Qin Shihuangdi

They call me brutal, a Tyrant, a mass murderer. Some men have cursed my name for more than two thousand years; others have blessed it. I was the First, and the greatest, Emperor of Qin. Without me, there would be no China as you know it today. Brutal? Tyrant? I think NOT!

A new age is inaugurated by the Emperor;

Rules and measures are rectified,

The myriad things set in order,

Human affairs are made clear

And there is harmony between fathers and sons.

The Emperor in his sagacity, benevolence and justice

Has made all laws and principles manifest...

Great are the Emperor's achievements,

Men attend diligently to basic tasks,

Farming is encouraged, secondary pursue discouraged,

All the common people prosper;

All men under the sky

Toil with a single purpose;

Tools and measures are made uniform,

The written script is standardized;

Wherever the sun and moon shine...

He works day and night without rest;

He defines the laws, leaving nothing in doubt,

Making known what is forbidden.

The local officials have their duties,

Administration is smoothly carried out,

All is done correctly, all according to plan...

No evil or impropriety is allowed,

All strive to be good men and true,

And exert themselves in tasks great and small;

None dares to idle or ignore his duties...

Great is the virtue of our Emperor

Who pacifies ail four corners of the earth,

Who punishes traitors, roots out evil men,

And with profitable measures brings prosperity.

Tasks are done at the proper season,

All things flourish and grow;

The common people know peace

And have laid aside weapons and armor...

Men delight in his rule,

All understanding the law and discipline.

The universe entire

Is our Emperor's realm...

Wherever human life is found,

All acknowledge his suzerainty,

His achievements surpass those of the Five Emperors,

His kindness reaches even the beasts of the field;

All creatures benefit from his virtue,

All live in peace at home. (Andrea and Overfield 97-100)

Qin Shihuangdi photo by Tonynetone

• I was the Unifier.
• I united the seven warring states.
• I made the measures and tools uniform.
• I united the separate scripts creating one uniform system of writing.
• Under my rule all men knew their place and what was expected of them. The farmers farmed and the soldiers knew rest.
• I brought peace and unity to the land.

I AM SHI HUANGDI!!

Beginnings

I was born, as are all men, in the year 259 BC, according to your calendar, in the state of Qin. My name was Ying Zheng. Since my father was the King, when he died, in 247 BC, I took his place. I was 13 years old. One of the first commands I gave was to begin construction on my tomb, a wise decision as it turns out, for, as all men are mortal, I was not destined to live long after the completion of my great work. Not for me, the peace I strove for. I was born to strife and conflict and such a life was all I knew. (UNESCO)

My nation, Qin, was one of many states in existence at the end of the Zhou Dynasty. In 361 BC, following the advice of Lord Shang, my nation began to be ruled according to the tenants of Legalism. By the time I ascended the throne, Qin was strong, peaceful and prosperous. In 264 BC, shortly before I was born, our nation was visited by a follower of the man called Confucius. His name was Xunzi. He reported that our people "stood in deep awe" of the officials. The officials he described as "serious and sincere". Where, I ask, is the evidence of tyranny later ascribed to my state? Our people were well cared for; what other nation, at that same time, could say as much? (Ebrey 60)

When I first became king, my prime minister was a man named Lu Buwei. Some have argued that he was my true father. It is true that my mother was once his concubine, but my father, the king, did not doubt that I was his son. Lu Buwei ruled the kingdom, in all but name, until I was 21. Then he became involved with a plot to seize control of my kingdom and I had him exiled. He feared my wrath and took his own life in 235 BC. He failed to understand that I was his king, not his puppet. It was not long after this, that I began my campaign to unify the land.

I Bring Peace to the Warring States

With my kingdom firmly under my control, I could turn my attentions toward...pacification... of my warring neighbors. For over two hundred years they fought with each other. Countless lives were lost. Tell me, how is a farmer supposed to concentrate on raising food if he lives in constant fear of being dragged off to fight in another war? Under my rule, farmers didn't have to constantly fear that. (True there were other projects, besides war, that required a lot of people...and yes, some of them- OK, many of them- did die. But at least they didn't die in endless, senseless wars!)

