54

IN CONTEXT

IF THE QIN SHOULD EVER FOCUS

Han China

GET HIS WAY WITH THE BEFORE

1600–1046 BCE Shang

WORLD, THEN THE dynasty rules.

c.1046–771 BCE Western

WHOLE WORLD WILL Zhou dynasty.

END UP HIS PRISONER

771–476 BCE Spring and
Autumn Period (the first half
of the Eastern Zhou dynasty).
THE FIRST EMPEROR UNIFIES CHINA 551–479 BCE Life of Kong Fuzi

(221 BCE)
(known as Confucius).
476–221 BCE Warring States
Period (the second half of
the Eastern Zhou dynasty).
AFTER
140–87 BCE Reign of Han
Emperor Wudi (Liu Che)—a
time of imperial expansion.
220–581 CE Three Kingdoms
and Six Dynasties Period.
581–618 Sui dynasty.
618–907 Tang dynasty.

C
hina is probably the most
enduring coherent state
in world history, and to
an extraordinary extent this is
due to the will of one man: Qin
Shi Huangdi, the self-styled First
Emperor. Before he unified ancient
China in 221 BCE, it was a region
of diverse states, differing in culture,
ethnicity, and language. During the
era known to Chinese historians
as the Spring and Autumn Period
(771–476 BCE), the region was
nominally under the control of Zhou
dynasty kings, but in reality their
feudal system of government meant
that only a token authority rested
with the royal throne, while feudal
lords held genuine power over what

See also: Emperor Wu claims the Mandate of Heaven 70 ■ China is divided
into Three Kingdoms 71 ■ The An Lushan revolt 84–85 ■ Kublai Khan conquers
the Song 102–03 ■ Hongwu founds the Ming dynasty 120–27
When [Qin Shi Huangdi]
is in difficulty he readily
humbles himself
before others, but when
he has got his way,
then he thinks nothing
of eating others alive.
Sima Qian
Han historian
were effectively autonomous states.
Up to 140 small states competed
for power and territory.
The Spring and Autumn Period
gave way to the Warring States
Period (476–221 BCE), in which
power was consolidated into the
hands of seven kingdoms: Qi, Chu,
Yan, Han, Zhao, Wei, and Qin. At
this point in China’s history it was
by no means certain that an over-
arching Chinese identity or state
would emerge. If anything, it was
more likely that the considerable
geographical, climatic, cultural,
and ethnic differences between
the various kingdoms would see the
region develop in a similar fashion
to Europe many centuries later,
with multiple distinct and
divergent national entities.
The rise of Qin
In 247 BCE, a 13-year-old prince
named Ying Zheng succeeded to
the throne of Qin. He inherited a
militarized state, in which effective
bureaucracy, powerful armies, and
ANCIENT CIVILIZATIONS 55
competent generals combined to
produce a formidable and ruthless
war machine. Zheng had rivals
executed or exiled, appointed very
effective generals and counselors,
and conquered the six other states
in the region, so that by 221 BCE all
seven states were unified under his
rule. Disdaining the old title of king
(Wang), he styled himself as emperor
(Huangdi). Since he was the first
(Shi) emperor of the Qin dynasty,
he was known as Qin Shi Huangdi.
The governing philosophy of the
Qin state had been legalism: strict
centralization of power and severity
in enforcing adherence to the law.
The emperor now set about applying
this philosophy throughout the
whole of China, ruthlessly imposing
cultural, linguistic, economic, and
technological unity. All scripts
except Xiaozhuan (small seal script)
were banned. In addition, according
to legend, the emperor gave orders
for 400 Confucian scholars to be
buried alive and all existing books
to be burned; his reign was to mark
a new “Year One” in the history and
culture of China. He also introduced
a host of economic reforms—there
was to be a single, unified system
of weights and measures, a uniform
coinage, and even the gauge of cart
tracks was standardized so that
axle-widths could be the same
across the empire.
The new order
The new social and political order
of the empire reflected changes
that had been underway since the
Spring and Autumn Period. The
feudal system was abolished, so
that the mass of peasantry now
owed their allegiance to the state
rather than feudal or clan lords.
Over 100,000 noble families were ❯❯
Qin Shi Huangdi
As First Emperor of China,
Ying Zheng (later known as
Qin Shi Huangdi, 260–210 BCE)
was a truly pivotal figure in
Chinese history, uniting the
country and ushering in a
period of imperial rule that
lasted nearly 2,000 years.
He was a brutal despot but
was also innovative, dynamic,
and energetic—reports claim
that he needed just one hour’s
sleep per night and he set
himself a daily work quota,
measured by the weight of
papers that he needed to go
through. He regularly walked
the city streets in disguise
to keep tabs on the populace,
and he made five great tours
of inspection of the empire.
Highly paranoid and fearful
of possible attempts on his
life (he survived at least one
assassination attempt), the
emperor became obsessed
with the quest for immortality,
sponsoring expeditions to
look for magic ingredients
and mystics who could brew
an elixir of life, to enable him
to live forever. Ironically, his
death at the age of 50 might
well have been linked to his
consumption of toxic mercury-
based potions that he had
taken to extend his life.
56 THE FIRST EMPEROR UNIFIES CHINA
relocated to the emperor’s capital
city Xianyang (near Xi’an, in the
Shaanxi province), and their arms
were confiscated, melted down,
and then cast into giant statues.
During the Warring States Period,
the pressure of incessant military
competition had generally favored
the emergence of more meritocratic
avenues for advancement, thereby
facilitating social mobility while
undermining the importance of
noble lineage. In the Qin dynasty,
aristocratic rule was replaced
with a centralized bureaucratic
administration and the country
was divided into 36 commanderies,
which were administrative
divisions controlled by appointed
(not hereditary) governors. Censors,
or inspectors, traveled the country
to enforce adherence to Qin law.
The Qin dynasty also saw the
emergence of a new scheme of
social stratification, with society
divided into four classes: gentlemen
(Shi), peasants (Nong), and two
new classes that had emerged
during the Zhou dynasty—artisans
(Gong) and merchants (Shang). The
educated gentry would replace
the nobility as the main source of
With his puffed-out
chest like a hawk and voice
of a jackal, Qin is a man
of scant mercy who
has the heart of a wolf.
Sima Qian
Han historian
state officials. The merchant class
was officially the lowest and most
despised of the orders, and was
subject to legal discrimination;
however, wealthy merchants were
able to use their financial muscle to
become important political players.
Great works
Among Qin Shi Huangdi’s greatest
achievements were his ambitious
civil engineering projects, although
there was a great human cost as
many lost their lives in the process.
He is traditionally credited with
building the first part of the Great
Wall of China, to keep out nomadic
tribes in the north, by connecting
parts of old walls erected by the
Warring States and then adding
thousands of miles of new wall.
Other projects included constructing
the Lingqu canal, which linked the
Xiang and Li rivers so military
supplies could be transported from
northern to southern China, and
building military roads including
“the Straight Road,” which was
497 miles (800 km) long and ran
from Xianyang to the Great Wall.
Most famous of all the emperor’s
ventures was the construction of
his own elaborate mausoleum
complex, which took 38 years and
over 700,000 workers to construct.
It consisted of a giant pyramid
covered in earth to create an
immense mound, 328 ft (100 m)
high and 1,640 ft (500 m) across.
Within the pyramid was a tomb in
which his beloved empire was
recreated in miniature, complete
with liquid mercury rivers and
seas. Buried around the tomb were
large pits filled with thousands of
life-sized terracotta warriors,
bureaucrats, and entertainers, all
intended to serve the emperor in the
afterlife. Workers on the tomb were
killed after completing their tasks so
the secrets of the mausoleum’s
location and contents died with
them, and the tomb remained
undiscovered for over 2,000 years.
Despite the megalomaniacal
exertions of the First Emperor,
the Qin dynasty was to prove
short-lived. Peasant unrest caused
Guarding the tomb of Emperor Qin
Shi Huangdi, these life-sized terracotta
soldiers were discovered in 1974 by
workers digging a well. The figures
were originally brightly painted and
each has a unique facial expression.

