Qin Shi Huang, the first emperor of China »Chinese History
In the history of China there are many emperors. Some more important, others more loved and others more hated. However, above all of them we must look at the figure of Qin Shi Huang , king of the Chinese state Qin and the first emperor of China.
This man, born in the year 260 BC, was the one who unified China there by the year 221 BC, thus being the clear winner of the seven states that formed the period of the Warring States.
After the military expansion and the unification of the states, Qin proclaimed himself as Shi Huang Di, or what is the same, the first emperor; and it was that he was convinced that a dynasty had begun that had no end, thus gathering all that land he thought belonged to him in divine eyes.
Qin thus stood at the same level as the gods announcing that he would be emperor and that he had the divine right to govern the new China. Thus, some of his measures and works include the mandate to carve edicts in a new writing that he developed, in the walls of the sacred mountains that are located around China.
Things changed considerably when Qin came to power. Standardized the weights and measures, the currency and even the axes of the roads. Thus, it improved among others the circulation on the roads, thus facilitating the creation of new roads that could have their entire kingdom completely connected.
His project of unification also went through establishing a vast bureaucratic apparatus. He decided to divide the empire into thirty-six commanders in which he led a civil governor, a military governor and an imperial inspector or government delegate. Also, these commandments were subdivided into counties, which in turn were governed by magistrates who depended solely on the government delegate.
He covered his back perfectly, because the truth is that none of those charges was hereditary, so if someone bothered, he was directly dismissed. His only intention was to avoid the creation of small states and thus give more importance to the central power.
While Qin did exemplary work on unification issues, he was also considered one of the most despotic emperors and tyrants. He tried to quell the rebellions with a hard hand. He annihilated heretics and burned classical literature, leaving only the books of medicine, divination and agriculture. Also, among his most horrible actions is to bury 460 Confucians alive.
Together with his prime minister Li Si, the emperor began carrying out the precursor projects to the Great Wall of China .
We can say in summary that although he was an emperor that history will remember for his cruelty, today he is still seen as an essential figure in the history of China, capable of unifying the territories giving rise to the great country we find today.