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Huang Qin opentcm.com | Nutritional Wellness | Scutellaria (huang qin) nutritionalwellness.com | Baical Scullcap - Huang Qin - Chinese Herbal Medicine asante-academy.com | Journal - Scholarly Resources - Li Shi-Zhen on Ma Huang thelantern.com.au |
Qin Shi Huang (Chinese: 秦始皇; pinyin: Qín Shǐhuáng; Wade-Giles: Ch'in Shih-huang) (259 BCE – 210 BCE),[1][2] personal name Ying Zheng (Chinese: 嬴政; pinyin: Yíng Zhèng), was king of the Chinese State of Qin from 246 BCE to 221 BCE during the Warring States Period.[3] He became the first emperor of a unified China in 221 BCE.[3] He ruled until his death in 210 BCE at the age of 50.[4] Qin Shi Huang remains a controversial figure in Chinese history. After unifying China, he and his chief adviser Li Si passed a series of major economic and political reforms.[3] He undertook gigantic projects, including the first version of the Great Wall of China, the now famous city-sized mausoleum guarded by a life-sized Terracotta Army, and a massive national road system, all at the expense of numerous lives. To ensure stability, Qin Shi Huang outlawed and burned many books.[4] Despite the tyranny of his autocratic rule, Qin Shi Huang is regarded as a pivotal figure.
[edit] Name of Shi Huangdi.svg) [edit] Title meaningAfter conquering the independent Chinese states in 221 BCE, he ruled as king over all of established China. He created a new title calling himself the First Sovereign Emperor (Chinese: 始皇帝; pinyin: Shǐ Huáng Dì; Wade-Giles: Shih Huang-Di), shortened as (皇帝).
[edit] UsageBoth names "Qin Shi Huangdi" (秦始皇帝) and "Qin Shi Huang" (秦始皇) appear in the Records of the Grand Historian written by Sima Qian. The longer name "Qin Shi Huang Di" (秦始皇帝) appears first in chapter 5,[9] though the shorter name "Qin Shi Huang" (秦始皇) was the name of chapter 6 (秦始皇本紀).[10][11] [edit] Youth[edit] BirthA rich merchant in the state of Han, named Lü Buwei, met Master Yiren (公子異人). Lü Buwei's manipulation helped Yiren become King Zhuangxiang of Qin.[4] At the time, King Zhuangxiang of Qin was a prince of blood Qin, who took residence in the court of Zhao as a hostage to guarantee an armistice between the two states.[12] According to the Records of the Grand Historian, Zhao Zheng, first emperor, was born in 259 BCE as the eldest son of King Zhuangxiang of Qin.[2][13] King Zhaoxiang of Qin saw a concubine belonging to Lü Buwei, and she bore the first emperor.[13] At birth, he was given the personal name Zheng (政).[13] Because Zheng was born in Handan, capital of the enemy state of Zhao (趙), he had the name Zhao Zheng.[13] Zhao Zheng's ancestors are said to have come from Gansu province.[2] [edit] Birth controversyAccording to the Records of the Grand Historian, written by Sima Qian during the next dynasty and avowedly hostile to Qin Shi Huang, the first emperor was not the actual son of King Zhaoxiang of Qin. By the time Lü Buwei introduced the dancing girl Zhao Ji (趙姬, or the Concubine from Zhao) to the future King Zhuangxiang of Qin, she was allegedly Lü Buwei's concubine and already pregnant by him.[12] According to translated texts of Annals of Lü Buwei the woman bore the future emperor in Handan 259 BCE in the first month of the 48th year of King Zhaoxiang of Qin.[14] There was some inconsistency between the date of birth and the theory that Lü Buwei was the real father of the first emperor.[14] In the view of some scholars, the length of the pregnancy was irregular, lasting a full year, which is impossible, according to modern medicine.[14] The idea that the emperor was an illegitimate child added to the negative view of him for most of the past 2000 years.[5] However, today there is considerable skepticism among scholars about this claim by Sima Qian. Professors John Knoblock and Jeffrey Riegel, in their translation of Lü Buwei's Spring and Autumn Annals, call the story "patently false, meant both to libel Lü and to cast aspersions on the First Emperor."[15] [edit] King of the Qin state[edit] Teenage yearsIn 246 BCE, when King Zhuangxiang died after a short reign of just three years, he was succeeded to the throne by his 13-year-old son.[16] At the time, Zhao Zheng was still young, so Lü Buwei acted as the regent prime minister of the Qin state, which was still waging war against the neighbouring six states.[5] [edit] Lao Ai's attempted coupAs King Zheng grew older, Lü Buwei became fearful that the boy king would discover his liaison with his mother Zhao Ji (趙姬). He decided to distance himself and look for a replacement for the king. He found a man named Lao Ai (嫪毐).