Terracotta Army of Qin Shi Huang Di. Qin Shi Huangdi. First Chinese Emperor Biography of Qin Shi Huang
Things do not happen out of nothing. Everything has its background, context and purposes - often cross purposes. Features combine numerous articles on a topic or event to bring you not only information but a deeper understanding of what is going on - the whys and whats of the matter.
How do we make recommendations?
Our recommendations are based on many factors. We look at the metadata of for example an article that is open and find other articles that have similar metadata. Metadata consists mainly of tags that our writers add to their work. We also take a look at what other articles other visitors who have viewed the same article have viewed. In addition, we can also consider some other factors. For example, when it comes to features, we also consider the metadata of the articles in the feature and look for other features that comprise of articles with similar metadata. In effect, we look at the use of the content and the information that the content creators themselves add to the content to bring you the kind of content that is likely to interest you.
The Chinese emperor Qin Shi Huangdi, a contemporary of Rome's wars with Hannibal, was a great ruler. At birth he was given the name Ying Zheng (“first”), which he was destined to live up to. After continuous seventeen-year wars, he conquered six kingdoms, unified China and founded the Qin dynasty. Then he took the name Qin Shi Huangdi, which literally means “the most august emperor, the founder of the Qin dynasty.” In addition, his name referred to the legendary "Yellow" Emperor Huangdi, the "father of the nation", the inventor of writing and the compass.
By unifying the country, Shi Huangdi deprived the Chinese aristocracy of power and privileges. The country established universal equality in powerlessness before the emperor. As ancient historians report, “ruling his subjects, he had complete control over their life and death.”
Qin Shi Huangdi introduced extremely cruel punishments for disobedient people and criminals. The types of death penalty were as follows: breaking out the ribs, tearing the body apart using two chariots, boiling in a large cauldron, strangulation, cutting into pieces, cutting in half, quartering, beheading. Particularly dangerous crimes were punishable by execution not only of the perpetrator, but also of all his relatives in three generations.
At the same time, unlike his predecessors, the emperor abandoned mass human sacrifices.
But perhaps most interesting is his insane order to destroy history. Not to rewrite - this is quite a common thing for rulers - but to destroy, cancel, consign to oblivion.
So, one fine day, Qin Shi Huangdi declared himself the First Emperor of the Celestial Empire and ordered his subjects to forget about the past. And to facilitate the process of forgetting, he ordered to burn all books in the country, the overwhelming majority of which consisted of historical treatises.
Burning books is the common destiny of rulers. But Shi Huangdi’s command was truly out of the ordinary, for by destroying books, he wanted nothing less than to defeat time. It is no coincidence that along with the ban on history, he forbade mention of death. With manic persistence, Shi Huangdi searched for the elixir of immortality, secluded in a palace where there were as many rooms as there were days in the year. According to chroniclers, the main hall of the palace could accommodate ten thousand people. In addition to this palace, the emperor had more than 600 palaces in which he stayed while traveling throughout the country, and he did not stay in any palace for more than one night.
He dreamed of founding an immortal dynasty and gave orders that his heirs should call themselves the Second Emperor, the Third Emperor, and so on ad infinitum.
Following books, people usually begin to burn, and the First Emperor was no exception. Note that by the time Qin Shi Huangdi ordered history to begin with him, Chinese history totaled three thousand years, and among it characters there were already Confucius and Laozi. It is not surprising that many people refused to start history from scratch. Those who hid books were branded with hot iron and referred to the construction of the Great Wall of China, the construction of which also began during the reign of Qin Shi Huangdi.
The final chord of the fight against history was the emperor’s order to destroy all scientists, in pursuance of which thousands of keepers of historical memory were drowned in outhouses.
What did he want to forget? History? Or, perhaps, he was just trying to hide from his descendants the shame of his mother, whom he accused of debauchery and expelled from the country? We will never know this again.
However, this guardian of morality is himself mired in women. His harem consisted of several thousand concubines. One of them killed the First Emperor of China by sticking a large needle into his ear while he was sleeping. This happened in 210 BC, when Qin Shi Huangdi turned 48 years old.
Based on the:
Jorge Luis Borges Wall and books
In this chapter I will try to reconstruct the official sacrificial system established by the Qin-shi Emperor Huang Di ZShKј»Kµы (Ying Zheng ShshHyu 259-210 BC), the founder of the first Chinese Empire Qin. I will also analyze the main innovations in the ritual sphere that occurred during this period of time and try to identify their origins and political significance.
Let's start with the fact that, having gained power among the “warring kingdoms,” Qin-shi Huang-ti formed the first empire in China, and chose legalism as the philosophical and ideological basis fa jia·ЁјТ (School of Laws). Essentially, this doctrine was aimed at creating ideal instruments of management and control over the state and its institutions in order to establish an ideal and effective government that met the requirements of the developing empire. Religion (as well as the ritual system) was considered the main of these instruments, and the monarch himself was considered the bearer of unlimited power, the absolute center of the political and ritual worlds.
