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The First Emperor

© Maria Christensen

For nearly 200 years, from c. 400 BC to 221 BC, China lived through a time called the Warring States period. Of course, that isn't what the Chinese called it. All they knew was that seven centralized states in China were constantly warring against one another and that life was chaotic. People longed for peace and stability and an end to warfare. As if in answer to that wish, one of the Warring States became even more powerful than its neighbors, eventually conquering them all and unifying China under the Qin Dynasty. After the unification, and as he worked to enlarge the kingdom, King Zheng of the Qin took the name Shi Huang-di, which literally meant the First August Supreme Ruler. We call him the First Emperor.

Abandoning the old ways of Confucianism, the Qin Dynasty governed China with Legalist philosophies. Legalism stressed the importance of strict law in governing society and, completely contrary to Confucian beliefs, stated that people only behaved themselves when they were forced to it by government and law. Many centuries before writer George Orwell would coin the term "Big Brother," the Legalist Qin Dynasty, under the leadership of Shi Huang-di, perfected the totalitarian state.

One of the first acts the First Emperor carried out forced many thousands of the old nobility to relocate their entire households to the capital of Xianyang. The emperor felt much better having potential enemies close at hand. He then proceeded to wipe out local laws and impose a uniform legal code on China. All weapons in China were surrendered to the government and detailed administrative sections, from the 36 provinces to groups of ten families, were set in place. Each member of a group was accountable for the actions of the other members and every imagineable crime had a corresponding, unwavering punishment which applied to each and every case, regardless of a person's age, sex, rank or class. Punishments were harsh, ranging from mutiliation to death. Peasants were finally allowed to own land with the abolishment of feudalism, and then paid a heavy tax on that land. Weights and measures, currency and written language were standardized and any deviation from the official standards was considered treason. Books thought dangerous, especially those which spoke of the past, were burned and education was tightly controlled to produce nothing but more officials. Speaking out against the government came literally at the cost of a man's head, and most intellectuals were ostracized or worse. Legends claim that hundreds of scholars met a ghastly and untimely death in a huge grave in which they were buried alive as examples of what would happen if one were so unwise as to disobey the emperor.

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