignment will clearly highlight the negative aspects of Qin Shi Huang, including: the banning of Confucius, how he enforced of unnecessarily strict laws and how his arrogance and ignorance eventually took over.
“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
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(C2C, Source 7). The Qin Law Code consisted of so many possible offenses that ordinary people often did not realize that they had committed a crime until they had been arrested. The Qin Law Code set specified harsh punishments for particular crimes. For serious offences, lawbreakers faced bodily mutilation, however minor offences still faced severe punishments. The death penalty was reserved for the worst criminals, especially those who threatened the emperor or the state. These unnecessary, cruel punishments are the reason Qin Shi Huang is a cruel and heartless
My first point depicts Emperor Qin’s amazing skill as a leader, analyzing Qin’s overall impact in his society. Facts and opinions combined, Emperor Qin had a great influence over China, one that positively impacted the entire country; he unified China, creating a new type of government and standardizing many things for the Chinese.
As an uniformed China was his ultimate goal, he standardized currency, weight, measures, and writing script. He was able to construct a highway system and repair The Great Wall. Legalism also helped build a strong army, an efficient bureaucracy, a compliant populace, and showed the importance of a strong central government. Ultimately though, the harshness of Legalism is what killed the Qin empire. Thousands who fled from punishment under the Qin Dynasty revolted after King Zheng’s and his heirs deaths. Army generals defected and former nobles raised armies. Eventually, a man of modest background, Liu Bang, became the new emperor of
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
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
Despite being the shortest ruling dynasty at fifteen years, the Qin dynasty served a vital role in the development of China’s civilization (51). The Qin dynasty was prefaced by a period of instability caused by an ineffective political system and war between several regions all vying to overtake the others. After the Qin kingdom rose as the victor, King Cheng established for himself the title of Shi huangdi, or emperor, and looked to create a political system that would prevent the empire from fragmenting again. To achieve such a centralized government, Shi Huangdi sacrificed his people’s intellectual freedom and lives and produced a connected and standardized China, whose efficiency and strength still impacts the vision
Qin Shi Huang was an exceptional leader, and made lots of things in China much better than they were; he stopped a war between the states and made the rule fair. He created a better government system, contributed to the most important buildings of time in China, and unified all the seven states into one successful country. Although many may think Qin was a brutal and harsh leader, he contributed to Chinese society in more ways than one. Qin was a great leader, and there is much to be learned from his ways.
He enforced the thought system of Legalism which rewarded the good and punished the bad (Media Censorship: Good or Bad?). Shi Huangdi was a harsh and an unfair leader and as result of this, his leadership did not benefit the citizens in society (Media Censorship: Good or Bad?). Today, China’s government seems to follow Shi Huangdi’s methods of rule. The practical style of
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.
The first ever knowing emperor of china was Shi Huangdi, His named applied to the country, while in Zhou’s dynasty he created the feudal system Shi abolished it was no more. Shi was a strong emperor and he expanded the country of Vietnam, during his reign he built the Great wall and a lot of different things that china is revolved around. During the Shi dynasty there where strict laws. If you didn’t go to school you were killed.
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
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.
Even though the Qin dynasty was seen as barbaric and brutal, the Han did implement some of the old Qin institutions into their new government. One of these institutions were the Commanderies. These were administrative divisions of land in which a governor would be appointed by the government and run it as the government or emperor wants it to be ran. This is institution is very useful for knowing how many people you have. When war comes and you need to draft able bodied men to go fight, you will know just how many you will be able to get. Another reason would be for tax purposes. It is also very useful to regulate the trade and growing of certain crops. Even more in depth than that the government can control what the children in the commanderies are taught and what propaganda they are seeing. Qin law is another thing that the Han used from the former dynasty. One example of this practice was the fact that women could bring up cases against men even though the women did not have the same rights as men. Punishments were also
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.
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