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The Chinese Dynasties:
Part 4
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QIN DYNASTY: 221-207 BC
This dynasty was vigorous but short-lived. Much of what came to constitute modern China was unified for the first time in 221 B.C. In that year the western frontier state
of Qin, the most aggressive of the Warring States, subjugated the last of its rival states. Once the king of Qin consolidated his power, he took the title Shi Huangdi ( First Emperor), a formulation previously
reserved for deities and the mythological sage-emperors, and imposed Qin's centralized, nonhereditary bureaucratic system on his new empire..
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The Qin, while not the most culturally advanced of the Warring States was militarily the strongest. They utilized many new technologies in warfare, especially cavalry. The Qin are sometimes called the
Ch'in, which is probably where the name China originated. In subjugating the six other major states of Eastern Zhou, the Qin kings had relied heavily on Legalist scholar-advisers. Centralization,
achieved by ruthless methods, was focused on standardizing legal codes and bureaucratic procedures, the forms of writing and coinage, and the pattern of thought and scholarship.
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To silence criticism of imperial rule, the kings banished or put to death many dissenting Confucian scholars and confiscated and burned their books. Qin aggrandizement was aided by frequent military expeditions
pushing forward the frontiers in the north and south. To fend off barbarian intrusion, the fortification walls built by the various warring states were connected to make a 5,000-kilometer-long great wall.
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The Qin Dynasty Great Wall
The oldest section of the Great Wall was begun in 221 B.C., not long after China was unified. Qin Shi Huang, restored the ruins of older walls and linked them with new construction to create a massive
3,000-mile-long fortification meant to protect China's northern frontiers against attack by marauding nomads. .
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What is commonly referred to as the Great Wall is actually four great walls rebuilt or extended during the Western Han, Sui, Jin, and Ming periods, rather than a single, continuous wall. At its extremities, the Great
Wall reaches from northeastern Heilongjiang Province to northwestern Gansu
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As the wall inched across the Chinese wilderness, its builders were forced to rely upon local materials. Much of the Qin wall was built with dry-laid native stone, but where stone was scarce, engineers
built the wall from layers of compacted earth. The tamped-earth process began with a simple wooden frame. Workers filled the frame with loose earth, which was then tamped into a compact layer 4 inches
thick. The process was repeated layer upon layer, and the wall slowly rose 4 inches at a time.
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The Qin made many changes that were meant to unify China and aid in administrative tasks. First, the Qin implemented a Legalist form of government, which was how the former Qin territory had been governed. The area
was divided up in 36 commanderies which were then subdivided into counties. These commanderies had a civil governor, a military commander, and an imperial inspector. The leaders of the commanderies had to report to
the Emperor in writing. The Legalist form of government involved rewards and punishments to keep order. Also, the state had absolute control over the people, and the former nobility lost all of their power. The
nobility were also transplanted from their homes to the capital. Groups were formed of units of five to ten families, which then had a group responsibility for the wrongdoings of any individual within the group.
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The achievements of the Qin are numerous. They standardized the language and writing of China, which had varied greatly from area to area during the Warring States Period. This was done partially out of a
need to have a consistent way to communicate across the country; administrators had to be able to read the writing of the commandery to which they were sent. Also, currency became standardized as a
circular copper coin with a square hole in the middle.
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Measurements and axle length were also made uniform. This was done because the cartwheels made ruts in the road, and the ruts had to all be the same width, or carts with a different axle length could not travel on
them. Many public works projects were also undertaken. A Great Wall was built in the north, to protect against invasions. Roads and irrigation canals were built throughout the country. Also, a huge palace was built
for Shi huangdi. The Qin are also famous for the terra cotta army that was found at the burial site for Shi huangdi. The army consisted of 6,000 pottery soldiers that protected the tomb. They may be a replacement
for the actual people who had previously been buried with the rulers.
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Despite all of these accomplishments, Shi huangdi was not a popular leader. The public works and taxes were too great a burden to the population. It seemed that Shi huangdi could not be satisfied.
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Also, the nobility disliked him because they were deprived of all their power and transplanted. Finally, he banned all books that advocated forms of government other than the current one. The writings of
the great philosophers of the One Hundred Schools time were burned and more than 400 opponents were executed.
A number of other public works projects were also undertaken to consolidate and strengthen imperial rule.
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These activities required enormous levies of manpower and resources, not to mention repressive measures. Revolts broke out as soon as the first Qin emperor died in 210 B.C. His dynasty was extinguished
less than twenty years after its triumph. The imperial system initiated during the Qin dynasty, however, set a pattern that was developed over the next two millennia.
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The Qin rule came to an end shortly after the First Emperor's death. Shi huangdi had only ruled for 37 years, when he died suddenly in 210 B.C. His son took the throne as the Second Emperor, but was
quickly overthrown and the Han dynasty began in 206 B.C.
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