yr 7

1. The Qin Dynasty

2. Dynasty Song
So far - Shang and Zhou Dynasties
Now looking at Qin Dynasty
Plus more
How to memorise the order of the major Chinese
dynasties
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xJis9TSw1rE

3. Other ways Qin (秦)is written
• Qin
• Chin
• Chi’in
• The name “China” comes from Qin

5. The First Emperor
• Born as Ying Zheng in 259 BCE
• Unified warring states
• Declared himself “Qin Shi
Huangdai – Shi Huangdai means
“The First Emperor of China”
• Cruel ruler
• Died 210BCE
• Length of dynasty – short
• Qin dynasty ended 206BCE –
Han Dynasty next

8. Achievements - Standardization
• Money
• Weights and Measures
• Writing
• Irrigation
• Roads
• This made trading easier

15. Legalism

16. Legalism
• Originated in Zhou dynasty
• State over the individual
• Qin Shi Huangdai rejected Confucianism (rule
by wisdom and virtue ) in favour of Legalism
(rule by law)
• Legalism believed that people were wicked
• Strict laws to control behaviour
• Reward/punishment

19. Video
• First Emperor of China - National Geographic
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XprytutpR
Xw

20. Source – What was Emperor Qin like?
• ‘The King of Qin was born with a prominent
nose, elongated eyes, the breast of a bird of
prey, and the voice of a jackal: he seldom
extends favour, and has the heart of a tiger or
wolf. Once he really has his way in the world,
he will hold the whole world captive. He is
ruler without benevolence or respect for
learning.’
(Sima Qian, Grand Historian, 221 B.C.)

21. The GreatWall of China

22. Difficulties in the Growing Empire
• Communication
• Protection

29. Source Analysis
• ‘Large-scale public construction projects were
made possible by the unification of the
country, when territorial conflicts no longer
existed. The Great Wall is a case in point, Shi
Huang did not build it from scratch; the wall
had already existed in various former states.
Shi Huang had only to link it into a 4,000-mile
wall.’
(Yong Ho, historian, 2000)

30. Protest song lyrics from the third century BCE (English translation
by Anne Birrell in New Songs for a Jade Terrace, 1982).
I water my horse at a Long Wall hole,
The water’s chill hurt my horse’s bones.
I go and tell the Long Wall officer,
‘Mind you don’t keep us Taiyuan men for good!’
‘Corvée has a set time to run!
Swing your sledge! Lend your voice!’
‘We men would rather die fighting!
Why are we bored to death building the Long Wall?
Dead men’s skeletons prop each other up?’

31. Source C. Extract from the website of TravelChinaGuide, the
largest online tour company in China, 2013.
In the year 221 BC, Emperor Qin Shihuang defeated all his
enemies and unified China for the first time in its history. During
his reign, the Huns from the north were a constant threat, often
coming down to the Yellow River Basin and taking land from
people in the Hetao Area, located at the top of the Great Bend of
the Yellow River. To protect his people and safeguard his political
power, the Emperor ordered General Meng Tian, commanding
300,000 soldiers, to defeat the enemy force. To prevent further
attacks by the Huns, he decided to consolidate and extend the
Great Wall of China.

32. Wall Built During the Warring States
Period (website of TravelChinaGuide)

33. The First Emperor’s
Mauseleum

41. End of the Qin Dynasty
• Qin Shi Haungdai died in 210BCE
• His son was a weak ruler
• End of the Qin Dynasty in 206BCE
• Han Dynasty was established