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Qin Dynasty
Qín Cháo ​秦 朝
221–206 bce
Although the Qin dynasty lasted for a scant
fifteen years and was repressive, it was China’s
first imperial dynasty and developed a centralized administration and a model of government that subsequent emperors followed
for centuries.
A
lthough it lasted only fifteen years, the Qin dynasty (221–206 BCE) was China’s first imperial
dynasty. It developed a centralized administration and a model of government that later emperors followed
until the emperor of the final dynasty, the Qing (1644–1912),
abdicated in 1912. In fact, the name of China was probably
derived from the word Qin (pronounced “chin”). The Qin
rulers achieved their successes, however, by harsh, totalitarian acts that hastened their dynasty’s fall.
Rise of the Dynasty
After the Western Zhou dynasty (1045–771 BCE) fell,
the state of Qin emerged as one of many small states that
formed in the absence of a strong ruling house. The people of the Qin state, living in ­present-­day Shaanxi Province among various nomadic tribes in the far west of early
China, had long been fierce warriors. Rich deposits of iron
ore found in their region aided their weapons industry.
The Qin began their rise to prominence during the Warring States period (475–221 BCE), when Shang Yang (d. 338
BCE), a politician and scholar, took reforms that had been
initiated by other states to their logical conclusion. His
reforms concentrated on rural dwellers, who previously
had played no part in the workings of the state and who
were now to be granted land in return for performing agricultural labor and military service and for paying taxes.
Under Shang Yang this reform was extended to all adult
males in Qin, a development that required replacing the
feudal aristocracy with a central government to administer a large population. Positions in this new bureaucracy
were granted on the basis of merit rather than inheritance,
as earlier. Fajia (legalism), a philosophy that stressed that
rulers should have absolute power and should govern with
the help of a strict legal code that favored no single class,
pervaded Shang Yang’s concept of government.
The rise of the Qin state culminated in the years after
260 bce, by which time only seven large states were left in
the struggle for supremacy. A man who would be known
posthumously as “King Zhuangxiang” (an early Chinese
custom gave rulers posthumous names by which they
would henceforth be known) ruled Qin. Lü Buwei was the
chancellor or prime minister. He compiled guidance from
classical texts for a system that was aligned to the cosmos
and that would serve to govern a proposed imperial state.
The ­thirteen-­year-old Zheng (c. ­259–210 bce) came to the
throne in 245 bce; seven years later he instigated a palace
coup to depose the regent who had ruled in his name.
Between 230 and 221 bce the ­Qin—­who had once been
regarded as too barbaric to pose a serious threat because
they had absorbed various central Asian invaders into
their ­state—­a nnihilated their rivals. By 221 bce Zheng
had unified all the states that had emerged from the feudal
rule of the ­once-­mighty Western Zhou dynasty. Zheng,
1827
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The ­Terracotta Army at Xi’an, built for the tomb of the first Qin emperor Shi Huangdi
(also known as Shi Huang). Photo by Paul and Bernice Noll.
having survived various assassination attempts, most notoriously one by the folk hero Jing Ke, proclaimed himself “Shi Huangdi” (first [literally, commencing] august
emperor). He moved to the new capital of Xianyang in a
region of the North China Plain associated with former
dynastic capitals and took control of his territories.
Fall of the Dynasty
A morbid occurrence attended the end of Shi Huangdi’s
reign. He died in 210 BCE in eastern China, but his death
was not announced for two months more, during which
time the imperial entourage traveled back to the capital at
Xianyang. Senior minister Li Si, who had been a companion to the emperor on his journey, had decided to withhold news of the emperor’s death until members of the
government could regroup, lest the news cause uprisings
because of Shi Huangdi’s widespread unpopularity. Thus,
the glittering cortege, the dead emperor in tow, trundled
through the countryside while his subjects remained unaware of his demise.
