Qin
←   ← 221 BC–206 BC →   →
The Qin Dynasty circa. 210 BC
Capital	Xianyang
Language(s)	Old Chinese
Religion	Chinese folk religion, Legalism
Government	Monarchy
Emperor
- 221 BC–210 BC	Qin Shihuang
- 210 BC–207 BC	Qin Er Shi
Chancellor
- 221 BC–208 BC	Li Si
- 208 BC–207 BC	Zhao Gao
History
- Unification of China	221 BC
- Death of Qin Shihuang	210 BC
- Surrender to Liu Bang	206 BC
Population
- 210 BC est.	20,000,000
Currency	Ban liang coins

History of China
ANCIENT
3 Sovereigns and 5 Emperors
Xia Dynasty 2100–1600 BC
Shang Dynasty 1600–1046 BC
Zhou Dynasty 1045–256 BC
Western Zhou
Eastern Zhou
Spring and Autumn Period
Warring States Period
IMPERIAL
Qin Dynasty 221 BC–206 BC
Han Dynasty 206 BC–220 AD
Western Han
Xin Dynasty
Eastern Han
Three Kingdoms 220–280
Wei, Shu and Wu
Jin Dynasty 265–420
Western Jin	16 Kingdoms 304–439
Eastern Jin
Southern and Northern Dynasties 420–589
Sui Dynasty 581–618
Tang Dynasty 618–907
(Second Zhou 690–705)
5 Dynasties and 10 Kingdoms 907–960	Liao Dynasty 907–1125
Song Dynasty 960–1279
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MODERN
Republic of China 1912–1949
People's Republic of China 1949–present	Republic of China (Taiwan) 1949–present
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The Qin Dynasty (Chinese: 秦朝; pinyin: Qín Cháo; Wade–Giles: Ch'in Ch'ao; IPA: [tɕʰǐn tʂʰɑ̌ʊ̯]) was the first imperial dynasty of China, lasting from 221 to 207 BCE. The Qin state derived its name from its heartland of Qin, in modern-day Gansu and Shaanxi. The strength of the Qin state was greatly increased by the legalist reforms of Shang Yang in the 4th century BC, during the Warring States Period. In the mid and late third century BC, the Qin accomplished a series of swift conquests, first ending the powerless Zhou Dynasty, and eventually destroying the remaining six states of the major states to gain control over the whole of China, resulting in a unified China.

During its reign over China, the Qin Dynasty achieved increased trade, improved agriculture, and military security. This was due to the abolition of landowning lords, to whom peasants had formerly held allegiance. The central government now had direct control of the masses, giving it access to a much larger workforce. This allowed for the construction of ambitious projects, such as a wall on the northern border, now known as the Great Wall of China. The Qin Dynasty also introduced several reforms: currency, weights and measures were standardized, and a better system of writing was established. An attempt to purge all traces of the old dynasties led to the infamous burning of books and burying of scholars incident, which has been criticized greatly by subsequent scholars. The Qin's military was also revolutionary in that it used the most recently developed weaponry, transportation, and tactics, though the government was heavy-handed and bureaucratic.

Despite its military strength, the Qin Dynasty did not last long. When the first emperor died in 210 BC, his son was placed on the throne by two of the previous emperor's advisers, in an attempt to influence and control the administration of the entire dynasty through him. The advisors squabbled among themselves, however, which resulted in both their deaths and that of the second Qin emperor. Popular revolt broke out a few years later, and the weakened empire soon fell to a Chu lieutenant, who went on to found the Han Dynasty.^{[note 1]} Despite its rapid end, the Qin Dynasty influenced future Chinese empires, particularly the Han, and the European name for China is thought to be derived from it.

History[link]

Origins and early development[link]

Feizi, a descendant of the ancient political advisor Gao Yao, was granted rule over Qin City.^{[note 2]} During the rule of King Xiao of Zhou, the eighth king of the Zhou Dynasty, this area became known as the state of Qin. In 897 BC, under the regency of Gonghe, the area became a dependency allotted for the purpose of raising and breeding horses.^[1] One of Feizi's descendants, Duke Zhuang, became favoured by King Ping of Zhou, the thirteenth king in that line. As a reward, Zhuang's son, Duke Xiang, was sent eastward as the leader of a war expedition, during which he formally established the Qin.^[2]

Qin state first sent a military expedition into central China in 672 BC, though it did not engage in any serious incursions due to the threat from neighbouring tribesmen. By the dawn of the fourth century BC, however, the neighbouring tribes had all been either subdued or conquered, and the stage was set for the rise of Qin expansionism.^[3]

Growth of power[link]

Lord Shang Yang, a Qin statesman, introduced a number of militarily advantageous reforms from 361 BC until his death in 338 BC, and also helped construct the Qin capital, Xianyang. This latter accomplishment commenced in the mid-fourth century BC; the resulting city greatly resembled the capitals of other Warring States.^[4]

Marble bust of statesman Shang Yang

Of Shang Yang's reforms, the most notable one was advocating the philosophy of Legalism, which encouraged practical and ruthless warfare.^[5] In contrast, during the Zhou Dynasty and the ensuing Warring States Period, the prevalent philosophy had dictated war as a gentleman's activity; military commanders were instructed to respect what they perceived to be Heaven's laws in battle.^[6] For example, during the Warring States Period, Duke Xiang of Song^{[note 3]} was at war with the state of Chu, and had an opportunity to attack the enemy force, commanded by Zhu, while they were crossing a river. Instead, however, he waited for them to finish crossing, and allowed them to marshal their forces. He was decisively defeated in the ensuing battle, and when, later, his advisors admonished him for such excessive courtesy to the enemy, he retorted, "The sage does not crush the feeble, nor give the order for attack until the enemy have formed their ranks."^[6] The Qin disregarded this military tradition, taking advantage of their enemy's weaknesses. A nobleman in the state of Wei accused the Qin state of being "avaricious, perverse, eager for profit, and without sincerity. It knows nothing about etiquette, proper relationships, and virtuous conduct, and if there be an opportunity for material gain, it will disregard its relatives as if they were animals."^[7] It was this Legalist thought combined with strong leadership from long-lived rulers, openness to employ talented men from other states, and little internal opposition that gave the Qin such a strong political base.^[8]

Map of the Warring States. Qin is shown in pink

Another advantage of the Qin was that they had a large, efficient army^{[note 4]} and capable generals. They utilised the newest developments in weaponry and transportation as well, which many of their enemies lacked. These latter developments allowed greater mobility over several different terrain types^{[note 5]} which were most common in many regions of China. Thus, in both ideology and practice, the Qin were militarily superior.^[5]

Finally, the Qin empire had a geographical advantage due to its fertility and strategic situation, protected by mountains that made the state a natural stronghold.^{[note 6]} Its expanded agricultural output helped sustain Qin's large army with food and natural resources;^[8] the Wei River canal built in 246 BC was particularly significant in this respect.^[9]

Conquest of other states[link]

During the Warring States Period preceding the Qin Dynasty, the major states vying for dominance were Yan, Zhao, Qi, Chu, Han, Wei and Qin. The rulers of these states styled themselves as kings, rather than using the titles of lower nobility they had previously held. However, none elevated himself to believe that he had the "Mandate of Heaven," as the Zhou emperors had claimed, nor that he had the right to offer sacrifices—they left this to the Zhou rulers.^[10]

A Chinese lacquerware box with the "Panyu" name on its surface, one piece of evidence that the Qin Dynasty governed the area of Guangzhou before the Nanyue Kingdom did

Before their conquest in the fourth and third centuries BC, the Qin suffered several setbacks. Shang Yang was executed in 338 BC due to a grudge by the leader King Wu over a student who had been executed because of Shang Yang's insistence that law applied even to nobility. There was also internal strife over the Qin succession in 307 BC, which decentralised Qin authority somewhat. Qin was defeated by an alliance of the other states in 295 BC, and shortly after suffered another defeat by the state of Zhao, because the majority of their army was then defending against the Qi. The aggressive statesman Fan Sui (范雎), however, soon came to power as prime minister even as the problem of the succession was resolved, and he began an expansionist policy that had originated in Jin and Qi, which prompted the Qin to attempt to conquer the other states.^[11]

The Qin were swift in their assault on the other states. They first attacked the Han, directly east, and took the city of Yangdi in 230 BC. They then struck northward; the state of Zhao surrendered in 228 BC, and the northernmost state of Yan followed, falling in 226 BC. Next, Qin armies launched assaults to the east, and later the south as well; they took the Wei city of Daliang (now called Kaifeng) in 225 BC and forced the Chu to surrender by 223 BC. Lastly, they deposed the Zhou Dynasty's remnants in Luoyang and conquered the Qi, taking the city of Linzi in 221 BC.^[11]

Dominion of China[link]

Marble statue of Qin Shihuang located near his burial place

When the conquests were complete in 221 BC, King Zheng^{[note 7]} – who had first assumed the throne of the Qin state at age 13^[12] – became the effective ruler of China. He solidified his position as sole ruler with the abdication of his prime minister, Lü Buwei. He then combined the titles of the earlier Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors into his new name: Shi Huangdi (始皇帝) or "First Emperor".^{[13][note 8]} The newly declared emperor ordered all weapons not in the possession of the Qin to be confiscated and melted down. The resulting metal was sufficient to build twelve large ornamental statues at the Qin's newly declared capital, Xianyang.^[14]

