2012/03/29

Background



The monarch known as Qin Shi Huang from November or December 260 BCE-September10, 210 BCE with personal name Ying Zheng was king of the Chinese State of Qin from 247 BCE to 221BCE officially still under the Zhou Dynasty. Then, first emperor of a unified China from 221 BCE to 210 BCE ruling under the name First Emperor Shih Huang Ti who are the powerful feudal state in northwest China. Why he name himself as Qin Shih Huang Ti? It brings a means First August and Divine Emperor of Qin. ‘First’ because he planned a long line of successors and ‘August and Divine’ as he was now equal to a god ‘Emperor’ which has separate himself from his ancestors who were only kings and dukes, and align himself with mythical emperors of the past.
Shih Huang Ti was the first ruler to unify all of China. He started out as king of Chin the most militaristic of the Warring States. In 221 BC his armies annexed the six states that rivaled Chin aided by espionage, bribery and war. He assumed the title of First Emperor who is Shih Huang Ti of a new dynasty the Chin. During his reign, Shih Huang-Ti destroyed the existing feudal structure and divided the empire into 36 provinces under a centralized administration. Networks of roads and canals were engineered, and the major part of the Great Wall was built. Weights, measures, coins, and written characters were standardized in a quest for cultural uniformity. Yet this also led to the burning of all books that diverged from official Chin philosophy and history. On his death Shih Huang-Ti was buried in great splendor entombed among 6,000 terra-cotta soldiers for him to summon in the afterlife. His autocratic rule and belief in magic had caused such resentment that the Chin dynasty collapsed four years later, even though it formed the model for all later dynasties.

No comments:

Post a Comment