Summary

Qin Dynasty ( Chinese: 秦朝; pinyin: Qín Cháo, Wade-Giles: Ch'in Ch'ao) was a dynasty that ruled China between 221 BC and 207 BC. It was preceded by the feudal Zhou dynasty and followed by the Han dynasty in China. The unification of China in 221 BC under the First Emperor Qin Shi Huangdi (or Shih Hwang-Tih) marked the beginnings of imperial China, a period that lasted until the fall of the Qing dynasty in 1912.

The kingship came to an end in 256 BC, when King Nan of the Zhou dynasty, deprived of all prerogatives, died without leaving any descendants. The unification of China is credited to the powerful militaristic state of Qin (225-206 BC), which occupied a large area of territory on the west bank of the Yellow River. The Qin kings fought against their rivals with rare ferocity and conquered all the great Chinese feudal kingdoms in turn. In the midst of these dramatic struggles, the Zhou dynasty disappeared after eight centuries, the longest of any Chinese dynasty. In 247 BC, at the age of thirteen, Zheng ascended to the throne of Qin, and in 221 BC, after great victories he conquered the whole of China and asked his ministers to find him a title that would match his merits.After much debate they proposed the title of August Sovereign ( Huangdi ) which he adopted, deciding to be called the First August Sovereign ( Shi Huangdi ), his successors were named second, third and so on. The name he gave himself originated in an ancient tradition according to which China had had three ,,Huang" (,,Auguists") and then five Di (,,Sovereigns") at the beginning of its existence. Through several elements, the new conception of Empire was attached to the past and borrowed much from the old Zhou royalty: the choice of a colour ( black), a number and an element known to be favourable to the dynasty ( water ) . Qin Shi H

In order to consolidate the empire, Qin Shi Huangdi took measures that often lead one to think back to the totalitarian regimes of the 20th century. The Qin emperor imposed heavy taxes on the population and carried out mass forced recruitment both for the army to support his extensive military campaigns and for his ambitious construction projects. Priority was given to agricultural production, and the peasant-soldier, subject to conscription and conscription, became the key element. Peasant families are divided into collectively responsible groups. A severe code, full of cruel punishments, keeps recalcitrants in check. Because of the harsh regime and heavy taxes, after 211 BC, when the Qin emperor Shi Huangdi died, a powerful peasant uprising broke out and his successor was overthrown and the Qin dynasty ceased to exist. In the wake of these events, the Han dynasty came to power for almost four centuries (206 BC - 220 AD) and took over the achievements of its predecessor in a creative way. The dynasty's founder, Liu Pang, was given the name Kao-Zi (Supreme Ancestor) after his death. In 180 BC, Emperor Wen ascended to the throne, whose sole concern was to improve the state of the people and bring the country to a high level of prosperity. Wen issued numerous decrees inspired by ancient traditions and formulated the following principle: "The Way of Heaven (Tian Tao) says that Disasters come from detestable actions, while Prosperity comes from Virtue. The faults of all officials originate in me." His successor, Emperor Wu (156 BC - 29 March 87 BC), was one of China's most important emperors and the seventh Han dynasty. He was born Liu Che, and ascended the throne in 141 BC, having reigned for 54 years. He took over the throne from his father Han Jingdi who, by suppressing the Seven States Revolt (154 BC), succeeded in centralising state power. During his reign Confucianism was strongly supported and became compulsory in the administration. This measure combated Taoist alchemy, two philosophical schools of thought that vehemently opposed each other. Buddhism appeared around the same time, but only became an official religion in 65 BC during the reign of Han Mingdi. During Wu's reign, numerous wars were fought, the empire expanding as far as Tarim and the Ferghana Valley (102 BC - 101 BC) Korea (108 BC), and in southern China the expansion culminated in the conquest of Canton (111 BC) to the Vietnamese border. The successes of these wars, particularly in southern China, contributed to the consolidation of the Chinese state and population growth, and this territorial expansion led to easier trade contacts, for example with Persia. His foreign policy focused mainly on defending against the nomadic Xiongnu tribes who were carrying out Asian invasions.

