Page 229 - Encyclopedia Of World History Vol IV

Qin Shi Huangdi

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Qin Shi Huangdi

(c. 259–210 bce)
Chinese emperor and founder
of the Qin dynasty (221–206 BCE)

he unifier of China after several centuries of inter-
Tnecine warfare, Qin Shi Huangdi established the
principle of centralized rule, with court-appointed offi-
cials governing throughout his realm. However, his dy-
nasty, for which he created the new title huangdi (literally,
August Supreme Sovereign), or emperor, barely outlived
its founder, collapsing under the onslaught of popular
rebellions just four years after his death.
In traditional Chinese historiography,Qin Shi Huangdi
(commonly referred to as Qin Shi Huang) was remem-
bered as an extreme tyrant whose cruelty and megalo-
mania caused the rapid collapse of the dynasty for which
he had designated himself as first, or founding (shi),
emperor in what was to be an unending line of descent.
The popular suffering accompanying the forcible unifi-
cation of China was probably real enough, but the adop-
tion of Confucianism by the succeeding Han dynasty
(206 BCE–220 CE) as the official state philosophy prob-
ably was responsible for Qin Shi Huang’s becoming a
lasting symbol of oppression. Late in his reign Qin Shi
Huang had tried to eradicate dissenting opinions by ban-
ning all traditions and schools of thought except the
Legalist teachings that had been adopted by his home
state of Qin a century earlier.This proscription hit Con-
fucian scholars hardest, and it was for his great crime of