[17] The Record of Grand historian said Lao Ai was disguised as a eunuch by plucking his beard. Later Lao Ai and queen Zhao Ji got along so well they secretly had two sons together.[17] Lao Ai then became ennobled as Marquis Lao Ai, and was showered with riches. Lü Buwei's plot was supposed to replace King Zheng with one of the hidden sons. But during a dinner party drunken Lao Ai was heard bragging about being the young king's step father.[17] In 238 BCE the king was traveling to the ancient capital of Yong (雍). Lao Ai seized the queen mother's Chinese seal and mobilized an army in an attempt to start a coup and rebel.[17] Qin Shi ordered about 8,000 troops. A price of 1 million copper coins was placed on Lao Ai's head if he was taken alive or half a million if dead.[17] Lao Ai's supporters were captured and beheaded; then Lao Ai was tied up and torn to five pieces by horse carriages, while his entire family was executed to the third degree.[17] The two hidden sons were also killed, while mother Zhao Ji was placed under house arrest until her death many years later. Lü Buwei drank a cup of poison wine and committed suicide in 235 BCE.[5][17] Ying Zheng then assumed full power as the King of the Qin state. Replacing Lü Buwei, Li Si was also now the new chancellor. [edit] Jing Ke's assassination missionMain article: Jing Ke King Zheng and his troops continued to take over different states. The state of Yan was small, weak and frequently harassed by soldiers. It was no match for the Qin state.[18] So Crown Prince Dan of Yan plotted an assassination attempt to get rid of King Zheng, begging Jing Ke to go on the mission in 227 BCE.[4][18] Jing Ke was accompanied by Qin Wuyang in the plot. Each was supposed to present two gifts to King Zheng, a map of Dukang and the decapitated head of Fan Yuqi.[18] Qin Wuyang first tried to present the map case gift, but trembled in fear and moved no further towards the king. Jing Ke continued to advance toward the king, while explaining that his partner "has never set eyes on the Son of Heaven", which is why he is trembling. Jing Ke had to present both gifts by himself.[18] While unrolling the map, a dagger was revealed. The king drew back, stood on his feet, but struggled to draw the sword to defend himself.[18] At the time other palace officials were not allowed to carry weapons. Jing Ke pursued the king, attempting to stab him, but missed. King Zheng then drew out his sword and cut Jing Ke's thigh. Jing Ke then threw the dagger, but missed again. Suffering eight wounds from the king's sword, Jing Ke realised his attempt had failed. Both Jing Ke and Qin Wuyang would be killed afterwards.[18] The Yan state was conquered by the Qin state 5 years later.[18] [edit] Gao Jianli's assassination missionMain article: Gao Jianli Gao Jianli was a close friend of Jing Ke, who tried to avenge his death.[19] As a famous lute player, one day he was summoned by King Zheng to play the instrument. Someone in the palace who had known him in the past exclaimed, "This is Gao Jianli".[20] Unable to bring himself to kill such a skilled musician, the emperor ordered his eyes put out.[20] But the king allowed Gao Jianli to play in his presence.[20] He praised the playing and even allowed Gao Jianli to get closer. As part of the plot, the lute was fastened with a heavy piece of lead. He raised the lute and struck at the king. He missed and his assassination attempt failed. Gao Jianli was later executed.[20] [edit] First unification of ChinaMain article: Qin Shi Huang's wars of unification  In 230 BCE, King Zheng unleashed the final campaigns of the Warring States Period, setting out to conquer the remaining independent kingdoms, one by one. The first state to fall was Han (韓; sometimes called Hann to distinguish it from the Han 漢 of Han dynasty), in 230 BCE. Then Qin took advantage of a natural disaster, the 229 BCE Zhao state earthquake, to invade and conquer Zhao where Qin Shi Huang had been born.[21][22] He now avenged his poor treatment as a child hostage there, seeking out and killing his enemies. Qin armies conquered the state of Zhao in 228 BCE, the northern country of Yan in 226 BCE, the small state of Wei in 225 BCE, and the largest state and greatest challenge, Chu, in 223 BCE.