Grace Fried March 21, 2013 7th History Qin Shi Huangdi Brilliant Leader or Brutal Tyrant?

Prince Zheng was born in 269 B.C.E. He grew up in the Qin family, during the Warring States period. The Warring States period was a terrible time for China. It was a time of great chaos. However, this all ended when Prince Zheng took power when he was just 13 in 256 B.C.E. Over the next many years, he took over all of the city-states and created the first empire. He decided to call himself Qin Shi Huangdi which literally translates to The First Emperor. He did many good and bad things for China. Some of the good things he did for China were creating a bureaucracy, ending feudalism, and making roads and canals. Another thing he did that was good, was the unification of the culture. He standardized currency, writing, and weights and measures. Instead of having shells as their money, bronze coins were made. The coins were circular with a square in the middle. The square represented the earth and the circle represented heaven. He made a different system for weights and measures, which was a lot more complex than the last. He completely changed written language by making everyone write in mandarin. Qin Shi Huangdi also made people build canals and roads. Normally making people do something isnt good, but building the canals and roads allowed people to travel more. It also increased trade, which was great for China. The first emperor also started a different form of government, a bureaucracy. This system was a lot more efficient because everyone was trained to do a specific thing. He got rid of feudalism. Feudalism was a system where nobles controlled peasants and the land. If the emperor needed something he would tell the noble who would tell the reluctant peasants. The peasants would provide it for the noble, who would give it to the emperor. Since Qin Shi Huangdi was a legalist and trusted no one, he relocated the nobles to where he could keep an eye on them.

He also balanced things out by doing many terrible things. He used forced labor and he tried to control peoples ideas. He used forced labor to build canals and roads. This is good and bad because he worked many people to death. Another one of his building projects, The Great Wall of China, wasnt so great either. Four to six million people died following the emperors orders, giving it the nickname, The Longest Graveyard in the World. He had one other big project where he used the common people to do his work for him. Archeologists discovered the Terra Cotta Worriers in 1974. They estimated that it must have taken 720,000 people 37 years to make. Qin Shi Huangdi was a legalist. He believed that punishments should be harsh and that the people who turned in others should get great rewards. You could only imagine the punishments that he thought of for criminals. He also tried to control peoples thoughts and ideas. He gave an order to burn all of the books that didnt talk about medicine or architecture. According to out book, the scholars that did not give up their books were put to death. During the end of his life, he got a little crazy. He searched endlessly for immortality. He voyaged to tropical islands in search of an elixir of life. He tried eating powdered gold and silver, but that did not help either. All that failed to make him immortal were killed. He died at the age of 49. His tomb is a giant mound 1 mile west of the Terra Cotta Worriers. Archeologists have not opened the tomb yet. Even though he is dead, he leaves behind many things. He leaves the Great Wall, the Terra Cotta Worriers, and many more. China was forever changed. So, what do you think? Was he a brilliant leader or a brutal tyrant?