Rationale
In this report, the “Rise and Fall of the Qin Dynasty” will be addressed. I intend to delve into the cultures of the Qin Dynasty, specifically exploring events and aspects of the ancient era, highlighting how they have transcended through time to impact on our interpretation of the past. In particular, I wish to evoke an array of viewpoints on the much debated topic of “whether Qin Shi Huang was successful as a leader”, I will compare these viewpoints to sufficiently reach an unbiased, and well rounded evaluation of this debate.
Background Information
Ying Zheng better known as Qin Shi Huang was born in 259BC, he was the founder of the first unified empire in the history of China. Before becoming the emperor, as the king of Qin …show more content…
As discoveries of sources emerge through time, new aspects are adopted, generating new hypothesis and evident to justify each side of the argument. In this report, I will outline the impacts of Qin Shi Huang towards political and economical reforms within China, as well as assessing how he have responded to influences bestowed upon his Kingdom, and later his empire. A variety of sources and series of events will be analysed to justify my arguments and to elucidate Qin’s impacts upon China.
Qin Shi Huang is marked as one of the most influential men in Chinese history, his existence have played a major role in composing the China which we see today. Many often praise him as the man who unified China, depicting him as a great leader, he was known as Ying Zheng before becoming the emperor. Zheng’s capability at war was obvious, being able to conquer each of the states individually to construct his empire. He established a plan which focused on “allying with distant states and attacking nearby ones”, one of the famous “36 Stratagems” of China. His war powers and intelligence were unrivaled, being able to conquer the other 6 states in a short 10 years of …show more content…
The philosophy of legalism eventually became embedded into the society, however modern historian Xun Zhou claimed that he was “constantly in fear of how he couldn’t control this vast new territory with so many cultures and different groups of people”. It lead to his actions of the infamous “Book Burn” and the “Burial of Scholars”, which took place in 213 and 210 BC respectively. Confucianism referred to the study of establishing well-being, it taught the 5 basic virtues of; kindness, righteousness, sobriety, wisdom, and trustworthiness. Of course, with these aspects in mind, Confucianist questioned the laws of the harsh government, being a key to motivate rebellions as people could no longer withstand its immorality and repression. Xun Zhou also referred to Qin Shi Huang as a “paranoid” man, and that as a paranoid man “he didnt like it” when “scholars were talking behind his back”. So he burned all books related to the school and also ones which he ironically deemed “useless”, only keeping a few copies of each in the imperial library. The books were forbidden for possession, even the slightest mention of it would lead to one’s execution. However scholars opposed this, eventually leading to Qin Shi Huang’s order for the 460 scholars who were caught to be buried alive. As these scholars were highly respected, people’s rejection of the empire
In this report, the “Rise and Fall of the Qin Dynasty” will be addressed. I intend to delve into the cultures of the Qin Dynasty, specifically exploring events and aspects of the ancient era, highlighting how they have transcended through time to impact on our interpretation of the past. In particular, I wish to evoke an array of viewpoints on the much debated topic of “whether Qin Shi Huang was successful as a leader”, I will compare these viewpoints to sufficiently reach an unbiased, and well rounded evaluation of this debate.
Background Information
Ying Zheng better known as Qin Shi Huang was born in 259BC, he was the founder of the first unified empire in the history of China. Before becoming the emperor, as the king of Qin …show more content…
As discoveries of sources emerge through time, new aspects are adopted, generating new hypothesis and evident to justify each side of the argument. In this report, I will outline the impacts of Qin Shi Huang towards political and economical reforms within China, as well as assessing how he have responded to influences bestowed upon his Kingdom, and later his empire. A variety of sources and series of events will be analysed to justify my arguments and to elucidate Qin’s impacts upon China.
Qin Shi Huang is marked as one of the most influential men in Chinese history, his existence have played a major role in composing the China which we see today. Many often praise him as the man who unified China, depicting him as a great leader, he was known as Ying Zheng before becoming the emperor. Zheng’s capability at war was obvious, being able to conquer each of the states individually to construct his empire. He established a plan which focused on “allying with distant states and attacking nearby ones”, one of the famous “36 Stratagems” of China. His war powers and intelligence were unrivaled, being able to conquer the other 6 states in a short 10 years of …show more content…
The philosophy of legalism eventually became embedded into the society, however modern historian Xun Zhou claimed that he was “constantly in fear of how he couldn’t control this vast new territory with so many cultures and different groups of people”. It lead to his actions of the infamous “Book Burn” and the “Burial of Scholars”, which took place in 213 and 210 BC respectively. Confucianism referred to the study of establishing well-being, it taught the 5 basic virtues of; kindness, righteousness, sobriety, wisdom, and trustworthiness. Of course, with these aspects in mind, Confucianist questioned the laws of the harsh government, being a key to motivate rebellions as people could no longer withstand its immorality and repression. Xun Zhou also referred to Qin Shi Huang as a “paranoid” man, and that as a paranoid man “he didnt like it” when “scholars were talking behind his back”. So he burned all books related to the school and also ones which he ironically deemed “useless”, only keeping a few copies of each in the imperial library. The books were forbidden for possession, even the slightest mention of it would lead to one’s execution. However scholars opposed this, eventually leading to Qin Shi Huang’s order for the 460 scholars who were caught to be buried alive. As these scholars were highly respected, people’s rejection of the empire