Thus, the Qin ritual system, like other political institutions based on legalism, was a strict, clearly thought out system, a little more sacred and isolated than the others. In addition, according to the “lawyers,” in order to strengthen the dynasty and the authority of the monarch, each element of the ritual system must be carefully thought out, have a certain meaning and convey it to the masses.
Thus, one of the first innovations of the first emperor was the establishment of a new imperial title (instead of Wang Nx - diµы), as well as Ying Zheng’s acceptance of the new title Qin-shi Huang-di“ЗШКј”Кµы”. Thus, on the one hand, he proclaimed himself the first ancestor and founder of the Qin dynasty - Qin-shi ZShKј, on the other hand, appropriated sacred status to himself during his lifetime: earlier terms Juan»K and diµы, were previously applied exclusively to deities (deified ancestors). It is noteworthy that the first steps towards such an elevation of the status of the ruler were taken at the beginning of the 3rd century. BC. In the first di, he proclaimed himself sovereign (who was in the status van) the kingdom of Qi Zhl (from 410 BC - Tian Qi MpZhl), one of the most powerful states of the Zhan-guo-Min-wangYNh period (right 300-284 BC). Soon he took the same step van kingdom of Qin, and Ying Zheng’s grandfather - Zhao-xiang-wang KHSPenkh (ruled 324-251 BC), who declared himself Si-di OchµY, i.e. Lord of the West. Zhan-guo huiyao XЅЅ»bТЄ (Collection of information about major events[period] Zhan-guo). Comp. Yang Kuan ·Ёјe, Wu Hao-kun §dЇE©[.Т. 1-2, Shanghai, 2005. pp. 112-115.
Following this, Qin-shi Huang-di again rethinks the concept of the Mandate of Heaven and declares that the command to rule cannot change and is now forever assigned to the House of Qin. All this demonstrated highest position the emperor not only in the earthly, but also in the spiritual world, the inviolability and immutability of his power, which became the apogee of the sacralization of the supreme ruler.
Another direction of the ritual policy of Qin-shi Huang-di was dissociation from the tradition of the Zhou house. Thus, he minimizes the role of the cult of ancestors in the state religion, the already mentioned concept of tian ming; in addition, establishes sacrifices feng shan·vmsh and a fundamentally new pantheon, which mainly consists of spirits of natural forces and astral objects: “Deities of the sun and moon, Ursa Major and Ursa Minor, wind, rain, spirits personifying the “four stars” (Jupiter, Venus, Mars and Saturn) and “four great abysses.” Kravtsova M.E. Ideas about supreme power ruler...Uk. Op. P.97
Ritual feng shan, in my opinion, of the highest national importance. was first carried out by Qin-shi Huang-di in 219 BC. on Mount Taishan M©YS, located in Shandong province on the border of the kingdoms of Qi and Lu. Historical writings describe this episode when Qin-shi Huang-di, not listening to follow the order of feng shan proposed by the Confucians, did not achieve success in this (he was stopped by a storm) and was ridiculed. It is quite possible that the story was invented by the Confucians. See: Han shu єєКй…Uk.soch. pp. 1201-1202. Essentially, it consisted of two connected sacrifices fan· in, which was performed on the top of the mountain in honor of Heaven, and shan msh - on Liangfu Beyo¦u hill at the foot of Taishan in honor of the Earth.
When changing the ruling house feng shan were, in a way, “the establishment of a new dynasty at the ritual level”: they pointed to the assignment of lands and powers that rightfully belonged to it (by the will of Heaven), the entry of the new dynasty into the cosmological cycle and the establishment of connections with the sacred world and antiquity. Since not every sovereign was worthy to perform this ritual, making sacrifices feng shan, on the one hand, was a sign of absolute power and the highest sacred powers of the ruler, on the other, a means of demonstrating the legitimacy of the ruling regime and its approval by higher powers. However, the historicity of this event is controversial.
Despite the presence of different points of view, in my opinion, the choice of location and content of this ritual, which, unfortunately, is practically unknown to us, were associated with another side of the emperor’s personality. It is difficult not to associate such a choice with Qin-shi Huang-di’s obsession with the search for immortality. According to Sima Qian, it was the teaching of the followers of Zou Yan CHUS (305-240 BC) from the Qi kingdom about the Five Phases wu xing, as well as the teachings of the “masters of method” from Yan Sa about immortality and Yin Yang TxSf had such an influence on him. “Since the reign of Qi Wei-wang (378-343) and Xuan-wang (342-324), the followers of Zou-tzu, after discussion, expounded his [teaching] on the movement of the five elements-virtues [in their sequence] from beginning to end. When [ruler] Qin became emperor, the scribes presented this teaching to him, and Shi Huang accepted and used it. However, Song Wu-ji, Zheng, Bo-jiao, Chun Shang and Hsien Men-Gao, who was the last to appear, were all from the Principality of Yan. In their magic they used the doctrine of the celestials, [believing that] the bodies of the celestials seemed to dissolve, and they turned [into saints]. They relied on the actions of earthly and heavenly spirits. Zou Yan, having composed [a chapter] on the circulation of the main forces - yin and yang, became known to the ruling princes.” See: Sima Qian. Historical notes...Uk. cit.. P. 160 In this one can also see traces of the emergence of a tradition Huang-lao"JAP, which I will talk about in more detail in the next chapter. However, the reality of this assumption has not been proven.