In 214 BC Qin Shihuang secured his boundaries to the north with a fraction (100,000 men) of his large army, and sent the majority (500,000 men) of his army south to conquer the territory of the southern tribes. Prior to the events leading to Qin dominance over China, they had gained possession of much of Sichuan to the southwest. The Qin army was unfamiliar with the jungle terrain, and it was defeated by the southern tribes' guerrilla warfare tactics with over 100,000 men lost. However, in the defeat Qin was successful in building a canal to the south, which they used heavily for supplying and reinforcing their troops during their second attack to the south. Building on these gains, the Qin armies conquered the coastal lands surrounding Guangzhou,^{[note 9]} and took the provinces of Fuzhou and Guilin. They struck as far south as Hanoi. After these victories in the south, Qin Shihuang moved over 100,000 prisoners and exiles to colonize the newly conquered area. In terms of extending the boundaries of his empire, the First Emperor was extremely successful in the south.^[14]

However, while the empire at times was extended to the north, the Qin could rarely hold on to the land for long. The tribes of these locations, collectively called the Hu by the Qin, were free from Chinese rule during the majority of the Dynasty.^[15] Prohibited from trading with Qin Dynasty peasants, the Xiongnu tribe living in the Ordos region in northwest China often raided them instead, prompting the Qin to retaliate. After a military campaign led by General Meng Tian, the region was conquered in 215 BC and agriculture was established; the peasants, however, were discontented and later revolted. The succeeding Han Dynasty also expanded into the Ordos due to overpopulation, but depleted their resources in the process. Owen Lattimore said of both Dynasties' attempts to conquer the Ordos, "conquest and expansion were illusory. There was no kind of success that did not create its own reaction."^[16] Indeed, this was true of the dynasty's borders in multiple directions; modern Xinjiang, Tibet, Manchuria, Inner Mongolia, and regions to the southeast were foreign to the Qin, and even areas over which they had military control were culturally distinct.^[17]

Fall from power[link]

An edict in bronze from the reign of the Second Qin Emperor

Three assassination attempts were made on Qin Shihuang's life,^[18] leading him to become paranoid and obsessed with immortality. He died in 210 BC, while on a trip to the far eastern reaches of his empire in an attempt to procure an elixir of immortality from Taoist magicians, who claimed the elixir was stuck on an island guarded by a sea monster. The chief eunuch, Zhao Gao, and the prime minister, Li Si, hid the news of his death upon their return until they were able to alter his will to place on the throne the dead emperor's most pliable son, Huhai, who took the name of Qin Er Shi.^[12] They believed that they would be able to manipulate him to their own ends, and thus effectively control the empire. Qin Er Shi was, indeed, inept and pliable. He executed many ministers and imperial princes, continued massive building projects (one of his most extravagant projects was lacquering the city walls), enlarged the army, increased taxes, and arrested messengers who brought him bad news. As a result, men from all over China revolted, attacking officials, raising armies, and declaring themselves kings of seized territories.^[19]

During this time, Li Si and Zhao Gao fell out among themselves, and Li Si was executed. Zhao Gao decided to force Qin Er Shi to commit suicide due to Qin Er Shi's incompetence. Upon this, Ziying, a nephew of Qin Er Shi, ascended the throne, and immediately executed Zhao Gao.^[19] Ziying, seeing that increasing unrest was growing among the people^{[note 10]} and that many local officials had declared themselves kings, attempted to cling to his throne by declaring himself one king among all the others.^[9] He was undermined by his ineptitude, however, and popular revolt broke out in 209 BC. When Chu rebels under the lieutenant Liu Bang attacked, a state in such turmoil could not hold for long. Ziying was defeated near the Wei River in 207 BC and surrendered shortly after; he was executed by the Chu leader Xiang Yu. The Qin capital was destroyed the next year, and this is considered by Derk Bodde, as well as other historians, to be the end of the Qin empire.^{[20][note 1]} Liu Bang then betrayed and defeated Xiang Yu, declaring himself Emperor Gaozu^{[note 11]} of the new Han Dynasty.^[21] Despite the short duration of the Qin Dynasty, it was very influential on the structure of future dynasties.

Culture and society[link]

Domestic life[link]

The aristocracy of the Qin were largely similar in their culture and daily life. Regional variations in culture were considered a symbol of the lower classes. This stemmed from the Zhou and was seized upon by the Qin, as such variations were seen as contrary to the unification that the government strove to achieve.^[22]

Commoners and rural villagers, who made up over 90% of the population,^[23] very rarely left the villages or farmsteads where they were born. Common forms of employment differed by region, though farming was almost universally common. Professions were hereditary; a father's employment was passed to his eldest son after he died.^[24] The Lüshi Chunqiu^{[note 12]} gave examples of how, when commoners are obsessed with material wealth, instead of the idealism of a man who "makes things serve him", they were "reduced to the service of things".^[25]

Peasants were rarely figured in literature during the Qin Dynasty and afterwards; scholars and others of more elite status preferred the excitement of cities and the lure of politics. One notable exception to this was Shen Nong, the so-called "Divine Father", who taught that households should grow their own food. "If in one's prime he does not plow, someone in the world will grow hungry. If in one's prime she does not weave, someone in the world will be cold." The Qin encouraged this; a ritual was performed once every few years that consisted of important government officials taking turns with the plow on a special field, to create a simulation of government interest and activity within agriculture.^[24]

Architecture[link]

Warring States-era architecture had several definitive aspects. City walls, used for defense, were made longer, and indeed several secondary walls were also sometimes built to separate the different districts. Verticality in federal structures was emphasised, to create a sense of authority and absolute power. Architectural elements such as high towers, pillar gates, terraces, and high buildings amply conveyed this.^[26]

Philosophy and literature[link]

The written language of the Qin was logographic, as that of the Zhou had been.^[27] As one of his most influential achievements in life, prime minister Li Si standardized the writing system to be of uniform size and shape across the whole country. This would have a unification effect on the Chinese culture for thousands of years. He is also credited with creating the "lesser-seal" (Chinese: 小篆, Pinyin: xiǎozhuàn) style of calligraphy, which serves as a basis for modern Chinese and is still used in cards, posters, and advertising.^[28]

During the Warring States Period, the Hundred Schools of Thought comprised many different philosophies proposed by Chinese scholars. In 221 BC, however, the First Emperor conquered all of the states and governed with a single philosophy, Legalism. At least one school of thought, Mohism, was eradicated, though the reason is not known. Despite the Qin's state ideology and Mohism being similar in certain regards, it is possible that Mohists were sought and killed by the state's armies due to paramilitary activities.^[29]

Confucius's school of thought, called Confucianism, was also influential during the Warring States Period, as well as throughout much of the later Zhou Dynasty and early imperial periods.^{[note 13]} This school of thought had a so-called Confucian canon of literature, known as the "six classics": the Odes, Documents, Ritual, Music, Spring and Autumn Annals, and Changes, which embodied Chinese literature at the time.^[30]

During the Qin Dynasty, Confucianism—along with all other non-Legalist philosophies—was suppressed by the First Emperor; early Han Dynasty emperors did the same. Legalism denounced the feudal system and encouraged severe punishments, particularly when the emperor was disobeyed. Individuals' rights were devalued when they conflicted with the government's or the ruler's wishes, and merchants and scholars were considered unproductive, fit for elimination.^[31] One of the more drastic measures employed to accomplish the eradication of the old schools of thought was the infamous burning of books and burying of scholars incident, which almost singlehandedly gave the Qin Dynasty a bad reputation among later scholars.^[14] The First Emperor, in an attempt to consolidate power, ordered the burning of all books on non-Legalist philosophical viewpoints and intellectual subjects.^[32] This decree was passed in 213 BC, and also stipulated that all scholars who refused to submit their books to be burned would be executed by premature burial.^[14] Only texts considered productive by Legalists were preserved, most on pragmatic subjects, such as agriculture, divination, and medicine.^[32] However, controversy remains about the “burning of books and burying of scholars”. Nowadays, many Sinologists argue that the “burying of scholars”, as recorded in Grand Historian, is not literally true, as the term probably meant simply "put to death."^[33]

Government and military[link]

Qin Dynasty composite bow arrows (top) and crossbow bolts (bottom)
Credit: Liang Jieming

The Qin government was highly bureaucratic, and was administered by a hierarchy of officials, all serving the First Emperor. The Qin put into practice the teachings of Han Fei, allowing the First Emperor to control all of his territories, including those recently conquered. All aspects of life were standardized, from measurements and language to more practical details, such as the length of chariot axles.^[13] Zheng and his advisers also introduced new laws and practices that ended feudalism in China, replacing it with a centralized, bureaucratic government. Under this system, both the military and government thrived, as talented individuals could be more easily identified in the transformed society. Later Chinese dynasties emulated the Qin government for its efficiency, despite its being condemned by Confucian philosophy.^[13][34] Such a system, however, could be manipulated by power-hungry individuals; one example of such an occurrence was documented in the "Records of Officialdom". A commander named Hu ordered his men to attack peasants, in an attempt to increase the number of "bandits" he had killed; his superiors, likely eager to inflate their records as well, allowed this.^[35]

Qin Shihuang also improved the military, despite the fact that it had already undergone extensive reforms.^[36] The military used the most advanced weaponry of the time. The invention of the sword during the Warring States Period was a great advance. It was first used mostly in bronze form, but by the third century BC, the Qin were using stronger iron swords. The demand for metal this produced resulted in improved bellows. The crossbow had been introduced in the fifth century BC and was more powerful and accurate than the composite bows used earlier. It could also be rendered ineffective by removing two pins, which prevented enemies from capturing a working crossbow.^[6]

The Terracotta army.