- sec. XXVI-XXI BC. Age of the legendary sovereigns Fuxi, Shennong, Huangdi, Shaohao, Zhuanxu; Dawn of Chinese civilization and social organization in tribal lineages.

- sec. XXI-XVII BC. Xia Dynasty - hereditary monarchy, founded by the Great Yu; control over waterways; development of the agricultural lunar calendar.

- sec. XVII-XI BC. Shang dynasty - hereditary kingdom; beginnings of history written on oracular bones and bronze vessels; flourishing of bronze working, production of protoporcelain.

- 1122-255 BC. Zhou Dynasty - Autocratic hereditary kingdom headed by the Son of Heaven.

- 1122-771 BC. Western Zhou Dynasty - Synthesis of the fundamental elements of Chinese civilization;

841 BC - beginning of conscious and systematic recording of historical events; development of the code of rites, emergence of fortified cities; flourishing of agriculture and crafts (bronze, silk fabrics, etc.).

- 770-256 BC Eastern Zhou Dynasty.

- 770-476 BC Period ,, Springs and Autumns' - decline of central power; strengthening of vassal nobility and formation of feudal states.

- 475-221 BC The "Warring States" period - Introduction of the production and use of iron and steel tools and weapons; invention of the compass; development of mining, agriculture, irrigation; flourishing of the school of philosophy; the collection of cultural creations in collections. The "Spring and Autumn" and "Warring States" periods constitute the first stage of the great process of national fusion in China, which resulted in the formation of the Han nation (the majority Chinese population).

- 221-206 BC Qin Dynasty - Establishment of the first unified feudal state in Chinese history; unification of writing, units of measurement, money, vehicle gauge; construction of the Great Wall, a network of roads and canals (the world's first canal with locks), the great burial complex of the founder emperor of unified China; opening of waterways to the east.

- 213-209 BC First large-scale peasant uprising in Chinese history, led by Chen Sheng and Wu Guan.

- 206 BC-220 AD Han Dynasty.

- 206 BC - 25 AD Western Han Dynasty - measures are taken to consolidate the central autocratic state and to encourage the revival of agricultural and handicraft production; in 104 AD the lunar-solar calendar is developed and Confucianism is adopted as the ruling ideology of Chinese society; the first work of Chinese history is written by Sima Qian.

- 25-225 c.e. Eastern Han Dynasty - Han dynasty re-established; Buddhism penetrates China; Silk Road opened and consolidated; Yellow Turban Uprising. II. Qin Dynasty and the First Emperor of China

The feudal Qin state was always considered a semi-barbaric one, because its people came from an uncertain mix of Chinese, Tibetans and Mongols. One Zhou nobleman wryly said that before the Qin state adopted the refined court music of its more civilized neighbors, "their palace orchestra was banging clay pots and rubbing bones against each other." . Strategically located with its capital close to modern Xi'an, the Qin state was regarded with great awe during the Warring States period.

Credit for the unification of China goes to the powerful militaristic state of Qin (225-206 BC), which occupied a large area of territory on the west bank of the Yellow River. The Qin kings fought against their rivals with rare ferocity and conquered all the major Chinese feudal states in turn. In the midst of these dramatic struggles, the Zhou dynasty disappeared after eight centuries, the longest of any Chinese dynasty.

One after another, the states were ruthlessly invaded by the formidable Qin armies, leaving thousands of decapitated bodies scattered across the fields. The frustrating nature of the beginnings of Qin civilisation should not, however, mislead us: as has often been the case in history, a simpler and usually more vigorous humanity is the most likely candidate to bring about the boldest changes and achievements, often against a backdrop of the decadence of an older, more refined, but more drained civilisation. We are familiar with the unification of ancient Egypt through the conquest of Lower Egypt by the mountainous and less refined Upper Egypt, the unification of the Italic Peninsula by the rustic Latin people, who first had to crush the resistance of the neighbouring Etruscan civilisations, and the modest beginnings of the great ancient powers such as Assyria and Persia, whose civilisations owed a huge debt to conquered Babylon. And the examples could go on.

