Brilliant Leader or Brutal Tyrant

Alexis Gero History- 2 March 21, 2013

Chinas first emperor, Prince Zheng, was born into the royal family of the state of Qin towards the end of the Warring States Period, around 250 B.C. After the fall of the Shang Dynasty it was a time of chaos and disorder in China. At age thirteen he took over the thrown, and as soon as he was old enough, began to set out for a decade of conquering all the other Warring States. As soon as he controlled all of the states he completely flipped the culture and the way leaders ruled. He also changed his name to Qin Shihuangdi, meaning the first emperor of China. Because of these many changes he is one of the worlds most debated rulers, some changes were good and some not so much. Qin Shihuangdi started out by changing the government from a feudalist society to a bureaucracy. He gave the peasants their own land to work, and also moved all the nobles to the capital, near his palace, so he would know if any of them we plotting anything. Using land reform (removing the nobles) he not only prevented any assassination attacks from the nobles but also became popular with the peasants. During the Warring States Period every state had their own currency, language, measurements, e.tc, they were like little countries. By unifying the nation he also standardized much of every day life. Qin Shihuangdi standardized the coinage, weights, measurements, and written language. The most important of these was the writing, because even though each area had a different spoken language they could communicate through writing. Lastly, he formed a network of roads and canals throughout the country. This not only helped with transportation and travel, but also promotes trade between the different districts. Though Qin Shihuangdi made many positive changes the negatives seem to outnumber them. To start, the emperor was a strong Legalist (greatly influenced by his chief advisor Li siu). Legalism was one of the three main philosophies that arose during the Warring States Period. It believes that everyone is born bad and if left to their own devices will pursue their own self-interests. So, you must restrain them

with strict laws and brutal punishments. The other two philosophies were Daoism and Confucianism who believed in nothing of the sorts. So Qin Shihuangdi commanded that the Daoist and Confucius scholars give up their books and if not they were buried alive. It is thought he killed up to about 500 Confucian scholars during this time. Also he burned every book except ones on agriculture, medicine, astronomy, or philosophy. In doing this he stopped any other ideas about government or how he should rule from reaching the minds of his subjects. The emperor also imposed heavy taxes to support his own desires in the palaces (he had 400 of them), even to the peasants. He also demanded a lot of forced labor from his people and millions were killed in his projects. One of these was the construction of the Great Wall of China. Built along the northern border to keep out the Mongolians and nomadic groups, at the time it was called the 10,000 Li Wall. Millions of men were dragged from their homes and just as much died. The northern border was freezing cold and the soldiers made the men work until they died of exhaustion. So many died that the Great Wall is sometimes called the longest cemetery in the world. Qin Shihuangdi, the name strikes fear in the hearts of millions, but created what is basically modern day China, with many of the same principles. He unified the country, established a nation, but at great human cost. His reign as emperor only lasted 14 years though he claimed to rule for 10,000 generations. Qin Shihuangdi was only 49 when he died in the northeastern corner of his country, and the Qin Dynasty fell apart shortly afterward in the hands of his manipulative son. So what do you think of this man, who created one of the worlds greatest nations but killed so many innocent people. Brutal tyrant or brilliant leader? You decide.