home | 1000 BCE to 500 CE

EMPIRE and the ANCIENT CHINESE (4 of 13)

In his conquests, the man entitled Shihuangdi had built an empire befitting his title and claim as First Emperor. And, as with a lot of imperial rule, some in various areas were slow to end their resistance. To further secure his rule he tried collecting weapons.

He saw danger in what people thought, and in 213 BCE his agents began confiscating all books other than those on subjects thought practical, such as agriculture, forestry, herbal medicine and divination. The confiscated books were burned, except for one copy of each, which were to be kept from the public in the state's private library. Among the burned books were the centuries old writings of Confucius and books by followers of Confucius. Future generations of Confucianists would see Shihuangdi as evil, and they would accuse him of having buried 460 scholars alive -- a misunderstanding. Instead, it is said, he had merely had them executed. Rumor has it that he disliked hearing their complaints.

Across China, Shihuangdi took powers away from the local nobles -- as had been done in Qin the century before -- ending feudalism. He divided China into thirty-six administrative units, each staffed by people appointed by and responsible to his administration, and he gave his administration the exclusive rights to tax and mint coins. And 120,000 noble families moved from what had been their power base in the provinces to the capital, Xianyang.

Shihuangdi was hardworking, setting daily quotas of administrative tasks for himself and not resting until he had completed them. He was in the habit of consulting with his ministers. He standardized Chinese script, weights and measures, and laws. Across China he spread the right of people to buy and sell land -- which increased his revenues from taxation. He built magnificent public buildings in his capital and great palaces for himself. He expanded canals for irrigation and transportation, and to interconnect his empire he also built a vast system of highways.

Embittered aristocrats and oppressed intellectuals hated him, in part for his heavy taxation. And common people hated him for working them hard on his building projects. Fearing assassination, Shihuangdi had secret passages throughout his great palace and slept in a different palace apartment each night. It was not the serene life sought by the Taoists, and the Confucianists must have seen him as an immoral usurper. But he was a man of religion, and he worried about the sexual morality of his subjects, believing that behavior displeasing the gods would adversely affect the well-being of his kingdom.

Shihuangdi liked touring his capital city incognito at night, and he liked to travel through his empire, to cities, mountains, rivers, lakes and to the shores of the sea. It was said that when a strong wind impeded his crossing a river, he sent 3,000 prisoners to deforest a nearby mountain that was believed to be the home of a goddess who had created the wind.

Late in his life, Shihuangdi pursued the source that allowed people to live forever -- rumored to exist somewhere. In 210, at the age of forty-nine, Shihuangdi became sick while on one of his journeys. His power was nothing against the world of microbes no one could see and knew nothing about, and he died.

Institutions for smooth transitions of power with the passing of heaven's representative were not in place. Shihuangdi had believed that dynastic rule was institution enough. He had claimed that his dynasty would endure "for generations without end." His death, however, was followed by an exercise of power other than from within his family. Palace eunuchs attempting to hold onto their influence murdered some of Shihuangdi's top aids. They withheld news of Shihuangdi's death and sent a forged note to Shihuangdi's son and heir, ordering him to commit suicide, which he did. Then they elevated to the throne a younger son of Shihuangdi -- a boy whom they hoped to control.

Some in areas that had been conquered by Shihuangdi saw in his death an opportunity to break from Qin rule, and some intellectuals came out against the rule of Shihuangdi's younger son. Peasants decided it was an opportune time to express their displeasure with imperial authority, the result largely of their having suffered too much forced labor on Shihuangdi's many construction projects. Some commoners began killing local officials. Among common people there arose local leaders who led them in rebellion. And in an attempt to regain their former powers, noble families began organizing their own gangs of armed men.

Early during the chaos, a middle-aged rebel leader and former Qin policeman named Liu Bang gathered an increasingly large army under him. He allied himself with a nobleman, Xiang Yu, who was hoping to re-establish the privileges of his family. Respecting the power of Liu Bang's force, Xiang You made him prince of the district of Han.

In the year 206, the army under Liu Bang defeated an army under the authority of the eunuchs and the boy-emperor. Liu Bang entered the capital city, Xianyang, and there all members of the royal family were slaughtered, including the boy-emperor. Xianyang was burned to the ground, and historians speculate that the state library that contained the only copy of various forbidden books burned with it. The centuries old writings of Confucius and others would have to be recreated from memory and imagination.

With the Qin emperor defeated, sometime after 207 Liu Bang and his former ally, Xiang Yu, began to war against each other. Xiang Yu has been described as a brilliant general but as having relied too much on violence as a means of winning obedience. He slaughtered defeated troops, and in taking cities he looted and seized attractive women. Liu Bang was colorless but he made an effort to conciliate and convert those he defeated. He surrounded himself with men of intelligence. Liu Bang aimed more at winning hearts and minds than did Xiang Yu.

In an opera entitled Farewell My Concubine, Xiang Yu's complains:

My strength could pull mountains, my spirit pales the world. Yet, so unlucky am I that my horse just refuses to gallop! What can I do if my horse denies me even a trot? Oh my dear Yu Ji, what would you have me do?”

His concubine, Yu Ji, replies:

The Han has invaded us. Chu’s songs surround us. My lord’s spirit is depleted. Why then should I still live?”

She commits suicide. Eventually, so too does Xiang Yu.

Having established military supremacy, Liu Bang, prince of the district of Han, made himself emperor of all China. The era of Chinese history called the Han had begun.