S08: Qin Rule

• Local and regionalist sentiments strengthened during the Warring States period.
• Example: Han Fei’s Execution. At the Qin court, Li Si argued for the execution of Han Fei, citing his loyalty to the Han lineage as a natural human sentiment.
• Unification of states was not a natural or inevitable outcome: sharper divisions between states coexisted with ideals of unity among the intellectual elite.

• The Warring States period was stable in its fragmentation: it was a 500-year-old inter-state system in which various states had coexisted in a fragile balance of power.
• How did the Qing succeed in destroying this order – within just nine years?

• Centralized authority with bureaucratic administration.
• Monopolized coercion and nationalized taxation.
• Selection and promotion of officials based on objective, meritocratic criteria.
• Universality and impartiality of publicly promulgated laws.

• Population registration and enumeration.
• Centralized budgeting and financial management.
• Collection of statistics and reports.
• Capacity for direct governance.

• Is there a Chinese school of international relations theory?
• How does pre-Qin political philosophy enrich current IR theory?
• What should be China’s strategy, and how should the world respond?

• DeGreek historian Thucydides on the Peloponnesian War between Athens (the rising power) and Sparta (the established power): the war was primarily caused by the fear that Sparta had of Athens’s growing power and influence.
• The ascent of a new power can threaten the existing dominant power, creating a rivalry that can escalate into conflict.

• Qin’s (failed) challenge: How to transition from permanent warfare to unified empire?
• Why did the Qin collapse?
• Who was the First Emperor? Life, Myths, and Afterlives

• “Springs and Autumns of Master Lü”: the ruler should follow the patterns of Heaven.
• Cosmic Justification for Power: The First Emperor claimed that his rise to power was part of a divine plan governed by a cosmic cycle known as the Five Phases.

• The universe is composed of qi, which goes through a cyclical sequence of five aspects: Metal, Wood, Water, Fire, and Earth.
• Each phase corresponds to a season: cyclical nature of qi throughout the year.
• Nature had patterns which, if we could understand them, would help us fit profitably into the pattern.

• A way to discard Zhou and Shang’s concept of mandate of heaven and rituals of ancestor worship.
• Yet we’re still talking about tian: Heaven is now the universe which obeys the principles of cosmic resonance. Heaven is the qi, the yin and the yang, the five phases.
• The patterns of Heaven, Earth, and the four seasons dictate the appropriate order of human activity: a wise ruler must learn to emulate the infallible standards of nature – the way.

• A carefully designed and closely supervised bureaucracy
• None was related to others or to the emperor in any other way except through the bureaucratic machine.

• During the Warring States period, northern Chinese states expanded into grasslands inhabited by northern peoples.
• Rammed-earth walls and watchtowers, built to protect the newly conquered territories and the northern frontier.
• Similar to how Greeks defined themselves against Persians, the Chinese developed a sense of identity through contrasts with the “outer” world of the northern tribes as “barbarians”.

• Extensive Road Network: The Qin Empire constructed a complex road system with a total length of approximately 6,800 km and integrated it with the river system.
• Connection to Commanderies: The road system linked the capital to the central city of every commandery.

• Standardization of script, measures, coinage, and laws laid the groundwork for efficient administration over vast distances.
• Unified system of weights and measures across the realm, which included equalizing axle widths for carts and chariots.

• New, simplified nonalphabetic script to unify the diverse writing systems of the Warring States.
• Eliminated about twenty-five percent of the pre-Qin characters.
• Easier to write: Complex Large Seal script reduced to simpler, rectilinear forms; facilitated faster writing with brush and ink.

Swift rise as Qin’s prime minister

• Architect of sweeping reforms: abolition of feudal ranks and privileges; direct bureaucratic administration; standardization of weights, measures, scripts; construction of roads and communications
• Lobbied for the execution of Legalist Han Feizi

… and spectacular fall

• After the death of the Qin founder in 210 B.C.E., eunuch official Zhao Gao seized actual control of gov.
• Zhao used the very Legalist tactics that Li Si had employed to destroy him and his family.

Anthony J. Barbieri-Low, The Many Lives of the First Emperor of China (University of Washington Press, 2022).

• What is the history of representing the First Emperor as the author of “burning the books and killing the scholars”? What explains the popularity and longevity of this image?
• When was the act of book burning given a positive spin, by whom, and why?
• Who is the First Emperor – a revolutionary founder or a cruel despot? How to untangle his multi-layered legacy?

• Destruction of literature was not systematic.
• Equally significant: destruction when Xiang Yu sacked the Qin capital and burned the imperial library.
• Control of dissemination of texts and interpretation of meanings continued under the Han, with the creation of Confucian canon and imperial academy.

Real puzzle: How did images of “book burning” become our default imagination of the First Emperor?

• Over the next three years, China was largely divided between Liu Bang and Xiang Yu’s forces.
• Liu Bang, with reinforcements from the Wei River plain, proved to be a more effective leader.
• Liu Bang ultimately defeated Xiang Yu in 202 B.C.; Xiang Yu committed suicide.
• Liu Bang declared himself the “Emperor” of the newly established Han Dynasty.

• Why did the Qin fail, according to Jia Yi?
• What are the lessons for future rulers?
• Did Jia Yi miss anything? Do you see other “faults” of Qin that explain its collapse?

Jia Yi’s main arguments

• The Qin emperors lost the people’s support due to their cruelty and ignorance.
• A regime can only survive if it cares for the people.
• His work legitimated the Han: the new dynasty’ humanity and righteousness in contrast to Qin’s harshness.

Biases

• The Han Dynasty adopted many of Qin’s practices while condemning them: They shifted from critiquing Qin institutions to demonizing the First Emperor.
• The Han’s portrayal of the First Emperor as a tyrant created a myth that oversimplified the Qin and its influence on later dynasties.

• Vast underground complex at Lishan Mountain with over 7,000 life-size warriors and 600 horses. Every face was unique.
• Built by more than 700,000 workers.
• Meets every need of the emperor in the afterlife: living quarters, servants, and natural features like rivers replicated

• Technical sophistication: large armies equipped with advanced weaponry like crossbows.
• Despite a culture of conformity, individuality was maintained within society.
• The first emperor’s reign did not end with his death, but continued into the afterlife.
• Only pit 1 opened; lots of secrets yet to be discovered.

• First Unified Empire: From Feudal Aristocracy to Centralized Bureaucracy
• Qin as a model for future Chinese dynasties: Emperorship, centralized bureaucracy, mobilizational power
• Qin as a cautionary tale: Despite its greatness, the Dynasty lasted only fifteen years.