The "Great Qin Beast", as the state was called, owed much of its success to a court minister, the noble Shang. He had formed a powerful government, following the philosophy of the legalists, many aspects of which would forever be part of imperial rule. Noble Shang had no time for pious but abstract Confucian notions like humility, honour of tradition and noble example. He entrusted his fate into the hands of fortune, cunning and absolute tyranny and made the Qin state invincible by instituting harsh laws, ruthless punishments and compulsory conscription into the army for all subjects. Lord Shang was so unyielding that when the crown prince of Qin broke one of his rules, he had the prince's tutor severely punished for failing to teach his pupil the laws. When the Qin ruler died, the noble Shang, fearing execution by the former prince, the current king, set out to stage a coup. When his forces were defeated, and the noble Shang himself fell in battle, the new ruler demanded to be tied to four chariots and torn to pieces. Another Qin court advisor, a wandering scholar, foolishly advocated Confucian ideals of princely virtue and moral governance. Angered, the ruler decided to punish him by castration, saying, "If I were to submit to this conceited man's bragging, we would be completely annihilated by other warring kingdoms. The culprit was given the role of eunuch at the palace, while the ruler continued his plans to "tighten China like a blanket." For 2,000 years there has been a legend of a Qin warrior king who founded a powerful country: China. He was the first emperor, and his empire became his fortress, defended by the Great Wall. When the first emperor was lowered into his grave, legend says he was the strongest man on earth. For 36 years, he had unleashed the bloodiest times in China's history and achieved the impossible: he united a people and had ten thousand times as many subjects as the Egyptian pharaohs had in an empire that would outlast Rome by a thousand years.

The reality of the emperor's life has long been shrouded in mystery. For two millennia, the only detailed information came from a single historical work produced about a hundred years after Qin Shi Huangdi's death, the chronicles of the great historian Sima Qian . Archaeological discoveries in 1974 supported the legend and proved its veracity. The previous king of Qin died after a short reign of 3 years and was succeeded to the throne by his son Ying Zheng , the future Qin Shi Huangdi, who was 13 years old at the time. At the beginning of his reign, the young king was controlled by his mother and Lu Buwei , her lover who became prime minister. An important role for the future of the Qin kingdom will be played by a young scholar named Li Su. Li Su arrives at Ying Zheng's court and is hired by his minister. During an audience with the king that he managed to gain at one point, Li Su advised the king to destroy the feudal lords and unite the whole world under his sceptre. The scholar's words awakened in Ying Zheng the awareness that his is the true power that he will use with great courage in the next ten years. He continued the conquests of his predecessors with such savagery that, by 221 BC, he had succeeded in subduing China in its entirety and had the feudal kingdoms begging for mercy. It has been written that, from start to finish, the Qin campaign of conquest cost a million and a half Chinese lives.

The second pit contains full-sized horses, harnessed in fours to battle chariots, and infantrymen, cavalry officers and archers are arranged like a modern-day army corps. The first bronze objects also appear. The third pit is somewhat smaller and reflects the concept of battle strategy during the Qin dynasty: the commander and his headquarters behind the army. During the excavations, numerous destroyed or broken statues were discovered. It seems that immediately after the emperor's death, the underground corridors were looted and destroyed by treasure hunters or even rebels in search of weapons. However, many statues, numerous weapons, arrowheads, as well as the remains of wooden bows and crossbows and fragments of bronze shields remain intact. The terracotta figures were a funerary offering, 7,500 warriors have been unearthed who, in all respects except that they are not flesh and blood, are genuine warriors . The discovery mirrors the real aspect of the Qin army. The big surprise was that the first three ranks of the vanguard were made up of highly mobile infantry. It seems these were the emperor's shock troops. Behind them came the heavy infantry, which in turn was supported by columns of chariots, and behind them a fast cavalry swept everything in its path. It was not only the precision of the army's order that amazed the researchers, but also the weapons they carried. Although only their metal parts