The Qin also used improved methods of transportation and tactics. The state of Zhao had first replaced chariots with cavalry in 307 BC, but the change was swiftly adopted by the other states because cavalry had greater mobility over the terrain of China.^[37]

The First Emperor developed plans to fortify his northern border, to protect against the nomadic Mongols. The result was the initial construction of what later became the Great Wall of China,which was built by joining and strengthening the walls made by the feudal lords, which would be expanded and rebuilt multiple times by later dynasties, also in response to threats from the north. Another project built during Qin Shihuang's rule was the Terracotta army, intended to protect the emperor after his death.^[36] The Terracotta army was inconspicuous due to its underground location, and was not discovered until 1974.^[38]

Religion[link]

The dominant religious belief in China during the reign of the Qin, and, in fact, during much of early imperial China, was focused on the shen (roughly translating to "spirits"), yin ("shadows"), and the realm they were said to live in. The Chinese offered sacrifices^{[note 14]} in an attempt to contact this other world, which they believed to be parallel to the earthly one. The dead were said to simply have moved from one world to the other. The rituals mentioned, as well as others, served two purposes: to ensure that the dead journeyed and stayed in the other realm, and to receive blessings from the spirit realm.^{[note 15][39][40]}

Religious practices were usually held in local shrines and sacred areas, which contained sacrificial altars. During a sacrifice or other ritual, the senses of all participants and witnesses would be dulled and blurred with smoke, incense, and music. The lead sacrificer would fast and meditate before a sacrifice to further blur his senses and increase the likelihood of perceiving otherworldly phenomena. Other participants were similarly prepared, though not as rigorously.

Such blurring of the senses was also a factor in the practice of spirit intermediaries, or mediumship. Practitioners of the art would fall into trances or dance to perform supernatural tasks. These people would often rise to power as a result of their art—Luan Da, a Han Dynasty medium, was granted rule over 2,000 households. Noted Han historian Sima Qian was scornful of such practices, dismissing them as foolish trickery.^[41]

Divination—to predict and/or influence the future—was yet another form of religious practice. An ancient practice that was common during the Qin Dynasty, was cracking bones or turtle shells to gain knowledge of the future. The forms of divination which sprang up during early imperial China were diverse, though observing natural phenomena was a common method. Comets, eclipses, and droughts were considered omens of things to come.^[42]

Etymology of China[link]

The name 'Qin' (pronounced as 'Chin') is believed to be the etymological ancestor of the modern day European name of the country, China. The word probably made its way into the Indo-Aryan languages first as 'Cina' or 'Sina' and then into Greek and Latin as 'Sinai' or 'Thinai'. It was then transliterated into English and French as 'China' and 'Chine'. This etymology is although dismissed by some scholars suggesting that 'Sina' in Sanskrit evolved much earlier before the Qin dynasty. 'Jin' (pronounced as 'Zhin'), a state controlled by the Zhou Dynasty in seventh century BC, is another possible origin.^[43]

Sovereigns of Qin Dynasty[link]

See also[link]

• Chinese sovereign
• Emperor of China
• Hata clan
• Qin's Moon

Notes[link]

1. ^ ^{a b} The first emperor of the Qin had boasted that the dynasty would last 10,000 generations; it lasted only about 15 years. (Morton 1995, p. 49)
2. ^ The modern city of Tianshui stands where this city once was.
3. ^ Not to be confused with any Duke of the Song Dynasty of a later period.
4. ^ This was due to the large workforce available as a result of their landowning policies (implemented by Shang Yang), described in the "Culture and society" section.
5. ^ These, along with the weaponry, are elaborated upon in the section describing the Qin's military and government.
6. ^ This was the heart of the Guanzhong region, as opposed to the region of the Yangtze River drainage basin, known as Guandong. The warlike nature of the Qin in Guanzhong evolved into a Han Dynasty adage: "Guanzhong produces generals, while Guandong produces ministers." (Lewis 2007, p. 17)
7. ^ His personal name was Yíng Zhèng.
8. ^ As the modern Chinese habit is to include dynasty names as a surname, this became Qin Shihuangdi. Later, this was abridged to Qin Shihuang, because it is uncommon for Chinese names to have four characters.
9. ^ Formerly known as Canton.
10. ^ This was largely caused by regional differences which survived despite the Qin's attempt to impose uniformity.
11. ^ Meaning "High Progenitor".
12. ^ A text named for its sponsor Lü Buwei; the prime minister of the Qin directly preceding the conquest of the other states.
13. ^ The term "Confucian" is rather ill-defined in this context—many self-dubbed Confucians in fact rejected tenets of what was known as "the Way of Confucius," and were disorganized, unlike the later Confucians of the Song and Yuan Dynasties.
14. ^ Sacrifices were always animals; human sacrifice had been abolished in ancient China.
15. ^ Mystics from the state of Qi, however, saw sacrifices differently—as a way to become immortal.

References[link]

Bibliography[link]

• World and Its Peoples: Eastern and Southern Asia. Marshall Cavendish. 2007. ISBN 978-0-7614-7631-3. http://books.google.com/books?id=cKh2KL5LqEsC&printsec=frontcover. 
• Readings in Classical Chinese Philosophy. Edited by Philip J. Ivanhoe and Bryan W. Van Norden. Hackett Publishing. 2005. ISBN 0-87220-780-3. http://books.google.com/books?id=5PL9hSUiVEoC&printsec=frontcover. 
• Breslin, Thomas A. (2001). Beyond Pain: The Role of Pleasure and Culture in the Making of Foreign Affairs. Greenwood Publishing Group. ISBN 0-275-97430-8. http://books.google.com/books?id=AD5Lx-kJsMEC&printsec=frontcover. 
• Bedini, Silvio (1994). The Trail of Time: Shih-chien Ti Tsu-chi : Time Measurement with Incense in East Asia. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-37482-0. http://books.google.com/books?id=xdVkzs6iI1YC&printsec=frontcover#PPA183,M1. 
• Bodde, Derk. (1986). "The State and Empire of Ch'in," in The Cambridge History of China: Volume I: the Ch'in and Han Empires, 221 B.C. – A.D. 220. Edited by Denis Twitchett and Michael Loewe. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-24327-0.
• Borthwick, Mark (2006). Pacific Century: The Emergence of Modern Pacific Asia. Westview Press. ISBN 0-8133-4355-0. http://books.google.com/books?id=Wbd-Eonn70cC&printsec=frontcover. 
• Behnke, Anne; Grant Hardy (2005). The Establishment of the Han Empire and Imperial China. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press. ISBN 0-313-32588-X. 
• Keay, John (2009). China A History. Harper Press. ISBN [[Special:BookSources/978000722178|978000722178]]. 
• Lewis, Mark Edward (2007). The Early Chinese Empires: Qin and Han. London: Belknap Press. ISBN 978-0-674-02477-9. 
• Chen Guidi; Wu Chuntao (2007). Will the Boat Sink the Water?: The Life of China's Peasants. Translated by Zhu Hong. PublicAffairs. ISBN 1-58648-441-9. http://books.google.com/books?id=gFEK1pLNqqMC&printsec=frontcover. 
• Morton, W. Scott (1995). China: Its History and Culture (3rd ed. ed.). McGraw-Hill. ISBN 0-07-043424-7. 

Further reading[link]

• Bodde, Derk. (1986). "The State and Empire of Ch'in," in The Cambridge History of China: Volume I: the Ch'in and Han Empires, 221 B.C. – A.D. 220. Edited by Denis Twitchett and Michael Loewe. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-24327-0.
• Cotterell, Arthur. (2007). The Imperial Capitals of China – An Inside View of the Celestial Empire. London: Pimlico. pp. 304 pages.. ISBN 978-1-84595-009-5. 
• Paludan, Ann. (1998). Chronicle of the China Emperors. London: Thames & Hudson. pp. 224 pages.. ISBN 0-500-05090-2. 
• Yap, Joseph P. (2009). Wars With The Xiongnu, A Translation from Zizhi tongjian. AuthorHouse, Bloomington, Indiana, U.S.A. ISBN 978-1-4490-0604-4.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Qin Dynasty

External links[link]

• Qin Dynasty Map

Qin Shi Huang 秦始皇
Ancestral name (姓):	Ying (嬴)
Clan name (氏):	Zhao¹ (趙)
Given name (名):	Zheng (政)
King of the State of Qin
Dates of reign:	7 May 247 BC – 221 BC
Official title:	King of Qin (秦王)
First Emperor of China
Dates of reign:	221 BC – 10 September 210 BC
Official title:	First Emperor (始皇帝)
Dates are in the proleptic Julian calendar
——— 1. As appears in the Records of the Grand Historian by Sima Qian. Apparently, the First Emperor being born in the State of Zhao where his father was a hostage, he later adopted Zhao as his clan name (in ancient China clan names often changed from generation to generation), but this is not completely certain.

This article contains Chinese text. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Chinese characters.

