Qin DynastyUnification of China221 BCE to 202 BCE

The Qin•221 BCE- Qin emperor takes the

name Shi Huang Di- emperor of all China.

•He rules from 246 BCE to 207 BCE.

•He put a stop to internal battles that were occurring as the earlier Zhou dynasty was winding down.

•He also repels invaders. Eventually, he doubles the size of China, and it is all under one rule.

Shi Huang Di’s Rule

• He pursues a policy of “strengthening the trunk and weakening the branches”.

• He forced noble families to live in the imperial city where the royal palace was;he seizes the land of royalty. This impacts about 120,000 families.

• He divides China into 36 administrative districts. This districts are ruled by administrators loyal to Shi Huang Di.

Legalism

• Shi Huang Di believes in a philosophy called Legalism. He is NOT a Confucian.

• Legalism in three bullet points:

-A highly efficient and powerful government is the key to social order.

-Punishments are useful to maintain social order.

-Thinkers and their ideas should be strictly controlled by the government.

Shi Huang Di’s Centralization of Power

•Huang Di had hundreds of Confucian scholars murdered.

•He orders the burning of “useless” books; these were books of Confucian philosophy and poems, many critical of Legalism.

.

More Centralization

•He builds a highway system of 4000 miles so that all of China is connected.

•He stadardizeswriting, law, currency, weights and measures.

•He increased irrigation.

Not the most Popular Guy in the Room

•Despite good things, he imposed big taxes and was harsh towards critics.

•Don’t forget there was the murder of the Confucians… and the book burning.

•He forced the poor to work on a big wall that would span the western edge of China-would later be known as “The Great Wall”.

Terracotta ARmy

• Like the Assyrians, no one is that sad to see Shi Huang Di go.

• As a parting gift, Shi Huang Di had a terracotta army built to protect him in the afterlife. Terracotta is a type of clay used in pottery.

• The army was found in four pits. It is estimated to contain 8000 soldiers, 130 chariots with 520 horses and 150 cavalry horses.

Army Continued

•The soldiers are life sized. They were manufactured by local artisans and laborers in an assembly line fashion by order of Shi Huang Di.

•The faces on the soldiers were individualized.

•The soldiers also had various types of weapons like crossbows.