One of the most incredible discoveries is a sword, perfectly preserved after 2000 years lying in the ground. The weapon's pinch shows that it was actually used in battle by a soldier. Qin dynasty swords are significantly longer than those of previous dynasties. Qin armourers perfected bronze metallurgy to give their soldiers a 30% better chance of getting their weapons close to their opponents, and the longer the blades of their weapons were than those of their enemies. One halberd bears an inscription saying that it was made in the fifth year of the Qin emperor's reign by Prime Minister Lu Buwei. This was a guarantee of quality and the prime minister himself was held responsible for the quality of the weapons carried by the soldiers. The army's equipment was among the best of the time. Military inventions were welcomed and rewarded with bags of gold by the emperor - such as the bow that fired three arrows simultaneously. When several thousand archers so equipped shot a hail of arrows at the enemy, the psychological effect was terrifying. Qin Shi Huangdi's armies were among the first to use a tactic later made famous by the Huns, Mongols and other steppe peoples. The cavalry opened the battle, attacking enemy armies in small funnels and firing arrows from horseback, retreating strategically to attack again, mercilessly harassing the enemy. When the enemy was disheartened and his ranks were thinning

The well-trained and motivated Qin army, equipped with precision weapons and led by an unscrupulous and ambitious king, was the perfect war machine. In 7 years, Ying Zheng conquered 13 cities in the enemy Han state and another 20 cities in rival states. But if external enemies seemed easy to overcome, inside the royal court, unseen enemies were out to destroy him. Official history records Ying Zheng's coming of age at the age of 20 as the turning point, when the queen mother had a new favourite, Marquis Lao Ai , who had given the queen two secretly raised sons and intended to put one of them on the throne. Knowing that the discovery of his plot was only a matter of time, the queen-mother's lover made a desperate bid for power. He stole the royal seals, thereby acquiring the authority to mobilize troops. District forces under Lao Ai's command marched on the royal palace. Security of the palace was the responsibility of Prime Minister Lu Buwei, who had discovered the plot and prepared a trap into which Lao Ai's forces plunged blindly. The plot is foiled and Lao Ai captured and executed along with his entire family. The first threat to Ying Zheng's reign passed and harsh control became the standard treatment for everyone, including the ruling family. Within a year, Lu Buwei, disgraced and banished from the palace, commits suicide. Behind the scenes at the palace, the emperor's own protégé, Li Su,

In 223 BC, King Ying Zheng fulfilled his dream of unifying China. He had two more states to conquer, of which the Zhou state was the fiercest enemy, achieving a first victory against Qin and threatening the ambitious king's dream. Ying Zheng sends against his main enemy, his best general, Wang Jian at the head of an army of 600,000 men. Skilful, Wang Jian refuses to fight the Zhou armies for a long time, holding his ground and forbidding any offensive action. When, tired of waiting and convinced of the cowardice of the Qin troops, the Zhou commanders decided to retreat, Wang Jian ordered a general offensive, trapping the enemy in a marching formation and defeating them catastrophically and decisively. The commander of the Zhou forces commits suicide, and the Zhou king is captured. Achieving a total and somewhat surprising victory over its greatest rival, the Qin kingdom occupies the last remaining independent Chinese state, Qi, without a fight.

In 221 BC, at the age of 34, Qin is now China and Ying Zheng is crowned with a veil of stars symbolizing the divinity of the First Emperor of China. He takes his name as Qin Shi Huangdi, First August Sovereign of Qin, a title with imperial value. He considered himself not only a divine figure but an initiator, a creator, the ancestor of a long lineage. Qin Shi Huangdi, together with the prime minister, set up a system of rules that coordinated even the details of daily life and included punishments for breaking them. Even private life did not escape the tentacles of Qin law, which had to be respected throughout the empire. The first Emperor perfected a strict code of laws that held both the perpetrator and up to five members of his family responsible for any deviation from the rules of social conduct, and

One of Qin Shi Huangdi's earliest reforms was to abolish the old feudal system by refusing to grant any land in China as estates to his relatives and aides. He forced 120,000 old noble families to move from their vassal states to the new capital to keep them under his authority. His loyal demigods and generals administered the cities and military commands. To prevent insurrections, the First Emperor decreed that all spears, arrowheads, knives and metal tools be confiscated throughout the country and sent to the capital. He then had them melted down and turned into twelve giant statues of warriors guarding the imperial palace. For the same reason, he tore down all the fortifications and defensive installations in the provinces, even the earthen walls of villages. These measures were extremely unpopular, but they did help bring the old feudal wars to a sudden halt.