The search for immortality and the general natural-philosophical nature of the state religion under the Qin also explains the revival of the Zhou tradition of circumventing possessions xunshou SIKSH, during which the emperor performed sacrifices van Ny (which now began to be held not in the capital, as under Zhou, but in close proximity to the object of sacrifice) in honor of the spirits of the five sacred peaks (Taishi MKT Taishi - the eastern peak of Mount Songshan. It is noteworthy that at present the area in which it is located, called Dengfeng µZ·vѕYa (ascending [to perform the ritual] feng)., HengshanєgЅ, TaishanМ©Ѕ, Guiji "b", Xiangshan PzhЅ) and two great streams (JishuiјGL®i Huaihe "ґєU), and eight spirits ba shen°LYs, and could also inspect officials “on the ground.” Also, sacrifices were regularly made to the spirits of the seven famous mountains and four rivers.
In addition, the tradition of traveling around the lands reflected another feature of the Qin ritual structure. Formed by uniting contending kingdoms under its might, the Qin Empire was essentially a multicultural empire, combining many different traditions and beliefs. The official system of rituals allowed the establishment of “locally” altars and altars to the spirits of local mountains and rivers, sacrifices on which the emperor included in his detour. Thus, making sacrifices on the altars of the previously conquered principalities, as well as sacrifices van not in the capital, but directly near the sacred mountains at the five cardinal points, rivers, etc., the emperor personally reproduced the borders of the Celestial Empire, demonstrated his powers and the legitimacy of the ruling regime.
The main ritual center was the Yong complex, located on the outskirts of the former capital of the Qin kingdom. Besides the four altars zhi in honor of the Lords of the cardinal directions, according to the testimony of Ban Gu, there were more than a hundred altars in honor of various spirits of natural phenomena, heavenly bodies, zodiac signs and others. See Sima Qian. Historical notes...Uk. cit.. P. 163., including altars for sacrifices jiao, Lands of She and Hou-ji Yzru. Seasonal prayers were performed on four altars with the sacrifice of horses of different breeds ( Chang JiuіўѕФ): in spring - on the occasion of melting ice, in autumn - on the occasion of freezing of rivers and in winter - thanksgiving sacrifices were made sai dao Iyµ". Rituals jiao, which in the Zhou era were intended to symbolize the establishment of a new reign, supreme power and superiority over others, were renewed in imperial times and were held in Yong once every three years at the beginning of winter and were dedicated to Shang Di.
However, the main and most characteristic innovation for imperial ritual was the formation of a special ritual department, an official system of control over all ritual activities in the state, which was entrusted to specially trained priest officials. Among them there were no longer representatives of folk beliefs, sorcerers, at, as in the Zhou Dynasty. The ritual order, on the contrary, was intended to protect the ritual sphere from such practices. Private sacrifices were prohibited, with the exception of sacrifices on public altars to unimportant spirits. and were called “forbidden” yin Well, the ritual has turned into a sacred area, isolated from outside interference, completely in the hands of the supreme power.
This structure reflected the state and social order established by Qin-shi Huang-di according to the Legist model. If in Zhou, in conditions of fragmentation, there was not yet a strict system of control over ritual (appanage princes were free to establish altars to local deities on their estates), then in Qin we observe the complete “appropriation” and subordination of the ritual sphere to the ruler of the Empire of the sphere of state ritual, total control above the sphere of ritual with Heaven and divine powers, accessible exclusively to the state apparatus.
With the coming to power of Er-shi Huang-di ¶yuKA»KµY (230-207 BC), whose authority was low, the authority of the ruling regime began to fall sharply. Lack of managerial ability and failed policies freed ritual from the authority of the emperor and transferred it to the control of the bureaucracy. Thus, having gained access to intervention, they used the ritual as a weapon against Er-shi Huang-di, which, facilitated by other political circumstances, led to the collapse of the Qin dynasty.
Thus, having examined the main aspects of the ritual policy of the first Chinese Qin Empire, the following conclusions can be drawn. In general, the ritual system established by Qin-shi Huang Di reflected the ideology and political regime of the first Chinese Qin Empire.
The political significance of most of the official rituals of Qinshi Huang Di was aimed: firstly, at strengthening his authority, then at proving the legitimacy of the ruling dynasty, demonstrating the highest sacred status of the emperor and supreme power, as well as the absoluteness and steadfastness of sovereign power and the political regime generally.
