Why is qin shi huangdi important

The nobility were stripped of control and authority so that the independent and disloyal nobility that had plagued the Zhou would not pose a problem. The Qin Dynasty was one of the shortest in all of Chinese history, lasting only about 15 years, but it was also one of the most important. This laid the foundation for the consolidation of the Chinese territories that we know today, and resulted in a very bureaucratic state with a large economy, capable of supporting an expanded military.

The First Emperor divided China into provinces, with civil and military officials in a hierarchy of ranks. This canal helped send half a million Chinese troops to conquer the lands to the south. Qin Shi Huang standardized writing, a crucial factor in the overcoming of cultural barriers between provinces, and unifying the empire. He also standardized systems of currency, weights, and measures, and conducted a census of his people.

He established elaborate postal and irrigation systems, and built great highways. In contrast, in line with his attempt to impose Legalism, Qin Shi Huang strongly discouraged philosophy particularly Confucianism and history—he buried Confucian scholars alive and burned many of their philosophical texts, as well as many historical texts that were not about the Qin state.

This burning of books and execution of philosophers marked the end of the Hundred Schools of Thought. The philosophy of Mohism in particular was completely wiped out. Finally, Qin Shi Huang began the building of the Great Wall of China, one of the greatest construction feats of all time, to protect the nation against barbarians. Seven hundred thousand forced laborers were used in building the wall, and thousands of them were crushed beneath the massive gray rocks.

The wall was roughly 1, miles long, and wide enough for six horses to gallop abreast along the top. Qin Shi Huang pronouncerd "chin shuh huang" remains a mythical figure in China, still laying in rest in the largest unopened tomb in history, said to contain rivers of mercury and a ceiling covered in precious stones. Seven major states were battling each other for dominance in the land, which was then a patchwork of feudal villages with no central bureaucracy.

After a series of victories, Qin absorbed its last rival in B. As head of the new empire of China, Qin Shi Huang didn't hesitate to establish a new law of the land. The Emperor quickly abolished the old feudal system, standardized the Chinese writing and currency systems, built a vast network of roads and canals to link the country and divided China into states with one centralized government. A noted egomaniac, Qin Shi Huang was also known for building large, extravagant structures.

He was also paranoid of attack from insiders. Almost immediately after taking power, he began construction on a large wall that would link up bits and pieces of existing defensive walls throughout the country.

This would become the forerunner to the Great Wall that's still in existence, most of which was completed under a later dynasty. This script was simplified to allow faster writing, useful for record keeping. The new script enabled parts of the empire that did not speak the same language to communicate together, and led to the founding of an imperial academy to oversee all texts.

As part of the university effort, older philosophical texts were confiscated and restricted though not destroyed, as accounts during the Han Dynasty would later claim. The Qin also standardized weights and measures, casting bronze models for measurements and sending them to local governments, who would then impose them on merchants to simplify trade and commerce across the empire.

In conjunction with this, bronze coins were created to standardize money across the regions. With these Qin advances, for the first time in its history, the various warring states in China were unified. The name China, in fact, is derived from the word Qin which was written as Ch'in in earlier Western texts. The Qin empire is known for its engineering marvels, including a complex system of over 4, miles of road and one superhighway, the Straight Road, which ran for about miles along the Ziwu Mountain range and is the pathway on which materials for the Great Wall of China were transported.

Overseen by the Qin road builder Meng Tian, , workers were brought to work on the construction of the Great Wall, and on the service roads required to transport supplies.

Qin Shi Huang was noted for audacious marvels of art and architecture meant to celebrate the glory of his new dynasty. Weapons from Qin conquests were collected and melted down, to be used for the casting of giant statues in the capital city Xianyang. For his most brash creation, Qin Shi Huang sent , workers to create an underground complex at the foot of the Lishan Mountains to serve as his tomb. It now stands as one of the seven wonders of the world.

Designed as an underground city from which Qin Shi Huang would rule in the afterlife, the complex includes temples, huge chambers and halls, administrative buildings, bronze sculptures, animal burial grounds, a replica of the imperial armory, terracotta statues of acrobats and government officials, a fish pond and a river.

Just short of a mile away, outside the eastern gate of the underground city, Qin Shi Huang developed an army of life-size statues—almost 8, terracotta warriors and terracotta horses, plus chariots, stables and other artifacts. This vast complex of terracotta statuary, weapons and other treasures—including the tomb of Qin Shi Huang himself—is now famous as the Terracotta Army. Qin Shi Huang died in B. Officials traveling with him wanted to keep it secret, so to disguise the stench of his corpse, filled up 10 carts with fish to travel with his body.

In two years time, most of the empire had revolted against the new emperor, creating a constant atmosphere of rebellion and retaliation. Warlord Xiang Yu in quick succession defeated the Qin army in battle, executed the emperor, destroyed the capital and split up the empire into 18 states. Liu Bang, who was given the Han River Valley to rule, quickly rose up against other local kings and then waged a three-year revolt against Xiang Yu. Mark Edward Lewis. The Dynasties of China.

Bamber Gascoigne. Li Feng. National Geographic. Qin Dynasty. Ancient History Encyclopedia.