He imposed the standardization of Chinese writing, currency to facilitate trade, intensified the silk trade, created and standardized the measurement system and education, unified the wheel gauge of carts, invented what we now call mass production and quality control, the imperial seals to attest to it, stimulates the talents of administrators who rise in rank by ability to write and personal merit, not by inherited title, imposing meritocracy creating a government of an efficiency never before seen. The emperor's organisational genius was expressed in the crystallisation of the first Chinese state, divided into 36 prefectures each headed by a civilian, a military man and a superintendent 'rapporteur'. This concept was ill-suited to the mentality of the people of the region. However, with the help of a brutal agrarian reform, carried out mainly by expropriating former noble estates, he managed to win the consent of the poor peasants: recognition of property rights, replacement of feudal servitudes by a proportional tax paid to the central state. The prefects in charge of the great works (roads, dykes and canals), the generals in charge of security in these prefectures, themselves spied on by superintendents appointed by the emperor, formed an extremely solid administrative network that allowed.

It is interesting that a great victor on the battlefield also manages to be a formidable steward, and has time to fight for eternity. Feeling divinely commissioned, he crosses, conquers and subdues valleys and mountains, which he inscribes with huge tablets to consecrate his authority over his subjects, and to fix him in eternity. He believes in astrology and elevates it to the rank of imperial faith; he guides his political actions by cosmic events, dream-tellers are at the top of the list, he consecrates by ritual sacrifices, he baptizes places and orients palaces by the stars, his vision incorporates and assimilates the geographical with the mythical, China under him becomes a sacred land. Qin Shi Huangdi distanced himself from the Zhou dynasty under the sign of fire, which he had defeated, and placed his new dynasty under the sign of water. He has the ambition to raise the profane to the sacred, changes the calendar and rearranges all the official holidays.

In order to consolidate the empire, Qin Shi Huangdi took measures that often lead one to think back to the totalitarian regimes of the 20th century. The Qin emperor imposed heavy taxes on the population and carried out mass forced recruitments both for the army to support his extensive military campaigns and for his ambitious construction projects. Priority was given to agricultural production, and the peasant-soldier, subject to conscription and conscription, became the key element. Peasant families are divided into collectively responsible groups. A severe code of laws, full of cruel punishments, keeps recalcitrants in check. Because of the harshness of the regime, it is no wonder that after 211 BC, when the Qin emperor Shi Huangdi died, the Qin dynasty met an early and violent end.

From the 7th century BC to the 17th century, more than ten Chinese dynasties were involved in building and rebuilding extensive fortifications. The dynasties before Qin had provided good preliminary experience and foreshadowed the construction on a gigantic scale of the Great Wall, a visionary project also belonging to Qin Shi Huangdi, and the later dynasties maintained it, enjoyed its benefits, strengthened and expanded it. It is no coincidence that the Great Wall of China, as it is commonly known today, is the wall built and renovated by the Ming dynasty (1368-1644). The earliest foreshadowing of the Great Wall was the fortifications built in 665 BC in the state of Zhou as a defence against other states. The Great Wall not only kept the invaders out but also isolated the Chinese who developed one of the world's greatest and most original civilisations. Begun as a royal project, the Great Wall survived the decline of imperial dynasties and today is a symbol of the past and a source of national pride. In 215 BC, the First Emperor of China set out on a tour of inspection of his empire, which for the first time was a peaceful and secure country. Millions of discharged soldiers are thus available for other tasks and Qin Shi Huangdi plans the construction of the greatest project of antiquity: the Great Wall of China, an impenetrable barrier to China. To protect his unified state against the frequent incursions of the nomadic Xiongnu tribes, known in Europe as Huns, China's first emperor orders that fortifications built by his predecessors be linked together and new sections of the wall built. In 214 BC, the emperor sent the general Meng Tian to the northern frontier of the empire with an army of 300 000 workers and an unknown number of political prisoners to build a chain of fortifications. It would advance both east and west for a total length of some 6 000 kilometres, creating the longest wall in the world that would later become justly famous. Winding its way along mountain and hill ridges and through deep valleys, the Great Wall of China, which is lined from place to place with parallelepiped forts and high defensive towers, is 8 metres high and 6.5 metres wide. Paved with stone, it was used as a road as well as a trade route. The towers were strategic points, where weapons stores were located and soldiers were loaded, and from them information could be transmitted over long distances by fire and smoke as well as by sound signals. Seen from the air, the Great Wall of China looks like a dragon stretching along China's ancient northern border and has become a symbol of the whole country. To build the great fortification, hundreds of thousands of peasants were forcibly displaced to the north, where they were guarded by a huge army. The emperor passed a law