The first emperor of China managed to create a clearly defined ritual order, formalized by legist teaching and consistent with imperial ideology. The first system of official sacrifices of imperial China as a whole proved its important place in the system of government of a unified state. However, the Qin system was not yet completely complete. In general, formalized by legalism, it included those elements of Zhou ritual that symbolically demonstrated power and unity, and was also influenced by the religious views of the emperor himself.
Thus, the entire Qin ritual was highly symbolic and generally had a symbolic meaning. Each element of the ritual system had a specific meaning and was aimed at mass influence. Those. It cannot be said that the ritual system in Qin really restrained and regulated the relations of state structures, but rather was intended to demonstrate the order established by the ruler and the power of the entire Empire in order to consolidate the idea of the sacredness of the supreme power, the ruling dynasty and the personality of the emperor.
Perhaps it was the overly promising ritual policy, and not its actual functioning, as well as the emperor’s attempts to gain immortality himself and give an aura of immortality to the entire dynasty that served as one of the reasons for its collapse. Since with the change in historical realities, ideas about the sacredness and perfection of the state system collapsed one after another, the entire ideology did not prove its legitimacy and failed. However, despite its short existence, many elements of the ritual system of the Qin Empire formed the basis for the official sacrifices of subsequent dynasties.
Ruler (246–221) of the Qin kingdom, emperor (from 221) of China. Created a unified centralized Qin Empire (221–207). An opponent of Confucianism (on his orders, humanities literature was burned and 400 scholars were executed), a supporter of the Fajia school.
The period of Zhanguo, or the Warring States (453–221), preceding the creation of a unified empire on the territory of China, is one of the complex and little-studied pages in the history of China. At that time, the territory of the country was divided into a number of independent kingdoms.
In 246, after the death of King Zhuang Xiang-wan, his son Ying Zheng, known in history as Qin Shi Huangdi, ascended the throne of the Qin kingdom. By the middle of the 3rd century BC, the kingdom of Qin occupied a fairly vast territory. Judging by the message of the ancient Chinese historian Sima Qian, the Qin people annexed to their possessions the territories captured from the kingdoms of Han, Wei, Zhao, Chu and the states of Ba and Shu.
The annexation of rich agricultural regions with developed handicraft production (for example, northern Sichuan with its large iron-smelting workshops) strengthened the economic and military power of the Qin kingdom. At the time of his accession to the throne, Ying Zheng was only thirteen years old, and until he came of age, the state was actually ruled by the king’s first adviser, Lü Bu-wei, a major merchant originally from the kingdom of Wei. At first, the accession of Ying Zheng did not lead to any changes in either domestic or foreign policy. As before, the forefront of foreign policy was aimed at seizing foreign territories.
Growing up, the persistent and capricious Ying Zheng strove to concentrate all power in his hands and, apparently, had no intention of following the lead of his first adviser. The rite of passage into adulthood was supposed to take place in 238, when Ying Zheng turned twenty-two years old. Available historical material indicates that Lü Bu-wei in 239 tried to remove a ruler he did not like. A few years earlier, he brought one of his reliable assistants, Lao Ai, closer to Ying Zheng’s mother, granting him an honorary title. Lao Ai very soon achieved the favor of the dowager queen and began to enjoy unlimited power.
In 238, Lao Ai stole the royal seal of the dowager queen and, together with a group of his followers, mobilizing part of the government troops, tried to capture the Qinyan Palace, where Ying Zheng was located at that time. However, the young king managed to uncover this conspiracy - Lao Ai and nineteen major officials, the leaders of the conspiracy, were executed along with all members of their clans; over four thousand families involved in the conspiracy were stripped of their ranks and exiled to distant Sichuan.
All warriors who participated in suppressing Lao Ai's rebellion were promoted by one rank. In 237, Ying Zheng removed the organizer of the conspiracy, Lü Bu-wei, from his post.
The continued arrests and torture of rebels appeared to be alarming former first advisor. Fearing further revelations and impending execution, Lü Bu-wei committed suicide in 234. Having brutally dealt with the rebels and restored order within the kingdom, Ying Zheng began external conquests. At this time, Li Si, a native of the kingdom of Chu, began to play a major role in the Chin court. He takes part in the development of external and internal activities carried out by Ying Zheng.
In 230, on the advice of Li Si, Ying Zheng sent a huge army against the neighboring Han kingdom. The Qin defeated the Han troops, captured the Han king An Wang and occupied the entire territory of the kingdom, turning it into a Qin district. This was the first kingdom conquered by the Qin. In subsequent years, the Qin army captured the kingdoms of Zhao, Wei, Yan, and Qi. By 221, the Qin kingdom victoriously ended its long struggle to unify the country. In place of scattered kingdoms, a single empire with centralized power is created.