Large region
comprises many
small, culturally
diverse states.
Seven major states
emerge and engage in frequent
warfare to gain power
and territory.
by deep-seated resentment over
the brutal extortions of money and
the many years of forced labor, plus
bankruptcy as a result of over-
ambitious civil works, combined
to undermine the carefully ordered
administration of the emperor and
his leading counselors, chief among
them the chancellor Li Si.
When the First Emperor died
in 210 BCE his youngest son, Hu Hai,
under the influence of advisor and
former tutor Zhao Gao, seized
the throne and exiled—and later
executed—Li Si. Hu Hai was
subsequently murdered after just
three years of being in power and
his successor, Zi Ying, found his
authority so reduced that he adopted
the title of king, rather than emperor.
The Han Dynasty
China collapsed into rebellion and
civil unrest, and a few days after Zi
Ying’s accession, the Han general
Liu Bang marched into Xianyang.
The following year, in 206 BCE, he
declared himself emperor of the
Han dynasty, which would go on
to rule China for 400 years, shaping
its subsequent history to such an
extent that the main ethnic group
in China is now known as the Han.
The Han expanded Chinese
territory in all directions—west
to Xinjiang and Central Asia,
ANCIENT CIVILIZATIONS 57
Qin state
Chinese unity is
conquers the
strengthened further.
other six states.
Qin Shi Huangdi
imposes unification,
standardization, and
homogeneity.
northeast to Manchuria and Korea, The influence of the First Emperor
and south to Yunnan, Hainan, and is still felt in modern China, and
Vietnam. Most importantly, they Chairman Mao Zedong (1893–1976)
consumed the powerful Xiongnu explicitly drew on the emperor for
Empire in the north. They also inspiration. “You accuse us of
reintroduced Confucianism as the acting like Qin Shi Huangdi,” Mao
official state philosophy: Confucian thundered in a 1958 tirade against
education and ethics soon became intellectual critics. “You are wrong.
the cornerstones of the scholar- We surpass him a hundred times.
bureaucracy, eventually forming When you berate us for imitating
the basis for the all-important civil his despotism, we are happy to
service examination system, which agree! Your mistake was that you
would give a meritocratic basis to did not say so enough.” ■
imperial institutions and combat
the power of the aristocracy for
millennia to come.
Han success in building and
maintaining a unified, centralized
China was based on the foundations
that had been laid down by the
First Emperor. The Han dynasty
finally collapsed in 220 CE, amid a
foment of civil unrest and natural
disasters that convinced the
Chinese that their dynasty had lost
“the mandate of heaven,” giving
way to the violent and chaotic era
known as the Three Kingdoms and
Six Dynasties Period. Despite the
devastating cost of this breakdown,
which saw the Chinese population
plummet from 54 million in 156 CE
Confucius is generally considered
to 16 million in 280 CE, the concept to be the most influential philosopher
of a unified China survived 360 in Chinese history. His teachings
years of division, enabling the Sui emphasized the importance of morality,
dynasty to reunify China in 581. integrity, humility, and self-discipline.