Qin Shi Huang (秦始皇) (259 BC – 210 BC),^[1][2] personal name Ying Zheng (嬴政), was king of the Chinese State of Qin from 246 BC to 221 BC during the Warring States Period.^[3] He became the first emperor of a unified China in 221 BC.^[3] He ruled until his death in 210 BC at the age of 49.^[4]

Calling himself the First Emperor (Chinese: 始皇帝) after China's unification, Qin Shi Huang is a pivotal figure in Chinese history, ushering nearly two millennia of imperial rule. After unifying China, he and his chief advisor Li Si passed a series of major economic and political reforms.^[3] He undertook gigantic projects, including building and unifying various sections of the Great Wall of China, the now famous city-sized mausoleum guarded by a life-sized Terracotta Army, and a massive national road system, all at the expense of numerous lives. To ensure stability, Qin Shi Huang outlawed and burned many books and buried some scholars alive.^[4]

Name of Shi Huangdi[link]

始皇帝
Shǐ Huángdì
"First Emperor"
(small seal script
from 220 BC)

Title meaning[link]

From the beginning of the Zhou dynasty in 1045 BC to the time of the First Emperor, rulers of the Chinese states were titled Wang (Chinese: 王), a term that originally meant "big man" but later came to mean "chief" or "king".^[5] Following his defeat of the last of the Warring States in 221 BC, King Zheng of Qin became de facto ruler of all China. To celebrate this achievement and consolidate his power base, King Zheng created a new title calling himself the First Sovereign Emperor of Qin (Chinese: 秦始皇帝; pinyin: Qín Shǐ Huángdì; Wade–Giles: Ch'in Shih Huang-ti), often shortened to Qin Shi Huang (Chinese: 秦始皇; pinyin: Qín Shǐ Huáng; Wade–Giles: Ch'in Shih-Huang).

• The character shǐ 始 means "first".^[6] The first emperor's heirs would then be successively called "Second Emperor", "Third Emperor" and so on down the generations.^[7]
• The term Huangdi (Chinese: 皇帝; Wade–Giles: Huang-ti) comes from the mythical Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors Era (Chinese: 三皇五帝; pinyin: Sān Huáng Wŭ Dì), from which the two terms "Sovereign" and "Emperor" (huang 皇 and di 帝) are extracted.^[8] By adding such a title, Qin Shihuang hoped to appropriate some of the previous Yellow Emperor's divine status and prestige.^[9]
• Additionally, the character huáng 皇 literally means "shining" or "splendid" and was "most frequently used as an epithet of Heaven."^[10]

Usage[link]

Both "Qin Shi Huangdi" (秦始皇帝) and "Qin Shi Huang" (秦始皇) appear in the Records of the Grand Historian written by Sima Qian. The longer name "Qin Shi Huangdi" (秦始皇帝) appears first in chapter 5,^[11] though the shorter name "Qin Shi Huang" (秦始皇) was the name of chapter 6 (秦始皇本紀).^[12][13] However, the name Qin Shi Huangdi is believed to be the correct one since Ying Zheng joined together the words Huang (Imperial) and Di (ruler), to create Huangdi (emperor).^[14]

Family history and birth[link]

A rich merchant in the State of Han, named Lü Buwei, met Master Yiren (公子異人). Lü Buwei's manipulation helped Yiren become King Zhuangxiang of Qin.^[4] At the time, King Zhuangxiang of Qin was a prince of Qin blood, who took residence at the court of the State of Zhao as a hostage to guarantee an armistice between the two states.^[15]

According to the Records of the Grand Historian, the first emperor was born in 259 BC as the eldest son of King Zhuangxiang of Qin.^[2][16] King Zhuangxiang of Qin saw a concubine belonging to Lü Buwei, and she bore the first emperor.^[16] At birth, he was given the personal name Zheng (政).^[16] Because Zheng was born in Handan, capital of the enemy state of Zhao (趙), he thus had the name Zhao Zheng.^[16] Zhao Zheng's ancestors are said to have come from Gansu.^[2]

Birth controversy[link]

According to the Records of the Grand Historian, written by Sima Qian during the next dynasty and avowedly hostile to Qin Shi Huang, the first emperor was not the actual son of King Zhuangxiang of Qin. By the time Lü Buwei introduced the dancing girl Zhao Ji (趙姬, or the Concubine from Zhao) to the future King Zhuangxiang of Qin, she was allegedly Lü Buwei's concubine and had already become pregnant by him.^[15] According to translations of the Annals of Lü Buwei the woman gave birth to the future emperor in the city of Handan in 259 BC, the first month of the 48th year of King Zhaoxiang of Qin.^[17] The idea that the emperor was an illegitimate child added to the negative view of him for most of the next 2000 years after his death.^[6] Today there is skepticism amongst some scholars about this claim as recorded by Sima Qian. There is some inconsistency between the date of birth and the theory of Lü Buwei being the real father of the first emperor.^[17] In the view of some scholars, the length of the pregnancy, lasting a full year if the accusation is true, is impossible according to modern medicine.^[17] Professors John Knoblock and Jeffrey Riegel, in their translation of Lü Buwei's Spring and Autumn Annals, call the story "patently false, meant both to libel Lü and to cast aspersions on the First Emperor."^[18]

King of the Qin state[link]

Teenage years[link]

In 246 BC, when King Zhuangxiang died after a short reign of just three years, he was succeeded to the throne by his 13-year-old son.^[19] At the time, Zhao Zheng was still young, so Lü Buwei acted as the regent prime minister of the State of Qin, which was still waging war against the other six states.^[6]

Lao Ai's attempted coup[link]

As King Zheng grew older, Lü Buwei became fearful that the boy king would discover his liaison with his mother Zhao Ji (趙姬). He decided to distance himself and look for a replacement for the queen dowager. He found a man named Lao Ai (嫪毐).^[20] According to the Record of Grand Historian, Lao Ai was disguised as a eunuch by plucking his beard. Later Lao Ai and queen Zhao Ji got along so well they secretly had two sons together.^[20] Lao Ai then became ennobled as Marquis Lao Ai, and was showered with riches. Lü Buwei's plot was supposed to replace King Zheng with one of the hidden sons. But during a dinner party drunken Lao Ai was heard bragging about being the young king's step father.^[20] In 238 BC the king was traveling to the ancient capital of Yong (雍). Lao Ai seized the queen mother's seal and mobilized an army in an attempt to start a coup and rebel.^[20]

A price of 1 million copper coins was placed on Lao Ai's head if he was taken alive or half a million if dead.^[20] Lao Ai's supporters were captured and beheaded; then Lao Ai was tied up and torn to five pieces by horse carriages, while his entire family was executed to the third degree.^[20] The two hidden sons were also killed, while mother Zhao Ji was placed under house arrest until her death many years later. Lü Buwei drank a cup of poison wine and committed suicide in 235 BC.^[6][20] Ying Zheng then assumed full power as the King of the Qin state. Replacing Lü Buwei, Li Si was also now the new chancellor.

Jing Ke's assassination mission[link]

King Zheng and his troops continued to take over different states. The state of Yan was small, weak and frequently harassed by soldiers. It was no match for the Qin state.^[21] So Crown Prince Dan of Yan plotted an assassination attempt to get rid of King Zheng, begging Jing Ke to go on the mission in 227 BC.^[4][21] Jing Ke was accompanied by Qin Wuyang in the plot. Each was supposed to present a gift to King Zheng, a map of Dukang and the decapitated head of Fan Wuji.^[21]

Qin Wuyang first tried to present the map case gift, but trembled in fear and moved no further towards the king. Jing Ke continued to advance toward the king, while explaining that his partner "has never set eyes on the Son of Heaven", which is why he is trembling. Jing Ke had to present both gifts by himself.^[21] While unrolling the map, a dagger was revealed. The king drew back, stood on his feet, but struggled to draw the sword to defend himself.^[21] At the time, other palace officials were not allowed to carry weapons. Jing Ke pursued the king, attempting to stab him, but missed. King Zheng drew out his sword and cut Jing Ke's thigh. Jing Ke then threw the dagger, but missed again. Suffering eight wounds from the king's sword, Jing Ke realised his attempt had failed and knew that both of them would be killed afterwards.^[21] The Yan state was conquered by the Qin state five years later.^[21]

Gao Jianli's assassination mission[link]

Gao Jianli was a close friend of Jing Ke, who wanted to avenge his death.^[22] As a famous lute player, one day he was summoned by King Zheng to play the instrument. Someone in the palace who had known him in the past exclaimed, "This is Gao Jianli".^[23] Unable to bring himself to kill such a skilled musician, the emperor ordered his eyes put out.^[23] But the king allowed Gao Jianli to play in his presence.^[23] He praised the playing and even allowed Gao Jianli to get closer. As part of the plot, the lute was fastened with a heavy piece of lead. He raised the lute and struck at the king. He missed, and his assassination attempt failed. Gao Jianli was later executed.^[23]

First unification of China[link]

Imperial tours of Qin Shi Huang

In 230 BC, King Zheng unleashed the final campaigns of the Warring States Period, setting out to conquer the remaining independent kingdoms, one by one.

The first state to fall was Han (韓; sometimes called Hann to distinguish it from the Han 漢 of Han dynasty), in 230 BC. Then Qin took advantage of a natural disaster, the 229 BC Zhao state earthquake, to invade and conquer Zhao where Qin Shi Huang had been born.^[24][25] He now avenged his poor treatment as a child hostage there, seeking out and killing his enemies.

Qin armies conquered the state of Zhao in 228 BC, the northern country of Yan in 226 BC, the small state of Wei in 225 BC, and the largest state and greatest challenge, Chu, in 223 BC.^[26]

In 222 BC, the last remnants of Yan and the royal family were captured in Liaodong in the northeast. The only independent country left was now state of Qi, in the far east, what is now the Shandong peninsula. Terrified, the young king of Qi sent 300,000 people to defend his western borders. In 221 BC, the Qin armies invaded from the north, captured the king, and annexed Qi.