Having won a brilliant victory, Ying Zheng still understood that military force alone was not enough to firmly hold in his hands a territory whose population was more than three times the number of inhabitants of the Qin kingdom. Therefore, immediately after the end of hostilities, he carried out a series of measures aimed at strengthening the conquered positions. First of all, Ying Zheng published a decree in which he listed all the sins of the six kings, who allegedly “created unrest” and prevented the establishment of peace in the Celestial Empire. Ying Zheng stated that the death of the six kingdoms was primarily to blame for their rulers, who tried to destroy Qin. The issuance of such a decree was necessary for the moral justification of both the conquest itself and the cruel methods by which it was carried out. The second step towards consolidating the supreme power of the Qin over the entire conquered territory was the adoption by Ying Zheng of a new, higher title than the royal title. Judging by the message of the ancient Chinese historian Sima Qian, Ying Zheng decided to accept the title of di - emperor and invited his entourage to discuss his choice. After a long discussion, Ying Zheng accepted the title of Huangdi - the highest emperor.
By accepting the title of Huangdi, Ying Zheng sought to emphasize the divine nature of his power. IN official language a number of new terms were introduced that reflected the greatness of the ruler: from now on the emperor began to call himself Zheng, which corresponds to the Russian “We” used in imperial decrees. The emperor's personal orders were called zhi, and his orders throughout the Celestial Empire were called zhao.
Since Ying Zheng was the first emperor of the Qin dynasty, he ordered to call himself Shi Huangdi - the First Highest Emperor.
A certain part of the hereditary aristocracy of the Qin kingdom, Qin officials and members of the ruling house - all of them, to one degree or another, took part in the conquest of the six kingdoms and, therefore, hoped to receive some real benefits. But Qin Shi Huangdi followed the advice of Li Si, who at that time held a rather insignificant post - he was just the head of the judicial department, and moreover, a person who came to Qin from another kingdom.
Fearing internecine wars, the emperor refused to grant independent land ownership to his sons, citing concerns about preserving peace in the Middle Kingdom. Thus, he strengthened his personal power.
In 221, Qin Shi Huangdi began to create imperial authorities.
It is quite natural that, having become emperor, he introduced throughout the entire country, with some modification, the system of government that existed in the kingdom of Qin. The state apparatus of the Qin Empire was headed by the emperor himself, who had unlimited power. Qin Shi Huangdi's closest assistants were the first two advisers (chengxiang). Their functions included implementing all the instructions of the emperor and directing the work of the administrative bodies of the country. The Chengxiangs, Ban Gu reports, helped the son of heaven (the emperor) manage all affairs. The Chengxiangs were in charge of a whole staff of officials such as Shizhong and Shanshu, who assisted the first advisers in their daily work.
The state apparatus of the Qin Empire was divided into central and local government bodies.
Qin Shi Huangdi was a virtually unlimited head of state with despotic power. The fullness of legislative, administrative, executive and supreme judicial power was concentrated in his hands. The role of the bureaucracy, which expanded under Qin Shi Huangdi and was completely dependent on the head of state, was reduced to purely executive functions. The Qin state machine turned out to be so adapted to the needs of the empire that, according to sources, it was “transferred to Han without any changes.”
The economic well-being of a huge army of officials depended on one person - the emperor. He had the right to deprive any official of his position, starting with Chengxiang. However, despite the despotic nature of the government, in the Qin Empire the bodies of community self-government were preserved and actively functioned locally.
The construction industry developed especially rapidly during the imperial period. Even during the war for the unification of the country, Qin Shi Huangdi issued a decree on the construction of palaces near Xianyang, modeled on the best palaces of the kingdoms he captured. According to Sima Qian's calculations, there were only over seven hundred palaces in the empire, 300 of them were located on the territory of the former Qin kingdom. The largest palace was the Efangong Palace, erected by Qin Shi Huangdi near the capital of the empire, on the southern bank of the Wei-he River. This is a whole ensemble of buildings connected by a system of covered galleries and hanging bridges. It is very interesting that the general composition of the buildings recreated the location of the stars in the sky.
Qin Shi Huangdi carried out a number of major national reforms aimed at strengthening the economic, political and cultural unity of the country.
Successful management of the newly united regions, where their own local customs and laws unique to this kingdom prevailed, was impossible without the introduction of common imperial legislation for all. With the resolution of this key issue, Qin Shi Huangdi began his transformations. In 221, he issued an order to eliminate all laws of the six kingdoms and introduced new legislation, uniform for the entire empire.
The entire population of the empire, from a simple farmer to a high-ranking government official, was obliged to unquestioningly carry out the orders of the emperor and be guided in their actions by state legislation; the slightest deviation from the norm or violation of any clause of the laws was punishable according to all the rules of criminal law.
In China, there was an active guarantee system, according to which, in the event of a crime, all persons associated with mutual guarantee with the “criminal”, namely: father, mother, wife, children, elders and younger brothers, that is, all family members, turned into state slaves.