Li Si was again at the center of intrigue concerning
the question of succession. Shi Huangdi’s first son, Fusu,
for a time had been exiled by the emperor at Li Si’s urging. Fearing for his life if Fusu come take the throne, Li Si
and the chief eunuch, Zhao Gao, convinced Fusu that his
father had ordered him to commit suicide. Thus disposing of Fusu, Li Si and Zhao Gao installed the emperor’s
eighteenth son on the throne. Revolts broke out almost
immediately among imperial laborers. The second emperor was essentially a puppet. Zhao Gao made all decisions. Two rebel armies were advancing on the capital
by 207 BCE. Zhao, facing blame as the main architect of
the disaster, tricked the second emperor into committing
suicide. The throne then passed to a boy who was formally
entitled “­ child-­emperor.” In an intrigue of his own, during
the coronation ceremony the boy assassinated Zhao. But
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within a couple of months the ­child-­emperor was forced
to surrender to the invading Han king Liu Bang and was
not spared. With its ­child-­emperor dead and his capital
destroyed, the Qin dynasty ended in 206 BCE, just fifteen
years after it had begun.
Changes Made by Shi Huangdi
After Shi Huangdi was in power as the first emperor he
made sweeping changes to consolidate and support Qin
authority. Some elements of Confucianism, such as the
importance of ancestor worship and filial duty, were
still emphasized; however, in organizational matters Shi
Huangdi observed the philosophical tenets of legalism
as modeled by Shang Yang. The empire was divided into
­thirty-­six commanderies. Authority was carefully distributed to prevent too much power in any one man’s hands.
Each commandery thus was ruled by a civilian governor
who was assisted by a military governor. An inspector
reported to the central government on the activities of
both governors. The emperor enforced a strict penal code
and relocated Zhou aristocratic families to the capital of
Xianyang, where they could be monitored in mansions
built for that purpose.
Shi Huangdi extended the military reforms of Shang
Yang to the entire empire. His rule brought a number of
technical innovations in warfare. For example, the imperial army was supplied with crossbows and lamellar armor
(rows of overlapping leather plates sewn together). Swords
were improved and distributed in large numbers. A nationwide system of canals and roads was established to enable
troops to move quickly to quell revolts and to facilitate
trade. Currency and weights and measures were standardized. The newly uniform width of axles allowed carts and
carriages to travel the ruts dug to accommodate them on
the freshly built highways. For both administrative and
commercial reasons Shi Huangdi also supervised unification of the writing system, which had developed multiple regional variants during the Warring States period
(475–221 bce). These variants were regularized in a new
script called xiao zhuan ti (small seal script), which was to
be used for official documents throughout the empire.
The armies of the Qin dynasty expanded the empire’s
borders by invading lands to the south. To the north they
repulsed attacks by nomads from central Asia such as the
Xiongnu but were unable to defeat them. As a result, huge
numbers of peasants were drafted to build a long wall to
defend the northern frontier. Over time most of the Qin
wall, built of mud, crumbled, but it remained an inspiration for later dynasties, which initiated their own construction and reconstruction projects. The Great Wall of
China is south of Shi Huangdi’s wall and was completed
by the Ming dynasty (1368–1644).
Cultural Developments
The Qin apparently staged competitive martial displays
known during the Warring States period as jueli, which
combined the word jue (literally, horn/horning, suggesting an aggressive attacking quality) and the word li
(strength). These ritual displays fell under the category
of wu, which is normally translated as “martiality” but
had a cosmic dimension lacking in the English word. Wu
connoted the nature of the cosmos during the months of
decay and death in autumn and winter as opposed to the
­l ife-­g iving months of spring and summer. The staging of
acts of ritual violence during the winter was thought to
bring the social order into accord with the cosmos itself.