[23] In 222 BCE, the last remnants of Yan and its royal family were captured in Liaodong in the northeast. The only independent country left was now state of Qi, in the far east, what is now the Shandong peninsula. Terrified, the young king of Qi sent 300,000 men to defend his western borders. In 221 BCE, the Qin armies invaded from the north, captured the king, and annexed Qi. For the first time, all of China was unified under one powerful ruler. In that same year, King Zheng proclaimed himself the "First Emperor" (始皇帝). In the South, military expansion continued during his reign, with various regions being annexed to what is now Guangdong province and part of today's Vietnam.[22] [edit] First Emperor of the Qin dynasty[edit] Division and politicsMain article: History of the administrative divisions of China In an attempt to avoid a recurrence of the political chaos of the Warring States Period, Qin Shi Huang and his prime minister Li Si completely abolished feudalism [22] and independent states (國)[24]; the conquered states were not allowed to be referred to as independent nations. The empire was then divided into 36 commanderies (郡), later more than 40 commanderies.[22] The whole of China was now divided into administrative units: first commanderies, then districts (縣), counties (鄉) and hundred-family units (里).[24] This system was different from the previous dynasties, which had loose alliances and federations.[25] People could no longer be identified by their native region or former feudal state, as when a person from Chu was called "Chu person" (楚人).[24][26] The administration was now based on merit instead of hereditary rights.[24] [edit] EconomyQin Shi Huang and Li Si unified China economically by standardizing the Chinese units of measurements such as weights and measures, the currency, the length of the axles of carts to facilitate transport on the road system.[25] The emperor also developed an extensive network of roads and canals connecting the provinces to improve trade between them.[25] The currency of the different states were also standardized to the Ban liang coin (半兩).[24] Perhaps most importantly, the Chinese script was unified. Under Li Si, the seal script of the state of Qin was standardized through removal of variant forms within the Qin script itself. This newly standardized script was then made official throughout all the conquered regions, thus doing away with all the regional scripts to form one language, one communication system for all of China.[24] [edit] IdentificationQin Shi Huang also followed the school of the five elements, earth, wood, metal, fire and water. It was believed that the royal house of the previous dynasty Zhou had ruled by the power of fire, which was the color red. Thus the new Qin dynasty must be ruled by the next element on the list, which is water, presented by the color black. Thus black became the colour for garments, flags, pennants.[27] Other associations include north as the cardinal direction, winter season and the number six.[28] Tallies and official hats were six inches long, carriages six feet wide, one pace (步) was 6 ft (1.8 m).[27] [edit] Zhang Liang's assassination attemptMain article: Zhang Liang (Western Han) In 230 BCE, the state of Qin had defeated the state of Han. A Han aristocrat named Zhang Liang swore revenge on the Qin emperor. He sold all his valuables and in 218 BCE, he hired a strongman assassin and built him a heavy metal cone weighting 120 jin (roughly 160 lbs. or 97 kg.).[17] The two men hid among the bushes along the emperor's route over a mountain. At a signal, the muscular assassin hurled the cone at the first carriage and shattered it. However, the emperor was actually in the second carriage, as he was traveling with two identical carriages for this very reason. Thus the attempt failed.[29] Both men were able to escape in spite of a huge manhunt.[17] [edit] North: Great wallMain article: Great wall of China The Qin fought nomadic tribes to the north and northwest. The Xiongnu tribes were not defeated and subdued, thus the campaign was tiring and unsuccessful, and to prevent the Xiongnu from encroaching on the northern frontier any longer, the emperor ordered the construction of an immense defensive wall.[22][30] This wall, for whose construction hundreds of thousands of men were mobilized, and an unknown number died, is a precursor to the current Great Wall of China. Very little survives today of the great wall built by the first emperor as the original wall sections went to ruins centuries ago.