Qin Shi Huangdi attached great importance great importance the establishment of a new surety association, which was one of the main points of the unified legislation of the Qin Empire introduced by him. It is not by chance that in the text of the Lanyatai Stele, among the many merits of Qin Shi Huangdi, it was noted that the emperor established a system of “... mutual guarantee of six relatives and thanks to this, there were no crimes (criminals) and robberies in the country.”
During the Qin Empire, the surety system of liability apparently extended mainly to ordinary people and primarily to farmers.
In 213, due to the aggravation of the situation within the country and increasing discontent on the part of certain sections of the bureaucracy, Qin Shi Huangdi introduced a new law, according to which an official who knew about the crime but did not report it should also be punished on an equal basis with the criminal. By issuing such a decree, Qin Shi Huangdi sought to protect himself from possible conspiracies and open actions by officials against the imperial power.
The death penalty as the highest form of punishment was most often sentenced for anti-state actions. There were several types of death penalty (depending on the social class of the criminal and the severity of his guilt). The so-called honorable execution, when the emperor “graced death” by sending the accused a sword and ordering him to commit suicide at home, applied only to members of the ruling family and the most senior officials. The following types of death penalty were usually used.
Isanzu - the destruction of three clans of a criminal: the clan of father, mother and wife; Tzu - destruction of the criminal family. During the imperial period, this punishment was imposed on those who kept forbidden Confucian literature in their home or made critical remarks about the emperor and his political activities Chele - quartering. The condemned man's arms and legs were tied to four different chariots drawn by bulls, then, on command, the bulls were set to gallop and the body was torn into pieces. This method of execution, which existed in the Qian kingdom during the Zhanguo period, was also quite widespread during the reign of Qin Shihuang and Er Shi Huangdi.
Other types of death include: being cut in half; cutting into pieces; beheading after execution; displaying one's head on a pole in public places, usually in the market square of a city; strangulation; burying alive; cooking in a large cauldron; breaking ribs; piercing the crown of the head with a sharp object.
Often executions took place in public. Obviously, the emperor sought to intimidate the people and, to some extent, protect himself from possible anti-government protests.
In addition to the death penalty, the Qin Empire had other penalties. Hard labor became widespread. Often convicts, including women along with men, were sent to build the Great Wall of China; their heads were shaved or they were branded. For those whose heads were shaved, the period of exile lasted five years, for those branded - four years. However, women did not directly participate in construction work.
Thousands, tens of thousands, and sometimes even a hundred thousand worked in various parts of the country to build highways, palaces, tombs, the Great Wall of China and other grandiose structures of the Qin Empire. Judging by the reports of primary sources, the first six years of the empire’s existence (221–216) were spent on implementing various reforms and grandiose events carried out within the country itself. During this historically very short and intense period, all the forces of the young state were thrown into organizing internal affairs and consolidating the positions gained.
In 221, Qin Shi Huangdi issued an order to confiscate weapons from the entire population of the country, thus disarming the remnants of the defeated armies of the six kingdoms. All confiscated weapons were taken to Xianyang and poured into bells and statues. According to Sima Qian, 12 human figures were cast, each weighing 1000 dan, i.e. 29,960 kilograms. In the same year, Qin Shi Huang carried out another, no less grandiose event - 120,000 families of the hereditary aristocracy, major officials and merchants of the six conquered kingdoms were forcibly resettled in Xianyang. This resettlement was apparently carried out by regular units of the Qin army returning to their homeland. Some of those resettled, in particular merchants, soon resumed their business activities in Xianyang. A significant part of the merchants from among the resettled families, apparently, were engaged in usury, because Qin Shihuang, as a rule, did not touch the merchants and merchants associated with the process of handicraft production (in Ancient China, the merchant and the owner of the craft workshop were one person), and if he resettled, it was only on preferential terms to areas rich in raw materials.
While applying repressive measures against the officials and hereditary aristocracy of the six kingdoms, Qin Shi Huang at the same time treated with favorable attention the officials of the Qin kingdom and command staff Qin army. Apparently, only people from the Qin kingdom were appointed to all leadership positions in the local administrative apparatus that functioned on the territory of the former six kingdoms. Thus, the unification of the country brought tangible results to the officials of the Qin kingdom and opened up rich opportunities for improving their position.
At the end of 220, Qin Shi Huangdi decided to check how successfully his activities were being implemented on the ground. He traveled to the western regions of the country, visiting Longxi and Beidi counties. The first trip apparently yielded positive results - having convinced himself of the reliability of the western border districts, Qin Shi Huangdi decided to embark on more distant and lengthy travels.
We must not forget that the unification of the six kingdoms was not carried out by peaceful means: the Qin people came to each kingdom with weapons in their hands, and the local population did not greet them friendly. The emperor needed to convince broad sections of the population of the six conquered kingdoms of the correctness of his policies. Knowing the people's ardent desire for a peaceful life, he promised them long-term peace. During the inspection tour eastern regions country in 218, an attempt was made on the emperor's life, but the killer missed. For ten days, a massive search was carried out throughout the Celestial Empire for the criminal, but he managed to escape.
