Qin Shi Huang, whose original name was Qin Zheng, was born a prince during the Warring States period in China’s history. He ascended the throne at 13 and by 21 had assumed full power. He aggressively conquered the feudal states—— Han, Zhao, Wei, Chu, Yan and Qi one after another and took control of the whole of China in 221BC.
Qin proclaimed himself as Shi Huang Di, or ‘commencing emperor’, hoping the rule of Qin can last forever and his generations would be called emperorⅡ,emperorⅢ or even thousand. He brought himself on a par with the gods and announcing his divine right to rule China. He had edicts carved – in a new Imperial script he developed – on the walls of sacred mountains around China to declare its unification under his rule.
Qinshihuang enacted a sweeping series of reforms to consolidate his rule. The government was presided over by a prime minister. The Yushidafu supervised the bureaucracy, and the Taiwei was commander-in-chief of the army. They were all appointed and removed by the emperor himself. The whole country was divided into 36 prefectures (later increased to more than 40), which were in turn divided into counties. The magistrates of the prefectures and counties were also directly appointed and removed by the emperor.
In the Warring States Period, linear measures differed from state to state. Qinshihuang set fixed standards for length, volume and weight, which propelled the development of the economy. The Qin Dynasty also issued a uniform currency. Round coins with a square hole in the middle were used all over China, and set the pattern for the coins of later dynasties. He even standardized the length of the axles of carts, which allowed every cart to run smoothly in the ruts of the extensive network of new roads he ordered built to connect his provinces.
Of great significance for the development of communication and culture was the standardization of Chinese characters. The first reform of the characters resulted in the seal script (zhuan). Then, the official script (lishu), a simplified version of the seal script, was devised. Today’s regular script (kaishu) developed from the official script. Qin took drastic measures to quell rebellions. He tried to wipe out heresy by burning classic literature – except books on medicine, divination and agriculture – and even ordered 460 Confucians to be buried alive.
To curb the incessant invasions of the Hun (Xiongnu) nomads in the north, the Qin Dynasty set about building the Great Wall by linking up already existing defensive walls that had been built by various states.
Qin commissioned the construction of his tomb – the famous mausoleum in Xi’an filled with terracotta soldiers – when he was still young. He died touring eastern China, searching for the legendary ‘lost islands of the immortals’
Qinshihuang established the first united multi-ethnic feudal country on Chinese soil. Qin’s territory, embracing over 20 million people, reached the Pacific in the east, Longxi (west of the Longshan Mountains) in the west, the Great Wall in the north and the South China Sea in the south. However, to achieve this, Qinshihuang had to resort to tyrannical methods which has a negative effect on history.
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