beyondsilkroads-blog: The Qin Dynasty (221 BCE - 206 BCE) was a very violent time in Chinese history

beyondsilkroads-blog:The Qin Dynasty (221 BCE - 206 BCE) was a very violent time in Chinese history. Even without knowing much about the Qin Dynasty, we’re affected by it in a very simple way - China gets its name from the Qin Dynasty.Qin (pronounced ‘chin’) was a militaristic state that was ruled by Legalism. The state of Qin existed as early as 897 BCE. The state of Qin existed much like the ancient Greek city-states like Athens and Sparta, vying for power with other states that rose and fell. Qin began conquering its neighboring provinces and states in a relatively short amount of time in the so-called “Wars of Unification” where Qin conquered its first state in 230 BCE and its final one in 221 BCE. During the violence, Qin conquered 7 states and the Wuyue region.The Qin Dynasty began with Qin Shi Huang who declared himself “The First Emperor” and called Qin the First Dynasty, which is a tribute to his arrogance as there were other dynasties and emperors before him, but that’s neither here nor there.Qin Shi Huang was noted for his cruelty, rigidity and later for his insanity and paranoia.But first - the positive, because the bad outweighs the good. Qin Shi Huang was a very capable leader in terms of military. Although he wasn’t always popular, he did command a lot of respect. His biggest actual accomplishments were starting to uniform the monetary system and the writing system. That might not seem like much, but you have to consider that China wasn’t unified at the time - it wasn’t China as we know it. If anything, it was a bit more similar to Europe where France had a different language and currency than Spain which was different from England which was different from Germany etc. The Qin Dynasty did what the Roman Empire did for the Mediterranean (and lower Britain) which was introduce a common language system and as part of the Empire, allowed for public works to be conducted more easily. Now, Qin did have its own system of public works but that was mainly controversial. Why? Because people were usually dying while doing them. The most famous public work was Qin’s long-standing fear of the Xiongnu warriors to the North, the precursor of the Huns and the Mongols. Xiongnu were nomadic and not much was really known about them because they were so loosely centralized.The Xiongnu were the constant terror, something similar to the Goths or the Vandals or the Gallic tribes. The best comparison is probably Vikings. They were usually characterized as Northern invaders who raped and pillaged. But Qin was kind of at an impasse. Xiongnu couldn’t be conquered because they held no land, it was more “wipe them out one at a time”. So to deter them, Qin starts what will eventually become the Great Wall of China.A preface on the Great Wall of China, the Qin is the early version of the wall. The Ming Dynasty later adds onto the Wall, which is important to know, but just Qin started it and that’s the important thing.The Great Wall of China was a monster to build. If you’ve never seen it, it’s built into the mountains which slope at times, sometimes at 90 degree angles. It’s even worse when you consider that this is the mountains where ice and snow can make everything so much worse so many workers died building the Wall. In practice, there were watchtowers and a tower guard would be on the lookout for Xiongnu or barbarians and when they saw them, would light a fire which was seen by another tower and that tower got lit and so on down the line, very similar to the scene from Mulan.Qin Shi Huang was very unpopular with his people. The whole Wall was an act of legalism which is something like “fences make good neighbors” mixed with “might makes right” and sometimes was authoritarian or totalitarian. Qin Shi Huang was thus viewed as a tyrant and there were assassination attempts against him.Added to that, Qin Shi Huang didn’t like people disobeying him or second-guessing him. He had a mean streak, possibly due to mood imbalances from his medication like his famous Cinnabar Pills which can cause mood imbalances because of mercury poisoning so people feared him. And for good reason.Qin Shi Huang is charged with dismantling the Hundred Schools of Thought which were largely Confucian. Confucius’s teachings were seen as being dissenting opinions and on a very Legalist standing, dissenting opinions must be quashed or your people will start to think and rebel. Legalism isn’t much fun when you aren’t the Emperor.His other great atrocities included the mocking of scholars and burning of books. Again, very legalist. Legalism texts survived. I know. Shocking how that works out. Literature and things that could potentially dissent Qin’s rule were burned a la Bonfire of the Vanities. More atrocious than this (assuming you value people more than books, I’m not judging, I like some books more than some people) was that he had many scholars brought to the capital where he had them buried alive.Oh and yes, they were mostly accused of being traitors or slandering the Emperor. Between 460 and 1160 scholars were buried alive.Three assassination attempts, aging and knowing people disliked him made Qin Shi Huang more and more unstable mentally. Also maybe a little bit of those cinnabar pills. He searched for the Elixir of Life, following the Taoist belief that it was on some island guarded by sea monsters. He began to prepare for his own death, which he feared.He had construction begun on his mausoleum and the Terracotta Warriors (called bingma yong - soldier and horse funeral statues, literally) to look after him in the afterlife. There were thousands of statues made, painted and put according to rank. There were generals, foot soldiers, archers, horses, acrobats and dancers - all there to ostensibly protect and entertain Qin Shi Huang when he died. When he did die, people were so upset with him and his tyranny that they ransacked his mausoleum and destroyed as many of them as they could… which was a lot, but so many of them survived to this day even still.Qin Shi Huang’s heir was chosen and led by the prime minister and chief eunuch Li Si. This wouldn’t be the first or last time eunuchs had immense political sway. Qin Er Shi, the second Emperor of Qin, had many ministers and supposed enemies executed. Qin Er Shi was noted for his lavish lifestyle and raised taxes by an insane amount and wasted it trying to lacquer the city walls and whenever someone brought him bad news, he’d usually arrest, torture, execute them or all of the above. Revolts broke out far and wide. Li Si gets killed and Qin Er Shi is forced to commit suicide.Qin Er Shi’s nephew Ziying tries his hand at Emperor and declares himself “king among kings” because many regional lords go around declaring themselves kings. He is eventually defeated in battle by the state of Chu. Liu Bang, then declares himself the Emperor of the new Dynasty, the Han Dynasty.-Beyondsilkroads -- source link
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