The Qin Empire was able to embark on an active foreign policy only after strengthening its internal position, that is, six years after the unification of the country.
The military operations of the Qin Empire unfolded mainly in two directions - northern and southern. The battles in the north against the warlike Huns were of a defensive nature and were aimed at returning lost territories and strengthening the northern borders of the empire. Military actions in the south had a completely different character - aggressive. The ruling circles of the Qin Empire - wealthy slave owners, the Qin family aristocracy, high officials and large merchants were interested in a more active influx of luxury goods (feathers of colorful birds, ivory, etc.), for which the rich south was famous. But, apparently, not only this pushed Qin Shi Huangdi to war against his southern neighbors. The essence of the matter is that part of the conquered territory apparently became the property of the emperor. Community members moved to new lands, as is known, on preferential terms. Such development of new territories increased the amount of land owned by the emperor and contributed to the strengthening of despotic power in the country.
The stabilization of the situation within the country allowed Qin Shi Huangdi to move from defensive to offensive actions. By the end of 214, Qin Shi Huangdi managed to restore the northern borders of China that existed during the Zhanguo period. As a result of a two-year war with the Xiongnu, Qin troops conquered from the latter a huge territory stretching from north to south about 400 kilometers.
In order to protect the northern regions of the country and the newly conquered territories from possible attacks by the swift war cavalry of nomadic peoples, Qin Shi Huangdi decided to begin construction of a grandiose structure - a defensive wall along the entire northern border of the empire. Its length was over 10,000 li, hence the name “Wanli Changcheng” - “Wall 10,000 li long”, or, as Europeans call it, the Great Wall of China. Widespread construction of the wall began in 215, when the 300,000-strong army of the commander Meng Tan arrived to the north. Together with the soldiers, convicts, state slaves and community members mobilized for state labor duties worked on the construction of the wall.
The Great Wall of China reliably protected the northern borders of the empire, however, for the mobile transfer of military units and formations from the central regions of the country to the northern border in the event of any danger, it was necessary to have good roads convenient for transporting troops. Therefore, in 212, Qin Shi Huangdi ordered Meng Tian to begin construction of the main road. Thus, the construction of the Great Wall of China, the settlement of border territories and the construction of a highway right up to Xianyang itself transformed the northwestern part of the country into a powerful single complex connected with the center of the empire and which was a reliable obstacle to the advance of the warlike Xiongnu.
The object of Qin expansion in the south were numerous Yue tribes inhabiting the modern provinces of Guangdong and Guangxi, as well as the state of Aulak (in Chinese - Aulago), located in the northeastern part of the Indo-Chinese Peninsula. The first three years brought some success - the Qin troops advanced in all five directions and even killed Yui-sun, the ruler of Western Aulak (Siau).
But the Qin could not secure all the conquered territory. In 214, the Yue tribes, together with the troops of the Aulak state, defeated the Qin army in a night battle and killed the commander Tu Ju.
In the same year 214, Qin Shi Huangdi carried out another mobilization. The newly created army was sent south to help the retreating Qin troops. Having received reinforcements, the Qin troops finally captured Nam Viet and the northeastern part of Aulak.
Active foreign policy the Qin Empire and the grandiose events carried out by Qin Shi Huangdi within the country were impossible without a constant, ever-increasing influx of new manpower and new material resources. IN last years empire, during the lifetime of Qin Shi Huangdi, the land tax increased to 2/3 of the community's harvest; The terms of labor and military service also increased. The conversion of farmers into state slaves intensified, and communal slave owners did not stand aside - the state began to mobilize for labor and military service private slaves.
The population tried with all its might to evade duties. People were hiding from officials and running away from villages. There were cases when entire communities headed by a council of elders were removed from their homes and went to the mountains and swampy areas. Thus, a whole category of people appeared, called “buwanren” - “hiding people”.
The mass flight of community members fleeing from paying excessive taxes and duties was one of the forms of protest against the ruling dynasty. In this situation, the hereditary aristocracy of the six conquered kingdoms intensified their activities. It should be noted that the unification of the country did not at all mean the end of the struggle. After the formation of the empire, the struggle took other forms: the surviving representatives of the hereditary aristocracy took the path of terror. However, several attempts failed. A series of failures apparently pushed the hereditary aristocracy to search for some other forms of struggle. In the last years of Qin Shi Huangdi's life, the struggle took on an ideological character. Confucians, ideological leaders of the hereditary aristocracy and opponents of the teachings of “fa jia” - the state ideology of the Qin empire, begin to preach imminent death Qin dynasty, sow distrust among the population in new reforms and regulations, “inciting the blackheads to oppose.”
The destruction of Confucian canons was one of the methods of the ideological struggle of the “fajia” with the Confucians. Based on Sima Qian's report, Confucian literature kept in private collections, copies of the Shijing, as well as the works of various thinkers of the Chunqiu - Zhanguo period, which were in state libraries and book depositories remained completely intact.
