*QIN SHI HUANG*
(259BC – 210BC)
(the Qin dynasty (Chinese: 秦朝; pinyin: Qín Cháo; Wade–Giles: Ch’in2 Ch’ao2) was the first dynasty of ‘Imperial China’, lasting from 221 to 206 BC)
(named for its heartland of ‘Qin’, in modern-day Gansu and Shaanxi, the dynasty was founded by the Qin state and its founding emperor took the title Qin Shi Huang, the First Emperor of ‘Qin’)
(the strength of the Qin state was greatly increased by the “Legalist” reforms of Shang Yang in the fourth century BC, during the ‘Warring States’ period)
In the mid and late third century BC, the Qin state carried out a series of swift conquests, first ending the powerless Zhou dynasty, and eventually conquering the other six of the Seven Warring States.
It is the shortest major dynasty in Chinese history, lasting only 15 years with two emperors, but the imperial system it inaugurated lasted, with interruptions and adaptation, until 1911.
The Qin sought to create an imperial state unified by structured political power and a stable economy able to support a large military.
The central government moved to undercut aristocrats and landowners and have direct administrative control over the peasantry, who comprised the overwhelming majority of the population, and control over whom would grant the Qin a large labor force.
This allowed ambitious projects, such as connecting walls on the northern border, forerunners of the Great Wall of China.
Three hundred thousand peasants and convicts were forced to work on this project.
The Qin introduced a range of reforms to unify their realm and promote commerce: standardized currency, weights and measures, and a uniform system of writing.
The Qin’s military used the most recent weaponry, transportation, and tactics, though the government was heavy-handed and bureaucratic.
(yet scholars now argue that the dynasty was far from the monolithic tyranny portrayed by Han dynasty ‘Confucians’)
There was indeed an attempt to restrict criticism and purge traces of old dynasties, but not the supposed burning of books and burying of scholars later alleged.
Recently excavated Qin texts show a more pragmatic and eclectic approach than a reading of traditional accounts would suggest.
Qin administration was by no means purely punitive, and was no harsher than was prevalent at the time.
The Qin were not doctrinaire.
Confucianism and its values coexisted with Legalism during the reign of the First Emperor.
The Qin dynasty did not last long.
When the first emperor died in 210 BC, two of his advisers placed an heir on the throne in an attempt to influence and control the administration of the dynasty.
These advisors squabbled among themselves, however, resulting in both of their deaths and that of the second Qin emperor.
Popular revolt broke out and the weakened empire soon fell to a Chu lieutenant, Liu Bang, who founded the Han dynasty.
(despite its rapid end, the dynasty influenced future Chinese empires, particularly the ‘Han’, and the European name for ‘China’ is thought to be derived from it)