For the first time, all of China was unified under one powerful ruler. In that same year, King Zheng proclaimed himself the "First Emperor" (始皇帝), no longer a king in the old sense and now far surpassing the achievements of the old Zhou Dynasty rulers.^[27]

In the South, military expansion continued during his reign, with various regions being annexed to what is now Guangdong province and part of today's Vietnam.^[25]

First emperor of the Qin dynasty[link]

Division and politics[link]

In an attempt to avoid a recurrence of the political chaos of early imperial China, the conquered states were not allowed to be referred to as independent nations.^[28] The empire was then divided into 36 commanderies (郡), later more than 40 commanderies.^[25] The whole of China was now divided into administrative units: first commanderies, then districts (縣), counties (鄉) and hundred-family units (里).^[29] This system was different from the previous dynasties, which had loose alliances and federations.^[30] People could no longer be identified by their native region or former feudal state, as when a person from Chu was called "Chu person" (楚人).^[29][31] Appointments were now based on merit instead of hereditary rights.^[29]

Economy[link]

A 5-catty weight inscribed with a description of Qin Shi Huang's edict to standardize weights and measures, 221 BC

Qin Shi Huang and Li Si unified China economically by standardizing the Chinese units of measurements such as weights and measures, the currency, the length of the axles of carts to facilitate transport on the road system.^[30] The emperor also developed an extensive network of roads and canals connecting the provinces to improve trade between them.^[30] The currency of the different states were also standardized to the Ban liang coin (半兩).^[29] Perhaps most importantly, the Chinese script was unified. Under Li Si, the seal script of the state of Qin was standardized through removal of variant forms within the Qin script itself. This newly standardized script was then made official throughout all the conquered regions, thus doing away with all the regional scripts to form one language, one communication system for all of China.^[29]

Identification[link]

Qin Shi Huang also followed the school of the five elements, earth, wood, metal, fire and water. It was believed that the royal house of the previous dynasty Zhou had ruled by the power of fire, which was the color red. The new Qin dynasty must be ruled by the next element on the list, which is water, represented by the color black. Black became the color for garments, flags, pennants.^[32] Other associations include north as the cardinal direction, winter season and the number six.^[33] Tallies and official hats were six inches long, carriages six feet wide, one pace (步) was 6 ft (1.8 m).^[32]

Zhang Liang's assassination attempt[link]

In 230 BC, the state of Qin had defeated the state of Han. A Han aristocrat named Zhang Liang swore revenge on the Qin emperor. He sold all his valuables and in 218 BC, he hired a strongman assassin and built him a heavy metal cone weighing 120 jin (roughly 160 lb or 97 kg).^[20] The two men hid among the bushes along the emperor's route over a mountain. At a signal, the muscular assassin hurled the cone at the first carriage and shattered it. However, the emperor was actually in the second carriage, as he was traveling with two identical carriages for this very reason. Thus the attempt failed.^[34] Both men were able to escape in spite of a huge manhunt.^[20]

North: Great wall[link]

The Qin fought nomadic tribes to the north and northwest. The Xiongnu tribes were not defeated and subdued, thus the campaign was tiring and unsuccessful, and to prevent the Xiongnu from encroaching on the northern frontier any longer, the emperor ordered the construction of an immense defensive wall.^[25][35] This wall, for whose construction hundreds of thousands of men were mobilized, and an unknown number died, is a precursor to the current Great Wall of China. It connected numerous state walls which had been built during the previous four centuries, a network of small walls linking river defenses to impassable cliffs. A great monument of China to this day, the Great Wall still stands, open to the public to challenge its million steps.^[27][36]

South: Lingqu canal[link]

A famous South China quotation was "In the North there is the Great wall, in the South there is the Lingqu canal" (北有長城、南有靈渠).^[37] In 214 BC the Emperor began the project of a major canal to transport supplies to the army.^[38] The canal allows water transport between north and south China.^[38] The canal, 34 kilometers in length, links the Xiang River which flows into the Yangtze and the Li Jiang, which flows into the Pearl River.^[38] The canal connected two of China's major waterways and aided Qin's expansion into the southwest.^[38] The construction is considered one of the three great feats of Ancient Chinese engineering, the others being the Great Wall and the Sichuan Dujiangyan Irrigation System.^[38]

End of hundred schools of thought[link]

While the previous Warring States era was one of constant warfare, it was also considered the golden age of free thought.^[39] Qin Shi Huang eliminated the Hundred Schools of Thought which incorporated Confucianism and other philosophies.^[39][40] After the unification of China, with all other schools of thought banned, legalism became the endorsed ideology of the Qin dynasty.^[29] Legalism was basically a system that required the people to follow the laws or be punished accordingly.

Book burning period[link]

Portrait of Epang palace

Beginning in 213 BC, at the instigation of Li Si and to avoid scholars' comparisons of his reign with the past, Qin Shi Huang ordered most existing books to be burned with the exception of those on astrology, agriculture, medicine, divination, and the history of the State of Qin.^[41] This would also serve the purpose of furthering the ongoing reformation of the writing system by removing examples of obsolete scripts.^[27] Owning the Book of Songs or the Classic of History was to be punished especially severely. According to the later Records of the Grand Historian, the following year Qin Shi Huang had some 460 scholars buried alive for owning the forbidden books.^[41][42] The emperor's oldest son Fusu criticised him for this act.^[43] The emperor's own library still had copies of the forbidden books but most of these were destroyed later when Xiang Yu burned the palaces of Xianyang in 206 BC.^[44]

Other achievements[link]

After the unification, Qin Shi Huang moved out of Xianyang palace (咸陽宮), and began building the gigantic Epang palace (阿房宫) south of the Wei river, Epang is the most loved concubine of Qin Shi Huang.^[45] Other achievements such as the 12 bronze colossi were also made from the melted-down collected weapons.

Death and aftermath[link]

Elixir of life[link]

Later in his life, Qin Shi Huang feared death and desperately sought the fabled elixir of life, which would supposedly allow him to live forever. He was obsessed with acquiring immortality and fell prey to many who offered him supposed elixirs.^[46] He visited Zhifu Island three times in order to achieve immortality.^[47]

Xu Fu's ships set sail in 219 BC in search of the medicine for immortality.

In one case he sent Xu Fu, a Zhifu islander, with ships carrying hundreds of young men and women in search of the mystical Penglai mountain.^[34] They were sent to find Anqi Sheng, a 1,000-year-old magician whom Qin Shi Huang had supposedly met in his travels and who had invited him to seek him there.^[48] These people never returned, perhaps because they knew that if they returned without the promised elixir, they would surely be executed. Legends claim that they reached Japan and colonized it.^[46] It is also possible that the book burning, a purge on what could be seen as wasteful and useless literature, was, in part, an attempt to focus the minds of the Emperor's best scholars on the alchemical quest. Some of the executed scholars were those who had been unable to offer any evidence of their supernatural schemes. This may have been the ultimate means of testing their abilities: if any of them had magic powers, then they would surely come back to life when they were let out again.^[27] Since the great emperor was afraid of death and, "evil spirits", he had workers build a series of tunnels and passage ways to each of his palaces (over 200 were owned by him), because these would keep him safe from the evil spirits, as he traveled unseen.

Death[link]

In 211 BC a large meteor is said to have fallen in Dongjun (東郡) in the lower reaches of the Yellow River. On it, an unknown person inscribed the words "The First Emperor will die and his land will be divided."^[49] When the emperor heard of this, he sent an imperial secretary to investigate this prophecy. No one would confess to the deed, so all the people living nearby were put to death. The stone was then burned and pulverized.^[16]

The Emperor died during one of his tours of Eastern China, on September 10, 210 BC (Julian Calendar) at the palace in Shaqiu prefecture (沙丘平台), about two months away by road from the capital Xianyang.^{[21][21][50][51]} Reportedly, he died due to ingesting mercury pills, made by his court scientists and doctors.^[52]Ironically, these pills were meant to make Qin Shi Huang immortal.^[52]

After the Emperor's death Prime Minister Li Si, who accompanied him, became extremely worried that the news of his death could trigger a general uprising in the Empire.^[21] It would take two months for the government to reach the capital, and it would not be possible to stop the uprising. Li Si decided to hide the death of the Emperor, and return to Xianyang.^[21] Most of the Imperial entourage accompanying the Emperor was left ignorant of the Emperor's death; only a younger son, Ying Huhai, who was traveling with his father, the eunuch Zhao Gao, Li Si, and five or six favorite eunuchs knew of the death.^[21] Li Si also ordered that two carts containing rotten fish be carried immediately before and after the wagon of the Emperor. The idea behind this was to prevent people from noticing the foul smell emanating from the wagon of the Emperor, where his body was starting to decompose severely as it was summertime.^[21] They also pulled down the shade so no one could see his face, changed his clothes daily, brought food and when he had to have important conversations they would act as if he wanted to send them a message.^[21]

Second emperor conspiracy[link]

Eventually, after about two months, Li Si and the imperial court reached Xianyang, where the news of the death of the emperor was announced.^[21] Qin Shi Huang did not like to talk about his own death and he had never written a will. After his death, the eldest son Fusu would normally become the next emperor.^[53]

Li Si and the chief eunuch Zhao Gao conspired to kill Fusu because Fusu's favorite general was Meng Tian, whom they disliked^[53] and feared; Meng Tian's brother, a senior minister, had once punished Zhao Gao.^[54] They believed that if Fusu was enthroned, they would lose their power.^[53] Li Si and Zhao Gao forged a letter from Qin Shi Huang saying that both Fusu and General Meng must commit suicide.^[53] The plan worked, and the younger son Huhai became the Second Emperor, later known as Qin Er Shi or "Second Generation Qin."^[21]

Qin Er Shi, however, was not as capable as his father. Revolts quickly erupted. His reign was a time of extreme civil unrest, and everything built by the First Emperor crumbled away within a short period.^[25] One of the immediate revolt attempts was the 209 BC Daze Village Uprising led by Chen Sheng and Wu Guang.^[49]

Legacy[link]

Mausoleum of the first emperor[link]

