The Qin Dynasty
by Staff WriterQin Shi Huang Di: Emperor of China
In the last years of the 3rd century BC, Qin Ministers convinced a young prince that China’s competing states were now his for the taking. The prince followed their advice and became the most powerful ruler in the world, “Son of Heaven” Lord of all things under the sky, First Emperor of China, Qin Shi Huang Di. Qin Shi Huang was the first Emperor who succeeded where none before him ever had in the Qin Dynasty. China was unified under Qin Shi Huang; however the struggle to preserve the dynasty was just beginning.
When Qin Shi Huang Di became the Emperor, he abolished the nobility and he established a state system where he concentrated all power into the central government. States had no independent military or financial capacity. He was not about to follow the past that led to the end of the Zhou dynasty. Qin moved to secure his power from within, purging all political enemies. The old feudal system of landed nobility was eliminated, and their private armies were disbanded.
Of all the warring states in China, the Qin Kingdom was the most resourceful. They developed agriculture on a massive scale to go along with the powerful military force. 250 years before the birth of Christ, a maze of dams, canals, locks and waterways transformed the heart of central China. The Min River was diverted into the Chengdu basin, converting an area the size of Connecticut into lush farmland.
A half million strong, the Qin army destroyed all rivals in a series of savage campaigns. Under the Qin system, even the lowest commoner could raise his rank and social status based on the number of heads he cut off in battle. In one conflict alone, 450,000 enemy soldiers were captured. All were beheaded by Qin warriors eager to improve their lives. In the end it’s estimated that Qin destroyed two-thirds of his enemy’s population.
Far to the North of present day Mongolia, nomadic warriors raided Qin settlements along the frontier. The First Emperor responded with an army of 200,000 convicts and 100,000 troops. Their mission was to build a unique barrier, later to be known as “The Great Wall of China.”
Qin consolidated China with 5,000 miles of roads and a sweeping program of standardization, even the width of axle wheels was fixed. Travelers were required to carry passports. Rival states once issued coins of all shapes and sizes, by imposing a standardized currency while Qin created a national monetary system.
The written language was standardized as well under Qin, allowing the first Emperor’s edicts to flow quickly and easily to the farthest points of his realm. But language was also the medium of ideas and opinion. And in their writings, even Royal scholars and historians began to criticize many of Qin’s new ideas as a dangerous break with the past. Qin’s Grand Counselor, Li Si once observed that the well-fed rodents in the Royal granaries were more aggressive than those in the streets. Later, he would wonder if too much knowledge might feed insurrection. Such thoughts prompted a ruthless decision. On Li Si’s orders, 460 scholars were buried alive. Vast collections of history’s and thought were destroyed. The civilization that gave the world, paper and print would also conduct history’s first book burning, but opposition to Qin only intensified. After 3 assassination attempts, Qin lived in heavily guarded seclusion. China’s first Emperor became obsessed with the search for a magic potion to shield him from death, but one of the concoctions he hoped would make him immortal eventually succeeded where his enemies had failed. Qin died in 210 BC.
China’s first Emperor was buried in the most opulent mausoleum the country had ever known. Long before his death, more than 700,000 thousand convicts had begun its construction. It’s said that precious jewels adorn the tomb ceiling depicting the sun, moon and stars of the Chinese sky. Crossbow booby traps protected the main hall, where models of China’s great cities sat besides model rivers, filled with mercury they flowed into a miniature ocean. To conceal the site of Qin Shi Huang’s tomb forever, all who knew its secrets were sealed within its walls.