[31] [edit] South: Lingqu canalMain article: Lingqu Canal A famous South China quotation was "In the North there is the Great wall, in the South there is the Lingqu canal" (北有長城、南有靈渠).[32] In 214 BCE the Emperor began the project of a major canal to transport supplies to the army.[33] The canal allows water transport between north and south China.[33] The canal, 34 kilometers in length, links the Xiang River which flows into the Yangtze and the Li Jiang, which flows into the Pearl River.[33] The canal connected two of China's major waterways and aided Qin's expansion into the southwest.[33] The construction is considered one of the three great feats of Chinese engineering, the others being the Great Wall and the Sichuan Dujiangyan Irrigation System.[33] [edit] End of hundred schools of thoughtWhile the previous Warring States era was one of constant warfare, it was also considered the golden age of free thought.[34] Qin Shi Huang eliminated the Hundred Schools of Thought which incorporated Confucianism and other philosophies.[34][35] After the unification of China, with all other schools of thought banned, legalism became the endorsed ideology of the Qin dynasty.[24] Legalism was basically a system that required the people to follow the laws or be punished accordingly. [edit] Book burning periodMain article: Burning of books and burying of scholars Beginning in 213 BCE, at the instigation of Li Si and to avoid scholars' comparisons of his reign with the past, Qin Shi Huang also ordered for most previously existing books to be burned, with the exception of books on astrology, agriculture, medicine, divination, and the history of the Qin state.[36] Owning the Book of Songs or the Classic of History was to be punished especially severely. According to the later Records of the Grand Historian, the following year Qin Shi Huang had some 460 scholars buried alive for owning the forbidden books.[36] .[37] The emperor's oldest son Fusu criticised him for this act.[38] The emperor's own library still had copies of the forbidden books, but most of these were destroyed later when Xiang Yu burned the palaces of Xianyang in 206 BCE.[39] [edit] Other achievements After the unification, Qin Shi Huang moved out of Xianyang palace (咸陽宮), and began building the gigantic Epang palace (阿房宫) south of the Wei river, Epang is the most love concubine of Qin Shi Huang.[40] Other achievements such as the 12 bronze colossi were also made from the collected weapons. [edit] Death and aftermath[edit] Elixir of lifeLater in his life, Qin Shi Huang feared death and desperately sought the fabled elixir of life, which would supposedly allow him to live forever. He was obsessed with acquiring immortality and fell prey to many who offered him supposed elixirs.[41] He visited Zhifu Island three times in order to achieve immortality.[42] In one case he sent Xu Fu, a Zhifu islander, with ships carrying hundreds of young men and women in search of the mystical Penglai mountain.[29] They were sent to find Anqi Sheng, a 1,000-year-old magician whom Qin Shi Huang had supposedly met in his travels and who had invited him to seek him there.[43] These people never returned, because they knew that if they returned without the promised elixir, they would surely be executed. Legends claim that they reached Japan and colonized it.[41] [edit] DeathIn 211 BCE a large meteor is said to have fallen in Dongjun (東郡) in the lower reaches of the Yellow River. On it an unknown person inscribed the words "The First Emperor will die and his land will be divided."[44] When the emperor heard of this, he sent an imperial secretary to investigate this prophecy. No one would confess to the deed, so all the people living nearby were put to death. The stone was then burned and pulverized.[13] The emperor died during one of his tours of Eastern China, on September 10, 210 BCE (Julian Calendar) at the palace in Shaqiu prefecture (沙丘平台), about two months away by road from the capital Xianyang.[18][18][45][46] Reportedly, he died of swallowing mercury (poison) pills, made by his court scientists and doctors, which contained too much mercury.[47] Ironically, these pills were meant to make Qin Shi Huang immortal.[47] After the emperor's death Prime Minister Li Si, who accompanied him, was extremely worried that the news of his death could trigger a general uprising in the empire.[18] It would take two months for the government to reach the capital, and it would not be possible to stop the uprising. Li Si decided to hide the death of the emperor, and return to Xianyang.