The Chinese historian Sima Qian, writing a century after the First Emperor's death, wrote that it took 700,000 men to construct it. The British historian John Man points out that this figure is larger than any city of the world at that time and calculates that the foundations could have been built by 16,000 men in two years.^[55] While Sima Qian never mentioned the terracotta army, the statues were discovered by a group of farmers digging wells on March 29, 1974.^[56] The soldiers were created with a series of mix-and-match clay molds and then further individualized by the artists' hand. Han Purple was also used on some of the warriors.^[57] There are around 6,000 Terracotta Warriors and their purpose was to protect the Emperor in the afterlife from evil spirits. Also among the army are chariots and 40,000 real bronze weapons.^[58]

Qin Shi Huang's tomb[link]

One of the first projects the young king accomplished while he was alive was the construction of his own tomb. In 215 BC Qin Shi Huang ordered General Meng Tian with 300,000 men to begin construction.^[42] Other sources suggested he ordered 720,000 unpaid laborers to build his tomb to specification.^[19] Again, given John Man's observation regarding populations of the time (see paragraph above), these historical estimates are debatable. The main tomb (located at 34°22′52.75″N 109°15′13.06″E / 34.3813194°N 109.2536278°E / 34.3813194; 109.2536278) containing the emperor has yet to be opened and there is evidence suggesting that it remains relatively intact.^[59] Sima Qian's description of the tomb includes replicas of palaces and scenic towers, "rare utensils and wonderful objects", 100 rivers made with mercury, representations of "the heavenly bodies", and crossbows rigged to shoot anyone who tried to break in.^[60] The tomb was built on Li Mountain, which is only 30 kilometers away from Xi'an. Modern archaeologists have located the tomb, and have inserted probes deep into it. The probes revealed abnormally high quantities of mercury, some 100 times the naturally occurring rate, suggesting that some parts of the legend are credible.^[52] Secrets were maintained, as most of the workmen who built the tomb were killed.^[52][61]

Family of Qin Shi Huang[link]

The following are some family members of Qin Shi Huang:

• Parents
  • King Zhuangxiang of Qin
  • Lady Zhao
• Half siblings:
  • Chengjiao,^[12] Lord of Chang'an
  • Two half-brothers born to Lady Zhao and Lao Ai
• Children:
  • Fusu, Crown Prince
  • Gao
  • Jianglü
  • Huhai, later Qin Er Shi

Qin Shi Huang had about 28 children, but most of their names are unknown. He had numerous concubines.^{[citation needed]}

Historiography of Qin Shi Huang[link]

A modern statue of Qin Shi Huang, located near the site of the Terracotta Army

In traditional Chinese historiography, the First Emperor of the Chinese unified states was almost always portrayed as a brutal tyrant who had obsessive fear of assassination. Ideological antipathy towards the Legalist State of Qin was established as early as 266 BC, when Confucian philosopher Xun Zi disparaged it.^{[citation needed]} Later Confucian historians condemned the emperor who had burned the classics and buried Confucian scholars alive. They eventually compiled a list of the Ten Crimes of Qin to highlight his tyrannical actions.

The famous Han poet and statesman Jia Yi concluded his essay The Faults of Qin (過秦論) with what was to become the standard Confucian judgment of the reasons for Qin's collapse. Jia Yi's essay, admired as a masterpiece of rhetoric and reasoning, was copied into two great Han histories and has had a far-reaching influence on Chinese political thought as a classic illustration of Confucian theory.^[62] He attributed Qin's disintegration to its failure to display humanity and righteousness or to realise that there is a difference between the power to attack and the power to consolidate.^[63]

In more modern times, historical assessment of the First Emperor different from traditional Chinese historiography began to emerge. The reassessment was spurred on by weakness of China in the latter half of 19th century and early 20th century, and Confucian traditions at that time began to be seen by some as an impediment to China's entry into the modern world, opening the way for changing perspectives.

At a time when Chinese territory was encroached upon by foreign nations, leading Kuomintang historian Xiao Yishan emphasized the role of Qin Shi Huang in repulsing the northern barbarians, particularly in the construction of the Great Wall.

Another historian, Ma Feibai (馬非百), published in 1941 a full-length revisionist biography of the First Emperor entitled Qin Shi Huangdi Zhuan (秦始皇帝傳), calling him "one of the great heroes of Chinese history". Ma compared him with the contemporary leader Chiang Kai-shek and saw many parallels in the careers and policies of the two men, both of whom he admired. Chiang's Northern Expedition of the late 1920s, which directly preceded the new Nationalist government at Nanjing was compared to the unification brought about by Qin Shi Huang.

A modern statue of the First Emperor and his attendants

With the coming of the Communist Revolution in 1949, new interpretations again surfaced. The establishment of the new, revolutionary regime prompted another re-evaluation of the First Emperor, this time in accordance with Maoist thought. The new interpretation given of Qin Shi Huang was generally a combination of traditional and modern views, but essentially critical. This is exemplified in the Complete History of China, which was compiled in September 1955 as an official survey of Chinese history. The work described the First Emperor's major steps toward unification and standardisation as corresponding to the interests of the ruling group and the merchant class, not the nation or the people, and the subsequent fall of his dynasty as a manifestation of the class struggle. The perennial debate about the fall of the Qin Dynasty was also explained in Marxist terms, the peasant rebellions being a revolt against oppression – a revolt which undermined the dynasty, but which was bound to fail because of a compromise with "landlord class elements".

Since 1972, however, a radically different official view of Qin Shi Huang has been given prominence throughout China. The re-evaluation was initiated by Hong Shidi's biography Qin Shi Huang. The work was published by the state press as a mass popular history, and it sold 1.85 million copies within two years. In the new era, Qin Shi Huang was seen as a farsighted ruler who destroyed the forces of division and established the first unified, centralized state in Chinese history by rejecting the past. Personal attributes, such as his quest for immortality, so emphasized in traditional historiography, were scarcely mentioned. The new evaluations described how, in his time (an era of great political and social change), he had no compunctions against using violent methods to crush counter-revolutionaries, such as the "industrial and commercial slave owner" chancellor Lü Buwei. However, he was criticized for not being as thorough as he should have been, and as a result, after his death, hidden subversives under the leadership of the chief eunuch Zhao Gao was able to seized power and used it to restore the old feudal order.

To round out this re-evaluation, a new interpretation of the precipitous collapse of the Qin Dynasty was put forward in an article entitled "On the Class Struggle During the Period Between Qin and Han" by Luo Siding, in a 1974 issue of Red Flag, to replace the old explanation. The new theory claimed that the cause of the fall of Qin lay in the lack of thoroughness of Qin Shi Huang's "dictatorship over the reactionaries, even to the extent of permitting them to worm their way into organs of political authority and usurp important posts."

Mao Zedong, chairman of the People's Republic of China, was reviled for his persecution of intellectuals. On being compared to the First Emperor, Mao responded: "He buried 460 scholars alive; we have buried forty-six thousand scholars alive... You [intellectuals] revile us for being Qin Shi Huangs. You are wrong. We have surpassed Qin Shi Huang a hundredfold."^[64]

Cultural references[link]

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Qin Shi Huang

Works of fiction[link]

• During the Korean War, they would play a Song of the Yi River was produced. The play was based on the attempted assassination of the king by Jing Ke. In the play, Ying Zheng was portrayed as a cruel tyrant and an aggressor and invader of other states. In contrast, Jing Ke was a chivalrous warrior who said that "tens of thousands of injured people are all my comrades." A huge newspaper ad for this play proclaimed: "Invasion will definitely end in defeat; peace must be won at a price." The play portrayed an underdog fighting against a cruel, powerful foreign invader with help from a sympathetic foreign volunteer.

• Jorge Luis Borges (1899–1986), the Argentine writer, wrote an acclaimed essay on Qin Shi Huang, "The Wall and the Books" ("La muralla y los libros") in the 1952 collection Other Inquisitions (Otras Inquisiciones). It muses on the opposition between large-scale construction of the Great Wall and destruction book-burning that defined his reign.^[65]

• The 1956 book Lord of the East is a historical romance about the favorite daughter of Qin Shi Huang, who runs away with her lover. The story uses Qin Shi Huang to create the barrier for the young couple.^[66]

• The 1984 book Bridge of Birds (by Barry Hughart) portrays Qin Shi Huang as a power-hungry megalomaniac who achieved immortality by having his heart removed by an "Old Man of the mountain".

• The Chinese Emperor, by Jean Levi, appeared in 1984. This work of historical fiction moves from discussions of politics and law in the Qin state to an exploration of Qin Shi Huang's psychology, in which his terracotta army were actually automata created to replace fallible humans.

• In the 1985 Contact (novel) (by Carl Sagan), the character Xi Qiaomu—who had been involved in excavations of the tomb of Emperor Qin during the Cultural Revolution—is visited by a personified alien in the form of the Emperor Qin.^[67]

• In the Area 51 book series, Qin Shi Huang is revealed to be an alien exile stranded on Earth during an interstellar civil war. The Great Wall is actually designed to display the symbol for 'help' in his language, and he orders it built in the hope that a passing spaceship would notice it and rescue him.

• In Hydra's Ring, the 39th novel in the Outlanders series, Qin Shi Huang is revealed to be still alive in the early 23rd century through extraterrestrial nano-technology that has bestowed a form of immortality.

• In the Magic Tree House book series, one book is titled Day of the Dragon King, named for Qin Shi Huangdi.

• Ten Dragon Tails by Candy Taylor Tutt contains "The Wall", a historical fiction short story based on the building of the Great Wall.