After the events of 213, the power of Qin Shi Huangdi took on an increasingly despotic character. The emperor no longer consulted with his closest aides and official state advisers (boshi), reducing the functions of the latter to blind execution of orders from above. Judging by Sima Qian's message, Qin Shi Huangdi had a great capacity for work; he looked through at least 30 kilograms of various documentation and reports every day. From now on, all more or less significant matters were decided by one emperor.
In the last years of his life, Qin Shi Huangdi became painfully wary, not trusting almost any of his closest assistants. Starting from 212, the emperor, as a rule, never lived for a long time in one palace, but constantly moved from one place to another, without notifying anyone close to him in advance.
In a territory within a radius of 200 kilometers from the capital, 270 palaces were specially built in various places. In each of them, everything was ready to receive the emperor, right down to the concubines; officials were forbidden to rearrange things without permission or change the furnishings in the halls. None of the population of the empire, including wide circles of officials, should have known about the place of residence of Qin Shi Huangdi. Those who even unwittingly let it slip were subject to the death penalty.
This situation indicated the growth of opposition within the ruling group itself. An audit carried out by Qin Shi Huangdi in 212 showed that some Confucian officials not only criticized the emperor, but also incited residents of the capital to directly oppose him. During interrogations, imperial officials were able to identify the culprits; over 460 Confucians were buried alive, the rest were exiled to guard the borders.
In the summer of 210, Qin Shin-Huangdi died in Shaqiu in the territory of modern Shandong province at the age of 50, returning from his next inspection trip to the eastern regions of the country.
Qin Shi Huang took royal throne, when he was only 13 years old. 26 years later, when the Qin kingdom under his rule conquered other small states in the Middle Kingdom, he became the first emperor of China. He became famous for building grand structures such as the Great Wall of China and for creating the largest country in the world. He gained notoriety because of his cruelty to his subjects.
Qin Shi Huang, first emperor of China.
Illustration: Yuan Fang/The Epoch Times
Years of life of Qin Shi Huang - 259-210 BC. He was born during the Warring States Period (770-222 BC), when China was fragmented into small states. The strong among them absorbed the weak, and as a result, about seven kingdoms began to rule on the territory of the Celestial Empire. By the end of this period of history, the Qin kingdom became one of the most powerful.
After unifying China, Qin Shi Huang proclaimed himself "the first emperor of the Qin dynasty, which will last forever." So for the first time in the history of the Celestial Empire, a ruler declares himself emperor.
To strengthen power in a country with such huge territory, Qin Shi Huang issued a series of decrees, changing the political system. He abolished all feudal privileges and created a centralized government that exceeded any local authorities in terms of authority.
Qin Shi Huang also organized writing. The unification of the language helped to maintain its consistency throughout wars and all kinds of upheavals. He also standardized weights and measures, created a unified monetary system, and determined what the length of the “cart axle” and the width of roads should be.
At the same time, Qin Shi Huang began several large construction projects, including a magnificent imperial palace and an extensive transport network that stretched more than 6 thousand kilometers. And in order to protect the empire from the invasion of northern nomads, Qin Shi Huang launched the construction, which is recognized as one of the most magnificent military installations in the entire history of mankind.
It seemed to the first emperor of China that such architectural masterpieces were not enough to perpetuate his name, and he began to dream of finding ways to immortality. In the later years of his reign, Qin Shi Huang sent sailing ships to find the elixir of immortality.
Nevertheless, the emperor understood that he could not live forever - death does not understand rank. Probably for this reason, he ordered the construction of a tomb of incomparable splendor and beauty for himself, known as "". Around his tomb lined up about nine thousand warriors, made life-size from baked clay and painted - a whole fighting army with weapons, chariots and horses.
At that time the Qin Empire became largest country in the world. It is believed that the name "China" in English language(China, China, China) comes from “Qin” (more accurately pronounced as Chin). Many Chinese historians credit Qin Shi Huang for creating such a powerful empire.
However, despite the transformations that strengthened the country, Qin Shi Huang was known as a tyrant who tightened laws and made the life of his subjects difficult and miserable. Therefore, his name became synonymous with cruelty in China. He introduced many unaffordable taxes and compulsory labor service. During the Qin Dynasty, the population was about ten million, and two million were forced to work on its grand construction projects.
The first emperor of China expanded the scope of punishment. For crimes against the law, in addition to the perpetrators themselves, their relatives and neighbors bore so-called group responsibility. During his reign, freedom of thought was suppressed and people became overly controlled. Qin Shi Huang ordered the burning of precious ancient books and the killing of thousands of scholars who reproached him for his inhumane methods in governing the state.
A few years after his death, due to numerous uprisings, the powerful Qin dynasty collapsed. According to Chinese historians, the empire lasted only fifteen years (221-207 BC) precisely because of the cruelty of Qin Shi Huang, as well as the heavy burden of taxes.