[18] Most of the imperial entourage accompanying the emperor was left uninformed of the emperor's death; only a younger son, Ying Huhai, who was traveling with his father; the eunuch Zhao Gao; Li Si; and five or six favorite eunuchs knew of the death.[18] Li Si also ordered that two carts containing rotten fish be carried immediately before and after the wagon of the emperor.[18] The idea behind this was to prevent people from noticing the foul smell emanating from the wagon of the emperor, where his body was starting to decompose severely as it was summertime.[18] [edit] Second emperor conspiracyEventually, after about two months, Lii Si and the imperial court reached Xianyang, where the news of the death of the emperor was announced.[18] Qin Shi Huang did not like to talk about his own death and he had never written a will. After his death, the eldest son Fusu would normally become the next emperor.[48] Li Si and the chief eunuch Zhao Gao conspired to kill Fusu because Fusu's favorite general was Meng Tian, whom they disliked[48] and feared; Meng Tian's brother, a senior minister, had once punished Zhao Gao.[49] They believed that if Fusu was enthroned, they would lose their power.[48] Li Si and Zhao Gao forged a letter from Qin Shi Huang saying that both Fusu and General Meng must commit suicide.[48] The plan worked, and the younger son Huhai became the Second Emperor, later known as Qin Er Shi or "Second Generation Qin."[18] Qin Er Shi, however, was not as capable as his father. Revolts quickly erupted. His reign was a time of extreme civil unrest, and everything that worked for the First Emperor crumbled away within a short period.[22] One of the immediate revolt attempts was the 209 BCE Chen Sheng Wu Guang Uprising led by Chen She and Wu Guang.[44] [edit] Legacy[edit] Mausoleum of the First emperorMain article: Terracotta Army  The Chinese historian Sima Qian, writing a century after the First emperor's death, wrote that it took 700,000 men to construct it. The British historian John Man points out that this figure is larger than any city of the world at that time and calculates that the foundations could have been built by 16,000 men in two years.[50] While Sima Qian never mentioned the terracotta army, the statues were discovered by a group of farmers digging wells on March 29, 1974.[51] The soldiers were created with a series of mix-and-match clay molds and then further individualized by the artists' hand. Han Purple was also used on some of the warriors.[52] [edit] Qin Shi Huang's tombOne of the first projects the young king accomplished while he was alive was the construction of his own tomb. In 215 BCE Qin Shi Huang ordered General Meng Tian with 300,000 men to begin construction.[37] Other sources suggested he ordered 720,000 non-paid laborers to build his tomb to specification.[16] Again, given John Man's observation regarding populations of the time (see paragraph above), these estimates must be regarded skeptically. The main tomb (located at 34°22′52.75″N 109°15′13.06″E / 34.3813194°N 109.2536278°E) containing the emperor has yet to be opened and there is evidence suggesting that it remains relatively intact.[53] Sima Qian's description of the tomb includes replicas of palaces and scenic towers, 'rare utensils and wonderful objects', 100 rivers made with mercury, representations of 'the heavenly bodies', and crossbows rigged to shoot anyone who tried to break in.[54] The tomb was built on Li Mountain which is only 30 kilometers away from Xi'an. Modern archaeologists have located the tomb, and have inserted probes deep into it. The probes revealed abnormally high quantities of mercury, some 100 times the naturally occurring rate, suggesting at least part of the legend can be trusted.[47] Secrets were maintained, as most of the workmen who built the tomb were killed.[47][55] [edit] Family of Qin Shi HuangMain article: Chinese emperors family tree (early) The following are some family members of Qin Shi Huang:
