2. The first emperor of the Qin dynasty was
Qin Shi Huang, he started as the ruler of
the state of Qin and eventually conquered
the other warring states that had been left
behind by the Chou dynasty. This unified
China was larger than it had ever been.
This laid the basis for modern China. In
this respect Qin can be seen as the
Chinese equivalent of King Alfred who
unified England in the ninth centaury ad.
The Qin dynasty not only unified China,
the emperors also went about, but also
standardized weights, writing and The area controlled by the
measurements. Qin dynasty.
3. During this period all schools were destroyed and
only legalism was authorized by the emperor.
In 213 BCE all books opposing the Qin dynasty’s
way of thinking were burnt and the only copies
left were in the imperial library.
In addition after hearing that some scholars
complained about his arrogance he burned all 460
of the alive.
The Emperor’s felt that the only way to keep their
empires together was to have all their subjects
thinking in the same way.
4. The great wall of China was extended, linked
and fortified by Qin Shi Huang. However most
of the changes he made cannot be seen today.
The great wall of China was built to keep out
barbarians in the north.
However the great wall caused a lot of loss of
life as well as saving it. It is estimated that
hundreds of thousands died in it’s
construction.
5. Qin was a very superstitious man. Through his constant
fighting he had made many enemies and he feared their
vengeance in the afterlife, so he built The Terracotta Army.
The Terracotta Army was a collection of rows upon rows of
terracotta statues. They were armed with the best weapons
available at the time and Qin even recruited the best
artificers to make their weapons. As well as this his army
was not just long lines of clones, he had different faces
distributed around as well as having officers and cavalry
built.
In the end Qin was killed by his own superstition. He
ordered the finest doctors and scientists of the time to make
him an elixir of eternal life. However one person found
mercury in the south of China and Qin was killed by traces
of mercury in tablets he was given.
6. The Terracotta Army. Note the
different faces and hands that
would have grasped real weapons.
7. The Qin dynasty built up Xi’an as the first capital
of ancient China. The walls they built around it can
still be seen today.
China’s traditions of conformism, centralisation,
repression of civil liberties and draconian laws can
al trace their origins to Qin. This can ultimately be
seen by the fact they have a communist society.
However Qin built institutions that maintained
stability and peace in China that protected human
life in the long run and allowed is culture and
economy to grow.
