56
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 ofstate 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.THE FIRST EMPEROR UNIFIES CHINA
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.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 causedWith 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 historianUS_054-057_First_Emperor_China.indd 56 15/02/2016 16:40
57
Confucius is generally considered
to be the most influential philosopher
in Chinese history. His teachings
emphasized the importance of morality,
integrity, humility, and self-discipline.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,northeast to Manchuria and Korea,
and south to Yunnan, Hainan, and
Vietnam. Most importantly, they
consumed the powerful Xiongnu
Empire in the north. They also
reintroduced Confucianism as the
official state philosophy: Confucian
education and ethics soon became
the cornerstones of the scholar-
bureaucracy, eventually forming
the basis for the all-important civil
service examination system, which
would give a meritocratic basis to
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
to 16 million in 280 ce, the concept
of a unified China survived 360
years of division, enabling the Sui
dynasty to reunify China in 581.ANCIENT CIVILIZATIONS
The influence of the First Emperor
is still felt in modern China, and
Chairman Mao Zedong (1893–1976)
explicitly drew on the emperor for
inspiration. “You accuse us of
acting like Qin Shi Huangdi,” Mao
thundered in a 1958 tirade against
intellectual critics. “You are wrong.
We surpass him a hundred times.
When you berate us for imitating
his despotism, we are happy to
agree! Your mistake was that you
did not say so enough.” ■Large region
comprises many
small, culturally
diverse states.Seven major states
emerge and engage in frequent
warfare to gain power
and territory.Qin state
conquers the
other six states.Chinese unity is
strengthened further.Qin Shi Huangdi
imposes unification,
standardization, and
homogeneity.US_054-057_First_Emperor_China.indd 57 15/02/2016 16:40