Jueli were great occasions of state and included chariot
handling, archery, a team sport of kickball, as well as
wrestling and strength competitions that pitted man
against man, man against animal, and animal against animal. These displays were as much entertainments as they
were religious rites. The Qin changed the term to juedi
­(horning-­resisting), perhaps implying the ­to-­a nd-fro of
combat, and arguably made the dimension of entertainment more explicit. At the imperial retreat of Ganquan
the second emperor was said to have enjoyed juedi and
youpai (performers or entertainers such as musicians,
jesters, singers, dancers, and acrobats). Such entertainments may not have originated on the North China Plain.
The first emperor certainly enjoyed songs, music, and
dance that were familiar to him from the former homeland in the far west with its nomadic contacts. A recently
discovered bell that had been left behind by looters on the
grounds of Shi Huangdi’s mausoleum was marked with
the words Qin yuefu. The word yue refers to ­song-­dance
forms, and fu means “institute.” As documented for
the Han dynasty (206 ­bce–220 ce) office of the same
name, this institute would have had as its purpose the
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enrichment of court music and dance by incorporating
forms from cultures, including nomadic ones, outside the
borders of the empire.
Quest for Immortality
Shi Huangdi, seeking to deny death, sent thousands of
youths in search of Peng Lai, the mythical islands of immortality, which were said to lie in the East China Sea.
Some scholars believe that this search resulted in the
settling of an area of Japan by the youths, who not surprisingly (because they faced execution if they failed on
their mission) never returned to their homeland. The Qin
founder claimed as an ancestor the mythical founder of
the ancient Chinese people, Huangdi (yellow emperor;
Huang here refers to a different Chinese character than
the one in the first emperor’s name meaning “August”).
This Huangdi reputedly never died but instead rose to
tian (heaven) in a chariot pulled by dragons. Shi Huangdi
employed alchemists to find the secret to immortality and
took long journeys to sacred mountains, where he practiced sacrificial rituals for the same purpose. At Mount
Tai he conducted the mysterious sacrifices known as
feng and shan, also in the hope of cheating death. Ironically, Shi Huangdi was said to have died after ingesting
­mercury-­based concoctions that, alchemists declared,
held the key to eternal life (alchemists continued to peddle the claim for centuries, evidence to the contrary).
Shi Huangdi was buried just east of the ­modern-­day
city of Xian. Judging from the part of the imperial tomb
complex excavated so far, it is apparent that the complex
was planned as the final resting place of a man whose life
would be continuing on some grand scale. The dimensions are impressive: The complex is 515 meters north to
south and 485 meters east to west. The mausoleum itself, enclosed by a thick outer wall with a tower at each
corner, is divided into an east vault and a west vault, of
which the former has been largely uncovered. Here have
been found royal chariots and horses sculpted in bronze
and in 1974, most famously, an army of seven thousand
­l ife-­sized ­terra­cotta figures representing the imperial
guard, cavalry, infantry, and chariot drivers. Each figure
was sculpted wearing the uniform and carrying the weapons appropriate to his branch of service; remarkably, each
face was individually molded. The figures were lined up in
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processional formation, as if setting out on a military campaign; the army presumably was to act as Shi Huangdi’s
escort and protector. In the west vault as many figures
again are believed to remain hidden.
Archaeological excavations of the future will be able
to test the accuracy of the description of the mausoleum
provided by China’s first great historian, Sima Qian.
Sima, writing during the Han dynasty, observed that the
massive and elaborate tomb was under construction from
245 to 210 bce, that is, from when Zheng became king at
age thirteen until the year of his death. Many laborers
literally were worked to death building the tomb, and all
surviving laborers were buried with the emperor. Sima
described a huge central chamber with a ceiling studded
with pearls and other precious stones to represent the sun,
moon, and stars; snaking across the floor (the Earth), mercury “replicas” of the Yangzi (Chang) and Huang (Yellow) rivers flowed into a miniature ocean also made of
mercury, the metal said to have such great regenerative
powers. Lighting was provided by burning whale oil, the
­longest-­burning fuel at the time. Within this and other
chambers of the compound, which represented palaces,
temples, and offices, armed crossbows were set, primed
to fire on any intruders from this world.