Qin Shi Huang had fewer than 20 sons, but most of their names are unknown. [edit] Historiography of Qin Shi Huang In traditional Chinese historiography, the First Emperor of the Chinese unified states was almost always portrayed as a brutal tyrant who had obsessive fear of assassination. Ideological prejudices against the Legalist State of Qin were established as early as 266 BCE, when Confucian philosopher Xun Zi disparaged it. Later Confucian historians condemned the emperor who had burned the classics and buried Confucian scholars alive. They eventually compiled a list of the Ten Crimes of Qin to highlight his tyrannical actions. The famous Han poet and statesman Jia Yi concluded his essay The Faults of Qin (過秦論), with what was to become the standard Confucian judgment of the reasons for Qin's collapse. Jia Yi's essay, admired as a masterpiece of rhetoric and reasoning, was copied into two great Han histories and has had a far-reaching influence on Chinese political thought as a classic illustration of Confucian theory.[56] He explained that the Qin disintegrated because it failed to display humanity and righteousness or to realise there is a difference between the power to attack and the power to consolidate.[57] Only in modern times were historians able to penetrate beyond the limitations of traditional Chinese historiography. The political rejection of the Confucian tradition as an impediment to China's entry into the modern world opened the way for changing perspectives to emerge. In the time when he was writing, when Chinese territory was encroached upon by foreign nations, leading Kuomintang historian Xiao Yishan emphasized the role of Qin Shi Huang in repulsing the northern barbarians, particularly in the construction of the Great Wall. Another historian, Ma Feibai (馬非百), published in 1941 a full-length revisionist biography of the First Emperor entitled Qin Shi Huangdi Zhuan (秦始皇帝傳), calling him "one of the great heroes of Chinese history". Ma compared him with the contemporary leader Chiang Kai-shek and saw many parallels in the careers and policies of the two men, both of whom he admired. Chiang's Northern Expedition of the late 1920s, which directly preceded the new Nationalist government at Nanjing was compared to the unification brought about by Qin Shi Huang.  With the coming of the Communist Revolution in 1949, new interpretations again surfaced. The establishment of the new, revolutionary regime meant another re-evaluation of the First Emperor, this time following Maoist theory. The new interpretation given of Qin Shi Huang was generally a combination of traditional and modern views, but essentially critical. This is exemplified in the Complete History of China, which was compiled in September 1955 as an official survey of Chinese history. The work described the First Emperor's major steps toward unification and standardisation as corresponding to the interests of the ruling group and the merchant class, not the nation or the people, and the subsequent fall of his dynasty as a manifestation of the class struggle. The perennial debate about the fall of the Qin Dynasty was also explained in Marxist terms, the peasant rebellions being a revolt against oppression — a revolt which undermined the dynasty, but which was bound to fail because of a compromise with "landlord class elements". Since 1972, however, a radically different official view of Qin Shi Huang has been given prominence throughout China. The re-evaluation movement was launched by Hong Shidi's biography Qin Shi Huang. The work was published by the state press as a mass popular history, and it sold 1.85 million copies within two years. In the new era, Qin Shi Huang was seen as a farsighted ruler who destroyed the forces of division and established the first unified, centralized state in Chinese history by rejecting the past. Personal attributes, such as his quest for immortality, so emphasized in traditional historiography, were scarcely mentioned. The new evaluations described how, in his time (an era of great political and social change), he had no compunctions against using violent methods to crush counter-revolutionaries, such as the "industrial and commercial slave owner" chancellor Lü Buwei. Unfortunately, he was not as thorough as he should have been and after his death, hidden subversives, under the leadership of the chief eunuch Zhao Gao, seized power and used it to restore the old feudal order. To round out this re-evaluation, a new interpretation of the precipitous collapse of the Qin Dynasty was put forward in an article entitled "On the Class Struggle During the Period Between Qin and Han" by Luo Siding, in a 1974 issue of Red Flag, to replace the old explanation. The new theory claimed that the cause of the fall of Qin lay in the lack of thoroughness of Qin Shi Huang's "dictatorship over the reactionaries, even to the extent of permitting them to worm their way into organs of political authority and usurp important posts."
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