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Intro ~ Styles ~ People ~ Snippets ~ My Work ~ Other Sites
Many thanks to Simon, a fellow freshman at Yale, who hails from Hong Kong and has tried to take out the glaring mistakes in this article. He is not responsible for any of the inaccuracies I may have introduced!
Qin Shi Huangdi, First Emperor of China [pronunciation]
(Ruled 221-206 BCE)
You kneel in a pit. Wails of pleading fill the air. You strike your head on the ground, level with your bleeding knees, begging for your life. And the hail of earth rains down on you, pours down relentlessly from the shovels of the grim-faced soldiers above you.
Buried alive.
That's how the Chinese remember Qin Shi Huangdi. The first emperor of the Qin dynasty, he unified China by conquest. We also remember him as the cruel genius who built the Great Wall of China, torched China's books, and buried the scholars alive.I'm going to try for historical accuracy. This is difficult, because the memory of Qin Shi Huangdi is fraught with emotion, both pride and hate. Please treat me as a story-teller with a myth to share ... I will tell you a myth of the man who bound China with blood.
Conquest
Before the Qin dynasty, China was a messy patchwork of warring kingdoms. In fact, that era was named the Warring States (Zhàn Guó) period. There were 7 main kingdoms. Qin Shi Huangdi was the king of the state of Qin. By conquering the other 6 kingdoms in 221 BC, he united China for the first time in history [see note].
The Great Wall of China
The Great Wall of China is not only a landmark in China. Called the 8th Wonder of the World, it's also the only man-made artifact that can be seen from space. If you ever have the fortune to stand on its yellowed, battered brick, be silent for a moment. Imagine the creaks and groans and curses of the men who built it, and the death-rattles of thousands who died in its completion.
The Great Wall (Wàn Li Cháng Chéng) was built to defend China from the Huns. Qin Shi Huangdi conscripted labourers from the population. The cost was incredible. The memory of this immense human sacrifice is remembered in the Chinese legend of Mèng Jiang Nü, the woman who travelled up and down the Great Wall grieving for her husband. At length, the stones themselves took pity on her and cracked.
Picture Copyright (C) 1996 Graham G Hawker. Used with permission.
The scholars executed and books burned
The Qin dynasty's destruction of China's books has possibly made it more infamous than any of its other deeds. It ranks above the human suffering of the Great Wall and the execution of China's scholars.
I doubt you want to hear every detail of the background to this deed. Here's what I'll do. Below, on the left is the little paragraph at the beginning of this article about the burial of the scholars. On the right you'll find the small print about this event.
And the hail of earth rains down on you, pours down relentlessly from the shovels of the grim-faced soldiers above you. Buried alive. |
The execution of the scholars was triggered off when one scholar fled to Japan (which he's supposed to have founded). He was an alchemist whom Qin Shi Huangdi had charged to seek a potion for longevity. In revenge, the Emperor had all the scholars of his ilk (Fang Shi) executed. Most of the executions took place later, however. Qin Shi Huangdi followed the Fa philosophy of rule. This held that people should be governed by force -- order must be kept through harsh laws and punishments. The scholars of the other 3 main philosophies did not agree. On Qin Shi Huangdi's orders, over 450 of these dissenting scholars were buried alive. |
The burning of the books followed the persecution of
the scholars. Qin Shi Huangdi kept, in his own palace,
a history of his own kingdom, Qin. He also preserved
scientific works on pharmacy. The histories of
other kingdoms, and other works of literature
and philosophy were hunted out by his soldiers and burned.
This destruction of knowledge was continued by his son.
Yet not all was lost. Many people prized their books above
their lives. Books in those days were strips of bamboo,
bound with string. People buried their books or hid them
behind false walls, knowing the penalty for this was death
if they were discovered. Ironically, the books that were
hidden in this way were the only ones that survived, to be
sought out by the Han Emperors (the next dynasty) -- because
Qin Shi Huangdi's palace burned down, and the books he had
preserved were destroyed in their turn.
The First Emperor's Tomb
The tomb of Qin Shi Huangdi was only the stuff of legend, before this century. Our myths spoke of soldiers and women executed, to serve him in death as well as life. It was said that its very craftsmen had been executed, so the tomb would be hidden and undisturbed by thieves. Legend said that the execution had continued until the emperor's loyal minister, sickened by the suffering, offered to die in their place, and was granted his wish.
The stories had it that China itself was buried with its Emperor. Modelled in pure gold and silver, complete with rivers of liquid mercury, the Empire occupied a separate annex in the tomb.
No one had found it. And then, this century, the tomb was discovered.
To hear a little more about the tomb, here's an
interview
with the maker of a computer game about it.
You can also get more great
pictures
from the Birmingham
Museum of Art, where I got these.
The Emperor's Name:
Pronounced "Tseen Shih
Hwahng Di", as closely
as Chinese sounds will translate.
You'll often find it spelt Ch'in Shih Huang Ti,
and hyphens will be placed haphazardly.
The meaning is literally
Qin (the dynasty)
First (Shi)
Emperor (Huangdi).
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Of Dates (and raisins):
Different dates for the Qin dynasty are given in various sources.
The date of the Qin dynasty's collapse, for instance, is sometimes
stated as 207 BCE rather than 206 BCE.
Why BCE?
Dates in Caliriel are always given in the form
CE (Common Era)
and BCE (Before Common Era).
I hope the cosmopolitan audience of the Internet can
appreciate why I choose these over AD (Anno Domini,
in the year of our Lord) or BC (Before Christ).
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Conclusion
The empire fell apart when Qin Shi Huangdi died in 210 BCE.
Ruled by terror, the patchwork that he had pulled together
by force heaved into chaos. The Qin dynasty shuddered into
collapse by 206 BCE, and the first Han Emperor, Liú Bàng,
came to power in 202 BCE. But short as it was,
the Qin dynasty occupies an important and unforgotten
space in the cultural memory of the Chinese - especially
the short space of a lifetime during which the First
Emperor held China.
Notes
First Emperor:
Qin Shi Huangdi did indeed unite China for the first time
in recorded history. However, the Xià dynasty
is the first dynasty in Chinese legend.
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