By unifying China, ensuring its security against the barbarians from the north, and strengthening its internal order, admittedly through terror, Qin Shi Huangdi was able to concentrate on another project of paramount importance for any Chinese, let alone an emperor, a project related to the afterlife. The emperor resolved to build the most opulent tomb ever built in China, commensurate with his unparalleled achievements. Qin Shi Huangdi's tomb, a square-shaped, recessed pyramid, had long been known and located from the descriptions of Sima Qian, the court historian of the next dynasty. Early in his reign, Ying Zheng, prepared for his death and began building a tomb that, according to tradition, would contain models of his most prized possessions, including his army. One of the most unbelievable features of the terracotta army, however, was the size, not only of the army as a whole, but also of each individual soldier. Chinese kings were known to bury miniature terracotta soldiers as protective spirits in the afterlife, but never life-size and carrying perfected weapons . Ying Zheng felt that in death the spirits of his enemies might attack him and he needed an army of clay soldiers who, by their very nature, would last forever. Some historians say that the clay army was not to guard Emperor Qin from evil spirits from the other world, but from the unruly spirits of the slain.

In the seventh month of 210 BC, the journey to immortality ended. At the age of 50, Qin Shi Huangdi died. His death was concealed for two months by his minister Li Su and chief eunuch Chao Kao, as the emperor was on a military expedition and the news would cause chaos in the empire and these high-ranking courtiers feared an attempt to seize the throne before they could consolidate power in their own hands. It being summer, the corpse quickly rotted, spreading a pestilential smell, and to conceal the fact that the emperor had died his advisers brought in the imperial hold, in which his corpse lay, which with fish, pretending that Huangdi craved to serve such . During the return journey to the capital, the two conspirators hatched plans for a brutal palace coup. Qin Shi Huangdi had, in one of his last decrees and without the court's knowledge, appointed his eldest son as successor to the dynasty throne. The prince was at that time in the north, on the border, with General Meng Tien and his army, serving his sentence for his objections to the Burning of the Books. Minister Li Su and eunuch Chao Kao promptly destroyed the dead ruler's decree and devised a false imperial edict condemning both the general and the crown prince to death. When this decree reached those concerned through an imperial messenger, the Qin heir obediently resorted to the

Sources

1. Qin dynasty
2. Dinastia Qin
3. L'habitude chinoise actuelle consiste à inclure les noms des dynasties dans les noms des empereurs, ce qui donne dans ce cas Qin Shihuangdi. Plus tard, son nom est abrégé en Qin Shihuang, car les noms chinois à quatre caractères sont très peu courants.
4. Derk Bodde: The state and empire of Ch'in. In: The Cambridge History of China. Band 1: The Ch'in and Han Empires, 221 B.C. – A.D. 220. 1986, S. 20–102, hier S. 69.
5. Helwig Schmidt-Glintzer: Geschichte Chinas bis zur mongolischen Eroberung 250 v. Chr. – 1279 n. Chr. 1999, S. 18.
6. Mary B. Rankin, John K. Fairbank, Albert Feuerwerker: Perspectives on modern China's history. In: The Cambridge History of China. Band 13: Republican China 1912–1949. Part 2. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge u. a. 1986, ISBN 0-521-24338-6, S. 1–73, hier S. 49.
7. Dado el hábito chino moderno de incluir los nombres de la dinastía como parte del apellido, convirtió el nombre del emperador en Qin Shihuangdi. Más tarde, esto fue abreviado a Qin Shihuang, porque es raro que los nombres chinos tengan cuatro caracteres.
8. Antiguamente conocido como Canton
9. Un texto llamado así en honor a su patrocinador Lü Buwei; Primer Ministro de Qin anterior al período de los reinos combatientes.
10. Maspero 1978 324. o.
11. Gernet 2001 79. 80. o.