Patterns of conquest

My army had at least 400,000 men in it- yes, Qin was prosperous enough to supply, and keep supplied, an army of that size. With so many men, I could afford to leave a sizable occupation force in each land that I conquered without diluting, too much, the fighting strength of my army. No other single state could match the strength of my armies. They were many, and well-fed and armed with the very best of weapons. How could we not win?

Qin expansion, at 300 BC (yellow) and 220 BC (peach)

The states fell to my advance quickly. Here is the order in which the major states fell:

• Han in 230 BC
• Zhao 228 BC
• Wei 225 BC
• Chu 223 BC
• Yan 222 BC
• Qi 221 BC

(Ebrey pp40,60)

In just nine years I succeeded in ending the endless inter-state wars. My lands were much greater than any ruled by my forefathers so it hardly seemed proper to continue to call myself "King". So I created a new title, one by which I would ever after be known- Shihuangdi.

First August and Divine Emperor

This is what my new name meant.

• ‘First’ because I fully expected my Empire to last for 10,000 years, if not forever. This was a name each of my descendants would share. I was Shi haungdi, my son would be Ershi huangdi, his son Sanshi huangdi and so forth.
• ‘August and Divine’ as I was now at least equal to a god.

Together, they meant ‘Emperor’. I was fully the equal of the mythical emperors of our past.

In 221 BC, I became the first Emperor of Qin.

Perhaps there are some of you who wonder why I am sometimes called Qin Shihuangdi and sometimes Qin Shihuang. Originally, I chose the name Shihuangdi, for the reasons I just explained. In later years, the historians felt a need to connect me with my kingdom and they added the "Qin" to the front of my name, where the family name would usually go. This made me Qin Shihuangdi. Even later, it was decided that my name should only have the same number of syllables that any average, ordinary person had- 3. So, they dropped the last syllable "di" (the one that meant "divine") and I became known as Qin Shihuang. (If your name is still known two thousand years from now, perhaps you will find it changed as well.)

In honor of my great accomplishments, I erected stone tablets at sacred places, tablets upon which were carved my many accomplishments. The quote at the beginning of this page is from a tablet I erected at Mt. Langya.

If you examine the quote, you will notice a common theme- all my accomplishments brought peace and/or order to my troubled realm.

Under my rule, for the first time the entire country was ruled by one, powerful, centralized administration- mine. My government wielded more power than any before. In might and magnificence, I was greater than all prior governments. My people were awed, and yes, afraid of my magnificence. For the next two thousand years (more or less) my pattern of centralized control would be the government of choice for China. If the country was not ruled by descendents of my body, it was at least ruled by descendents of my style of rule- descendents of spirit, so to speak. (De Bary & Bloom, pp 227)

I created a unified land, and the unity established was mine. I determined which set of weights and measures would be used. Punishment for refusing to use my measures was swift and sure- it was treason to hold to the old measures and those guilty of treason paid a high price. It is said there were as many as nineteen different ways to write the word "sword" before me. After I took charge, there was only one. The penalty for failing to use the proper script was the same as failing to use the proper measure.

I even standardized the length of wagon axles. Why, you may ask, did I even standardize the axle of wagons? With all wagons having the same width of axles, I could build standardized roads. If each person who used them paid me, just a bit, for the upkeep of the roads, I would have a guaranteed source of income and the country would have good, stone roads. Standardizing the axle lengths was easy- I ordered roads built to my standard and only those wagons with the proper length of axles could use them.

I ordered new coins for my reign as well. They were round, with a square hole in the middle. The shape was suggestive of eternity- Round (to represent the heavens),with a square hole, (to represent the world.). The hole also made it easy smooth out the edges. Many coins could be stacked on a square rod and the edges filed smooth at one time.

The end of a Dynasty

Died: 210 BC

Works Cited

Andrea, Alfred J. and Overfield, James H. "The Human Record: Sources of Global History", Vol 1. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1994,2d. ed. pp. 97-100

De Bary, Wm. Theodore and Bloom, Irene. "Sources of Chinese Tradition : Volume I From Earliest Times To 1600". New York, Columbia University Press, 1999, @d ed.

Ebrey, Patrica Buckley. "The Cambridge Illustrated History of China". New York, Cambridge University Press, 2010, 2d ed.

World Heritage Site. UNESCO. http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/441