Reign of Shi Huangdi
As mentioned, the reign of the second emperor brought
breakdown and disorder rather than much that could be
called “constructive.” Most of the achievements of the
Qin dynasty occurred during the rule of the first emperor
in just eleven years but came at the cost of harsh and repressive laws established to regulate his subjects in large,
disciplined bodies. Overworked peasants not only served
as agricultural laborers but also doubled as soldiers and
as builders of the lavish architectural projects undertaken
by the ruler. Prison sentences and maiming punishments
commonly were meted out to dissenters or to those unfortunate enough to gain the emperor’s disapproval. Shi
Huangdi reportedly executed officials who were late to
their assigned tasks, even if their lateness was the result
of weather conditions that made travel impossible. Shi
Huangdi also made enemies among aristocrats who in
the new meritocracy no longer were entitled to inherited
court office. In 213 BCE, eight years into his reign, his
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growing fear of the power of intellectual debate resulted
in an order for the execution of hundreds of Confucian
scholars and the burning of all books except those on the
subjects of medicine, forestry, divination, and agriculture.
A single copy of each of the condemned books was held
in the imperial ­l ibrary—­which itself was burned by the
invading Han forces in 206 BCE. Fortunately for subsequent records of Chinese history, the brevity of the Qin
dynasty meant that after its fall scholars lived on and were
able largely to reconstruct the classical texts, which they
had memorized.
As one might expect, Shi Huangdi lived in fear of attempts on his life and took great precautions to thwart
assassins. He employed doubles of himself as decoys.
An extensive network of tunnels connected his palaces,
and he was said to have moved throughout this network,
sleeping in different locations each evening. Death was
the punishment for anyone who revealed Shi Huangdi’s
whereabouts.
In their compilation The Crimes of Qin Han scholars
condemned legalism and the ruler who had embodied
its tenet stating that the law should be obeyed through
fear rather than through respect. The consensus Confucian view was summarized in an essay entitled “The
Faults of Qin,” written by the ­statesman-­scholar Jia Yi.
In this influential essay Jia ascribes the collapse of the
Qin dynasty to the widespread discontent caused by Shi
Huangdi’s harshness in pursuit of his grand ambitions.
Nonetheless, although the Han replaced legalism with
other ideological systems (Confucianism, Daoism, and
a variety of state cults), the Han largely maintained and
built on the military, economic, and political structures
it inherited from the Qin. In fact, the traditional image
of Shi Huangdi as a tyrannical monster recently has been
giving way, in China and elsewhere, to a more nuanced
assessment that from several perspectives seeks to set his
ruthlessness of method against his lasting accomplishments as “China’s first unifier.”
Dallas L. McCURLEY
Further Reading
Bodde, D. (1938). China’s first unifier: A study of the Ch’in
dynasty as seen in the life of Li Ssu. Leiden, The Netherlands: E. J. Brill.
Kern, M. (2000). The stele inscriptions of Ch’in ­Shih-­Huang:
Text and ritual in early Chinese imperial representation.
New Haven, CT: American Oriental Society.
Lewis, M. E. (1990). Sanctioned violence in early China.
Albany: State University of New York Press.
Lewis, M. E. (2007). The early Chinese empires: Qin and
Han. Boston: Harvard University Press.
Li Xueqin & Linduff, K. (1985). Eastern Zhou and Qin civilizations (Chang Kwangshih, Trans.). New Haven,
CT: Yale University Press.
Loewe, M. (2000). A biographical dictionary of the Qin,
former Han and Xin periods, 221 b­ c–­a d 24. Leiden, The
Netherlands, and Boston: Brill Press.
Nienhauser, W. H. (Ed.). (1994). Shiji: The grand scribe’s
records (Caifa Cheng and Chan Chiuming, Trans.).
Bloomington: Indiana University Press.
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