• Emperor!: A Romance of Ancient China by Lanny Fields centers around Qin Shi Huang and a former Roman soldier named Marcus Lucius Scipio, whom Qin Shi Huang befriends after Marcus Scipio saves his life on multiple occasions. This fictional account is told through the eyes of the historian Sima Qian, who writes about Marcus Scipio after he travels from Rome to China.

• In Terry Pratchett's Interesting Times, the wizard, Rincewind, discovers a suit of armor owned by a previous emperor which gives him control of a terracotta army. As with most of Pratchett's Discworld series, this book is a play on a real-world concept. In this case, the model is Emperor Qin Shi Huang's cultural impact on modern-day China.

• The Tiger Warrior by David Gibbins (Bantam; June 2009) weaves in the history of Qin Shi Huang and his quest for immortality with Roman legionnaires, Indian tribes, Victorian-era British soldiers and a modern archaeological-adventure story.

• In the Wraith: the Oblivion roleplaying game books, the ghost of "Qin Shihuang" continues to rule despotically over the afterlife of China to this day, assisted by an army of nigh-invincible ghost soldiers based on the terracotta army.

Films[link]

• Shin No Shikoutei (1963) - The film portrays Qin Shi Huang as a battle-hardened emperor with his roots in the military. Despite his rank, Qin Shi Huang is shown lounging around a campfire with common men. A female character, Lady Chu, serves as a foil who questions whether Qin Shi Huang's cause is just. Qin Shi Huang converts her from an enemy to a loyal concubine.^[68]

• Big Trouble in Little China (1986) - The film mentions Qin Shi Huang's name twice as the person who imposed the curse of no flesh on Lopan in 272 BC.

• The Emperor's Shadow (1996) - The film focuses on Qin Shi Huang's relationship with the musician Gao Jianli, a friend of the assassin Jing Ke. Gao played the Song of Yishui for Jing Ke before the latter embarked on his assassination mission.^[69]

• The Emperor and the Assassin (1999) - The film centers on the identity of Qin Shi Huang's father, his supposed heartless treatment of his officials, and a betrayal by his childhood lover, paving the way for Jing Ke's assassination attempt. Director Chen Kaige sought to question whether Qin Shi Huang's motives were meritorious. A major theme in this film is the conflict between Qin Shi Huang's dedication to his vows and to his lover, Lady Zhao.^[70]

• Hero (2002) - The film starred Jet Li, a nameless assassin who plans an assassination attempt on the King of Qin (Chen Daoming). Both the king and the assassin may be references to Qin Shi Huang and Jing Ke respectively.^{[citation needed]}

• The Myth (2005) - The film starred Jackie Chan as Meng Yi, a military general serving under Qin Shi Huang. Meng is reincarnated into the present-day as an archaeologist. Kim Hee-sun co-starred as a Korean princess who was forced to marry the emperor.^[71]

• The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor (2008) - The film starred Jet Li, the resurrected mummy called the "Han Emperor" and may be a reference to Qin Shi Huang. The emperor's role is highly fictionalised as he possesses magical powers.^[72]

Television[link]

• Rise of the Great Wall (1986) - a 63 episode TV series chronicling the events from the emperor's birth until his death. It was produced by Hong Kong's ATV. The lyrics of the opening theme song summarized most of the story: "The land shall be under my foot; nobody shall be equal to me."^[73]

• Histeria! (1998–1999) - an animated series. Pepper Mills wants Shi Huang Di's autograph, thinking he was Scooby Doo.

• The Not-So-Great Wall Of China (1999) - one of the episodes of History Bites. Bob Bainborough played Qin Shi Huang.

• My Date with a Vampire II (1999) - a Hong Kong supernatural-fantasy TV series. There is a flashback scene showing Qin Shi Huang being deceived into believing that turning into a vampire is the key to attaining immortality.

• A Step into the Past (2001) - a Hong Kong TVB production based on a science fiction novel by Huang Yi. It starred Raymond Lam as Zhao Pan, a man of the Zhao state who took on his new identity of Ying Zheng and rose to power as Qin Shi Huang. He is assisted by Xiang Shaolong, a time traveller from the 21st century.^[74]

• Qin Shi Huang (2002) - a mainland Chinese TV series production. It features a semi-fictionalized story of the emperor's life, from his childhood until his death. Zhang Fengyi starred as Qin Shi Huang.^[75]

• Martin Mystery (2003–2006) - an animated series. The protagonist finds that the Terracotta Army was actually created to keep the First Emperor inside his tomb and not to help him in the spiritual world.

• First Emperor: The Man Who Made China (2006) - a drama-documentary special about Qin Shi Huang. James Pax played the emperor. It was shown on Channel 4 in the United Kingdom in 2006.^[76]

• Secrets of China's First Emperor, Tyrant and Visionary (2006) - a documentary by National Geographic. It provided an in-depth look at the magnificent and controversial ruler.^[77]

• China's First Emperor (2008) - a special three-hour documentary by The History Channel. Xu Pengkai played Qin Shi Huang.^[78]

• The Myth (2010) - a Chinese TV series produced by Jackie Chan and based on the 2005 film of the same title. Two men are accidentally transported back in time to the Qin Dynasty period. They take on the new identities of Meng Yi and Zhao Gao and become rivals in the Qin imperial court.

• Stargate SG-1 In the TV series, the system Lord Yu Huang Shang Ti is reportedly based on this Emperor.

Music[link]

• Qin Shi Huang is the protagonist in the opera The First Emperor.

• Swedish musician Evert Taube explores Qin Shi Huang's actions and motives in his song "Muren Och Böckerna" ("The Wall And The Books").

Video games[link]

• The 1995 video game Qin: Tomb of the Middle Kingdom depicts a fictional archaeological mission to explore the First Emperor's burial site. The emperor is featured in several voice-overs in Mandarin Chinese.

• In the 2002 computer game Prince Of Qin, the user plays Qin Shi Huang's first son Fusu, who was forced to commit suicide. But in this game, Fusu does not die, he will fight for his birth right to inherit the throne and seek the truth of Qin Shi Huang's death.

• The 2003 video game Indiana Jones and the Emperor's Tomb portrays Indiana Jones entering the tomb of Qin Shi Huang to recover "The Heart of the Dragon".

• In the 2005 video game Civilization IV, Qin Shi Huang is one of the two playable leaders of China.^[79]

• In the computer game Emperor: Rise of the Middle Kingdom, the Qin Dynasty campaign has the player as the head architect of Qin Shi Huang, in charge of overseeing the construction of the capital, the Lingqu canal, the Great Wall, as well as his tomb and the terracotta army, although the game takes liberties with the time frames in which these events actually took place.

• The PlayStation title Fear Effect 2: Retro Helix deals heavily with the myths of the emperor's tomb, and The Eight Immortals.

• In Rise of Nations, the player (or enemy) can build the "Terracotta Army" as one of the many "wonders of the world" featured in the game.
• Qin Shi Huang is also revealed to be the final boss of the video game Shin Sangoku Musou: Multi Raid 2
• In Assassin's Creed II it is said that an Assassin, Wei Yu, killed Qin Shi Huang with a spear. In the Assassin's Creed Encyclopedia it is said that Qin Shi Huang was aided by the Templars, the series' antagonist organization.
• In Tomb Raider II (1997), adventurer Lara Croft discovers the 'Dagger of Xian' after visiting, among other Chinese sites, the 'Temple of Xian'. This level shows a resemblance with the descriptions of the Tomb of Qin, including a room with a (decorative) terracotta army.

• Qin Shi Huang is one of the 32 historical figures who appear as special characters in the video game Romance of the Three Kingdoms XI by Koei. He is addressed by his personal name "Ying Zheng" in the game. He has higher governance stats than all other characters, except Guan Zhong.

• The popular MMORPG Silkroad Online has a Qin-Shi Tomb area. It is available only to players of level 75 or higher.

See also[link]

• Burning of books and burying of scholars
• He Shi Bi

References[link]

Further reading[link]

• Bodde, Derk (1978). "The State and Empire of Ch'in". In Twitchett, Denis; Loewe, Michael. The Cambridge history of China. 1. Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press. ISBN 0-521-21447-5. 
• Clements, Jonathan (2006). The First Emperor of China. Sutton Publishing. ISBN 978-0-7509-3960-7. 
• Cotterell, Arthur (1981). The first emperor of China: the greatest archeological find of our time. New York: Holt, Rinehart, and Winston. ISBN 0-03-059889-3. 
• Guisso, R.W.L.; Pagani, Catherine; Miller, David (1989). The first emperor of China. New York: Birch Lane Press. ISBN 1-55972-016-6. 
• Yu-ning, Li, ed. (1975). The First Emperor of China. White Plains, N.Y.: International Arts and Sciences Press. ISBN 0-87332-067-0. 
• Portal, Jane (2007). The First Emperor, China's Terracotta Army. British Museum Press. ISBN 978-1-932543-26-1. 
• Qian, Sima (1961). Records of the Grand Historian: Qin dynasty. Burton Watson, trans. New York: Columbia Univ. Press. 
• Wood, Frances (2007). The First Emperor of China. Profile. ISBN 1-84668-032-8. 
• Yap, Joseph P (2009). Wars With the Xiongnu, A Translation From Zizhi tongjian. AuthorHouse. ISBN 978-1-4490-0604-4. 

External links[link]

• History of China
• "What's Inside Qin Shi Huang's Tomb?"

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There are many people in history who are commonly appended with the phrase "the Great", or who were called that or an equivalent phrase in their own language. Other languages have their own suffixes such as e Bozorg and e azam in Persian and Urdu respectively.

