The Qin Dynasty and the First Chinese Emperor – Viewing Guide

Vocabulary of Note

• Karez system – an ancient water irrigation system in present-day Xinjiang, China that uses vertical wells then connected by horizontal water works.
• Turfan (also known as Turpan) – an oasis town on the Silk Road located in present-day Xinjiang, China.

Timeline

Zhou (Chou, pronounced “Joe”) Dynasty — Capitals: Hao (near present-day Xi’an) and Luoyang — 1046–256 BCE

• Western Zhou (ca. 1046–771 BCE)
• Eastern Zhou (ca. 771–256 BCE)
  • Spring and Autumn Period (770–ca. 475 BCE)
    • Confucius (ca. 551–479 BCE)
  • Warring States Period (ca. 475–221 BCE)

Qin (Ch’in, pronounced “chin”) Dynasty — 221–206 BCE

• Capital: Chang’an, present-day Xi’an
• Qin Shihuangdi dies, 210 BCE

Timeline with names and dates from AFE: https://afe.easia.columbia.edu/timelines/china_timeline.htm

Names of Note

• Qin Shi Huang or Qin Shi Huang-di – First Emperor of the Qin Dynasty.
  • Qin – name of state (pronounced “Chin”).
  • Shi – “first” (pronounced as if there is an “r” on the end, as “shir”).
  • Huang or huang-di – emperor.
• Li Si – Prime Minister of the Qin dynasty; counselor to Qin Shi Huang (known as a prominent philosopher of the Legalism school of thought).

Outline of Presentation – with [Timecode]

Introduction [00:24]

• The Qin dynasty unified China to create an empire, the first empire in Chinese history, inaugurating China’s long imperial history.
• But the Qin dynasty existed for only 15 years: 221–207 BCE.
• For such a short-lived dynasty, it occupies an oversized place in Chinese history.

Why?

• Established a strict legal system.
• Standardized systems of money, measures, and script.
• Developed an expansive government bureaucracy.
• Undertook big construction projects.
• Left behind the famous Terra Cotta warriors (only discovered in modern times).

Also

• Centralized political administration and standardized systems were key characteristics of empire throughout Chinese history.
• The Qin represents a watershed between pre-imperial and imperial history.
• The changes brought by the Qin dynasty were not all completely new, however; this presentation looks at continuities and changes to see what was important about Qin.

Brief History of the Qin State [01:30]

The Qin state had existed as a vassal state to the Zhou dynasty for a long time prior to the establishment of the Qin dynasty [01:45]

• Qin Shihuang had been alive since 274 BCE.
• Qin was one of the states at war with others during the Warring States period (475–221 BCE), the final years of the Zhou dynasty.

Qin gradually conquered other states and expanded its territory. (See maps on slides.)

• When Qin conquered the Szechuan basin, a large fertile area, it greatly increased its resources to feed its army [03:30], demonstrating the link between geography and state power.
• Destructive wars were a way of life in this period.

Why were the Qin so successful? [05:00]

Major Reforms and Developments, Slide #8 [05:50]

• Reorganization of territory [06:35]
• Reorganization of society [08:05]
• Expansion of bureaucracy—needed scribes for record keeping [09:30]
• Legal system codified to guide officials [11:00]
  • Examples of sensitivity to detail appear in the legal code [12:00]
• Standardized weights and measures [13:00]
  • For collecting taxes and measuring rations for troops.
  • Round coins became prototypes for coins throughout Chinese history [15:00]
• Standardized script [15:43]
  • Different variations of Chinese characters had been used throughout the territory.
  • Standardizing the written language created easier communication across the empire.
• The emperor took “tours of the realm” [16:37]
  • He would stop at religious sites or mountains and conduct rituals.
  • He left inscriptions; one reads: “Unify the mind and integrate the wills” (suggests creating one people and one civilization).
  • In 213 BCE, the official Li Si proposed the burning of certain books and the killing of scholars in order to standardize knowledge and suppress other points of view [17:18]
  • It is not clear how far this was enforced, as the only historical record comes from a later dynasty that was critical of Qin.
  • See in Resources: Primary Source with DBQ: Memorial on Annexation of Feudal States and Memorial on the Burning of Books by Li Si (as recorded by Sima Qian of the Han Dynasty).
• Why do this?
  • Centralization of manpower and resources [18:15]
  • This gave greater power to the state and other states during the Warring States period did this as well.

Large construction projects were also undertaken [19:00]

• Qin Shi Huang’s tomb includes the famous Terra Cotta warriors [19:26]
• The Great Wall involved linking earlier walls built by other states [20:17]
• Water works and irrigation systems were expanded [20:50]
  • Three major examples include the Karez system in Turfan.
  • These projects were impressive feats of engineering.

Qin Shi Huang envisioned himself as creating an empire that would last forever [21:27]

• but it only lasted 15 years.
• Qin Shi Huang died in 208 BCE.
• Li Si and other advisers worked to install Qin’s second son rather than the firstborn, which would have been customary.
• A revolt followed and the dynasty fell in 206 BCE.

Legacy [23:00]

• Round coin and Great Wall.
• Common institutions, patterns, and themes show continuity and change.

Editor’s Note: On legacy, teachers may wish to demonstrate the legacy of Qin organization by comparing both the “imperial inspection tours of the realm,” undertaken by Qin Shi Huang in the first dynasty that ruled over a unified empire, and the government’s focus on water works, with similar examples from China’s last dynasty to rule over a unified empire, the Qing (1600–1912), shown in the module The Grandeur of the Qing on the AFE website.