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秦始皇
By peace | August 30, 2008
怀旧片头-秦始皇
秦始皇
rise of the great wall emperor qin shi huang opening
First Emperor: the unifier
The monarch known now as Qin Shi Huang,秦始皇 (259 BCE – September 10, 210 BCE), personal name Yíng Zhèng, was king of the Chinese State of Qin from 247 BCE to 221 BCE (officially still under the Zhou Dynasty), and then the first emperor of a unified China from 221 BCE to 210 BCE, ruling under the name the First Emperor (Chinese: 始皇帝). As the ruler of the Great Qin, he was known for the introduction of Legalism and also for unifying China.
Qin Shi Huang remains a controversial figure in Chinese history. Having unified China, he and his chief adviser Li Si passed a series of major reforms aimed at cementing unification, and they undertook some gigantic projects, most notably the precursor version of the current Great Wall of China, a city-sized mausoleum guarded by a life-sized Terracotta Army, and a massive national road system, at the expense of numerous human lives. To ensure stability, he outlawed Confucianism and buried many of its scholars alive, banning and burning all books other than those officially decreed.
Despite the tyranny of his autocratic rule, Qin Shi Huang is still regarded by many today as a pivotal figure in Chinese history whose unification of China has endured for more than two millennia.
Youth and King of Qin: the conqueror
At the time of the young Zheng’s birth, China was divided into antagonistic feudal states, so this era of Chinese history is referred to as the Warring States Period. The competition was extremely fierce and by 260 BCE there were only a handful of states left (the others having been conquered and annexed), including Zheng’s state, Qin, which was the most powerful. It was governed by a Legalist government and focused earnestly on military matters. Legalism taught that laws were obeyed out of fear, not respect.
August 30th, 2008 at 7:18 am
[…] but I woke up with ‘feelings’, with ‘thoughts’ filling my mind. It was this song, 秦始皇 singing in my […]