In Persia, the title "the Great" at first seems to be a colloquial version of the Old Persian title "Great King". This title was first used by the conqueror Cyrus II of Persia.^[1]

The Persian title was inherited by Alexander III of Macedon (336–323 BC) when he conquered the Persian Empire, and the epithet "Great" eventually became personally associated with him. The first reference (in a comedy by Plautus)^[2] assumes that everyone knew who "Alexander the Great" was; however, there is no earlier evidence that Alexander III of Macedon was called "the Great".

The early Seleucid kings, who succeeded Alexander in Persia, used "Great King" in local documents, but the title was most notably used for Antiochus the Great (223–187 BC).

Later rulers and commanders began to use the epithet "the Great" as a personal name, like the Roman general Pompey. Others received the surname retrospectively, like the Carthaginian Hanno and the Indian emperor Ashoka the Great. Once the surname gained currency, it was also used as an honorific surname for people without political careers, like the philosopher Albert the Great.

As there are no objective criteria for "greatness", the persistence of later generations in using the designation greatly varies. For example, Louis XIV of France was often referred to as "The Great" in his lifetime but is rarely called such nowadays, while Frederick II of Prussia is still called "The Great". A later Hohenzollern - Wilhelm I - was often called "The Great" in the time of his grandson Wilhelm II, but rarely later.

Rulers[link]

• Abbas I of Persia (1571–1629), Shah of Iran
• Akbar (1542–1605), ruler of the Mughal Empire of South Asia, mainly India
• Alain I of Albret (1440–1522), French aristocrat
• Alexander the Great (356-323 BC), King of Macedonia, Persia, Greece, Egypt, and all of Mesopotamia
• Alexander I of Georgia (1386–1446), King of Georgia
• Alfonso III of León (c. 848-910), King of León, Galicia and Asturias
• Alfred the Great (848/849-899), King of Wessex
• Antiochus III the Great (c. 241–187 BC), ruler of the Seleucid Empire
• Ashoka the Great (c. 304–232 BC), Indian emperor of the Maurya dynasty
• Ashot I of Iberia “the Great”(died 826/830), presiding prince of Iberia (modern Georgia),
• Askia Mohammad I (c. 1442–1538), ruler of the Songhai Empire
• Bhumibol Adulyadej (born 1927), King of Thailand
• Bolesław I Chrobry (967-1025), sometimes called "the Great", first King of Poland
• Bruno the Great (925–965), Archbishop of Cologne and Duke of Lotharingia (also listed in the following section)
• Buddha Yodfa Chulaloke (1736–1809), founder and ruler of the Rattanakosin Kingdom (in what is now Thailand)
• Cnut the Great (c. 985 or 995-1035), King of Denmark, England, Norway and parts of Sweden
• Casimir III the Great (1310–1370), King of Poland
• Catherine the Great (1729–1796), Empress of Russia
• Chandragupta II (reigned 375-413/415), also known as Vikramaditya, ruler of the Gupta empire in India
• Charlemagne (died 814), King of the Franks and Emperor of the Romans
• Chulalongkorn (1853–1910), King of Siam (now Thailand)
• Chlothar II (584-629), King of Neustria and King of the Franks
• Conrad, Margrave of Meissen (c. 1097-1157), Margrave of Meissen
• Constantine I (c. 272-337), Roman emperor
• Cyaxares the Great (c. 625-585 BC), third king of Media
• Cyrus the Great (c. 600 BC or 576 BC–530 BC), founder and ruler of the Persian or Achaemenid Empire
• Darius the Great (550 – 486 BC), third ruler of the Persian Empire
• Devapala (died 850), ruler of the Pala Empire in the Indian subcontinent
• Dionysius I, Greek tyrant of Syracuse^[3]
• Ferdinand I of León and Castile (c. 1015–1065), King of León and Count of Castile
• Frederick the Great (1712–1786), King of Prussia
• Genghis Khan (1162?-1227), founder and Great Khan of the Mongol Empire
• Gero (c. 900–965), ruler of Marca Geronis, a very large march in Europe
• Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden (1594–1632), King of Sweden, founder of the Swedish Empire, and noted military leader
• Gwanggaeto the Great, King of Goguryeo, one of the Three Kingdoms of Korea^[4][5]
• Hanno the Great, the name of three leaders of Carthage, in the 4th, 3rd, and 2nd centuries BC
• Henry I, Duke of Burgundy (946–1002)
• Henry IV of France (1553–1610), King of France and King of Navarre
• Herod the Great (73/74 BC-4 BC), King of Judea
• Hugh the Great (898-956), Duke of the Franks and Count of Paris
• Hugh Magnus of France (1007–1025), co-King of France
• Hugh I, Count of Vermandois (1057–1101)
• Humphrey I de Bohun (died c. 1123), Anglo-Norman aristocrat
• Ivan III of Russia (1440–1505), Tsar of Russia
• John I of Portugal (1358–1433), King of Portugal and the Algarve
• John II of Aragon (1398–1479), King of Aragon and, through his wife, King of Navarre
• Justinian I (483-565), Byzantine Emperor
• Kamehameha I (c. 1758-1819), first King of Hawai'i
• Kanishka (died c. 127), ruler of the Kushan Empire in Central Asia and parts of India
• Kvirike III of Kakheti (1010–1029), King of Kakheti in eastern Georgia
• Kublai Khan (1215–1294), Mongol ruler in the 13th century and Emperor of China; founder of the Yuan Dynasty
• Llywelyn the Great (c. 1172–1240), Prince of Gwynedd and de facto ruler of most of Wales
• Louis I of Hungary (1326–1382), King of Hungary, Croatia and Poland
• Mangrai the Great (1238–1317), Lanna, northern Thailand
• Emperor Meiji (1852–1912), Emperor of Japan
• Mircea I of Wallachia (1355–1418)
• Mithridates II of Parthia (died 88 BC), ruler of the Parthian Empire (in present day Iran)
• Mithridates VI of Pontus (134 BC–63 BC), ruler of Pontus and the Bosporan Kingdom
• Mstislav I of Kiev (1076–1132), Grand Prince of Kievan Rus
• Naresuan (1555–1605), King of Ayutthaya
• Narai (1633–1688), King of Ayutthaya (in what is now modern Thailand)
• Odo the Great (died c. 735), Duke of Aquitaine
• Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor (912-973)
• K'inich Janaab' Pakal (603-683), ruler of the Mayan city-state of Palenque
• Parakramabahu I of Polonnaruwa (1123–1186), King of Sri Lanka
• Peter Krešimir IV of Croatia (died 1075), King of Croatia
• Peter the Great (1672–1725), Tsar of Russia
• Peter III of Aragon (1239–1285), King of Aragon and King of Sicily
• Pompey (106 BC-48 BC), military and political leader of the late Roman Republic, rival of Julius Caesar
• Radama I (1793–1828), first king of greater Madagascar
• Raja Raja Chola I (c. 947-1014), Indian emperor of the Cholas.^[6][7][8]
• Rajendra Chola I (reigned 1014–1044), Tamil King of India
• Ramesses II (reigned 1279 BC – 1213 BC), considered the greatest pharaoh of Ancient Egypt
• Ram Khamhaeng (around 1237 to 1247-1298), King of Sukhothai (in present day Thailand)
• Ramon Berenguer III, Count of Barcelona (1082–1131), also Count of Provence and various other counties
• Rhodri the Great (c. 820–878), King of Gwynedd (in present day Wales)
• Roman the Great (after 1160-1205), Grand Prince of Kiev
• Saladin (c. 1138-1193), Kurdish Sultan of Egypt and Syria, founder of the Ayyubid dynasty, and victor over the Crusaders
• Samudragupta (c. 335–375), ruler of the Gupta empire in the Indian subcontinent
• Sancho III of Navarre (c. 992-1035), King of Kingdom of Navarre
• Sargon of Akkad (died c. 2215 BC), ruler of the Akkadian Empire
• Sejong the Great (1397–1450), Korean king^[9]
• Shapur II (309-379), king of the Sassanid Empire, Persia
• Simeon I of Bulgaria (864/865-927), ruler of the First Bulgarian Empire
• Stephen III of Moldavia (1433–1504), Prince of Moldavia (Romania)
• Stephen Uroš IV Dušan of Serbia (c. 1308-1355), King of Serbia and Emperor of the Serbs and Greeks
• Taksin (1734–1782), King of the Thonburi Kingdom (Thailand)
• Tamar (1160-1123), Queen of the Georgian Empire
• Timur (1336–1405), better known as Tamerlane, founder of the Timurid Dynasty
• Theobald II, Count of Champagne (1090–1151), Count of Blois and of Chartres as Theobald IV, Count of Champagne and of Brie
• Theodoric the Great (454-526), King of the Ostrogoths, regent of the Visigoths and a viceroy of the Byzantine Empire
• Theodosius I (347-395), Roman emperor
• Tigranes the Great (140-55 BC), Emperor of Armenia
• Tiridates III of Armenia (285-339), King of Armenia
• Umar (c. 586 to 590–644), second caliph of the Muslim Empire
• Valdemar I of Denmark (1131–1182), King of Denmark
• Valentinian I (364-375), Roman Emperor
• Vladimir I of Kiev (c. 958-1015), ruler of Kievan Rus
• Vytautas (c. 1350-1430), archduke of the Lithuanian Grand Duchy
• William I, Count of Burgundy (1020–1087), Count of Burgandy and Mâcon
• William V, Duke of Aquitaine (969-1030), also Count of Poitou
• Xerxes I (519-465 BC), King of Kings of the Achaemenid Empire (Persia)
• Yu the Great (c. 2200-2100 BC), legendary ruler in ancient China