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- The emperor's obsession with immortality, combined with this need for absolute control, destabilized his reign, which then encouraged even more restrictive measures as his fear of rebellion and assassination grew.
www.worldhistory.org › Qin_Dynasty
Jun 20, 2024 · Qin dynasty, dynasty that established the first great Chinese empire. The Qin—which lasted only from 221 to 207 bce but from which the name China is derived—established the approximate boundaries and basic administrative system that all subsequent Chinese dynasties were to follow for the next two millennia.
- Empire
empire, major political unit in which the metropolis, or...
- Great Wall
Large parts of the fortification system date from the 7th...
- Terra-Cotta Army
Terra-cotta army, life-size terra-cotta figures found in the...
- Qin Shi Huang
The last years of Qin Shi Huang’s life were dominated by an...
- Empire
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Mar 10, 2016 · Qin Shi Huang Di (秦始皇帝, translated as ‘the First Emperor of the Qin’) (often shortened as Qin Shi Huang) is arguably one of China’s best known emperors. It is undeniable that Qin Shi Huang was an extremely ruthless ruler.
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- Overview
- Quest for immortality
Qin Shi Huangdi, the first Qin Emperor, was a brutal ruler who unified ancient China and laid the foundation for the Great Wall.
China already had a long history by the time its states were unified under its first emperor. Settlements in the Yellow and Yangtze River Valleys had grown into an agricultural civilization. Between the fifth and third centuries B.C., a time known as the Warring States period, at least seven kingdoms battled for supremacy in east-central China. The state of Qin, based in the Sichuan plains, eventually won out in 221 B.C. under the leadership of the ruthless King Zheng. The victorious monarch gave himself the title Qin Shi Huangdi (259–210 B.C.), First Qin Emperor.
With ferocious force of character, Shi Huangdi began to mold his diverse territories into a single Chinese empire obedient to his will. He divided the lands into 36 command areas, each supervised by a governor, a military commander, and an imperial inspector, all of whom reported to him. He relocated hundreds of thousands of influential families from their home provinces to the capital, Xianyang, where he could keep a close eye on them.
Weapons were confiscated and melted down. A new imperial currency was issued. Weights and measures were standardized. Even wagon axles were built according to a certain measure, so they could fit within the ruts in China’s roads. The emperor ordered Chinese writing made uniform, such that all words with the same meaning in the country’s varied languages would be represented by the same characters.
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Shi Huangdi brutally suppressed dissent. Some accounts say that 460 scholars were rounded up and executed, and the texts they had used to criticize the government were confiscated or burned. Citizens of all ranks were encouraged to inform on one another; those convicted of crimes were executed, mutilated, or put to hard labor. (Learn more about Confucius, a Chinese philosopher, politician, and teacher.)
Not surprisingly, the autocratic emperor was the target of several assassination attempts. Perhaps in response, Shi Huangdi became obsessed with the idea of immortality. As Sima Qian records, his advisers counseled him that the herbs of immortality would not work until he could move about unobserved. Accordingly, he built walkways and passages connecting his palaces so that he could move about in seeming invisibility.
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Unearth the Hidden Origin of China's Terra-Cotta Warriors
Chinese laborers came across strange terra-cotta fragments in 1974 when they were digging a well for an orchard outside the city of Xi'an. They then notified authorities, who returned to the site with government archaeologists. Over more than 40 years of excavation, they turned up part of a mausoleum for the country's first emperor—Qin Shi Huang Di, or First Emperor of Qin.
Doubtless the most megalomaniacal of his projects was his enormous tomb and buried terra-cotta horde, constructed at tremendous cost by 700,000 forced-labor conscripts. The thousands of life-size figures included infantrymen, archers, chariots with horses, officials, servants, and even entertainers, such as musicians and a strongman.
Arrayed in military formation, the soldiers bore traces of the bright paint that must have once enlivened them. Although formed from standardized pieces—with solid legs and hollow torsos—they were evidently finished by hand so that no two figures looked exactly alike. The ancient army was stationed just east of a necropolis surrounding the tomb of Qin Shi Huangdi and was meant to stand guard during the emperor’s afterlife. Figures of acrobats and musicians would entertain the emperor through eternity. (Find out what happened when an American stole a warrior's thumb.)
Dec 21, 2017 · The Qin Dynasty was the first royal dynasty during the age of Imperial China. Qin achievements had a profound cultural impact on the dynasties that followed.
Qin Shi Huang (Chinese: 秦 始皇, pronunciation ⓘ; February 259 – 12 July 210 BC) was the founder of the Qin dynasty and the first emperor of China. Rather than maintain the title of " king " ( wáng 王 ) borne by the previous Shang and Zhou rulers, he assumed the invented title of "emperor" ( huángdì 皇帝 ), which would see ...
Jun 27, 2024 · The last years of Qin Shi Huang’s life were dominated by an ever-growing distrust of his entourage—at least three assassination attempts nearly succeeded—and his increasing isolation from the common people. Almost inaccessible in his huge palaces, the emperor led the life of a semidivine being.
These advisors squabbled among themselves, 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 general, Xiang Yu, who was proclaimed Hegemon-King of Western Chu, and Liu Bang, who founded the Han dynasty.
