Shi Huangdi
In order for any civilization to be successful it is vital they have a ruler who can make and put laws into place. What will happen if citizens do not follow or ignore laws of leaders? Shi Huangdi knew that chaos was definite in the future if he did not unify people and keep them structured. Shi Huangdi prevented this violence by using legalism, a philosophy focusing on violent disciplinary actions. Shi Huangdi was the founder of the first unified dynasty in China, the Qin Dynasty. Shi Huangdi’s overall intention was to merge all of the feuding states so they could be linked together under China. Shi Huangdi was the strongest emperor of Ancient China because of his Legalist concepts, his societal advancements, and the centralization
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He grew up in the eastern part of China by the Wei River. When he was thirteen years old his father died, giving unexperienced Zheng so much power at such a young age. His job was to unify China by centralizing the Qin Dynasty after the Period of Warring States that lasted from 403-221 BCE. He changed his name to “Shi” meaning first emperor, “Huang” and “Di” came from the titles of eight legendary kings. By doing this, Shi Huangdi was implying that he thought he was more powerful then all rulers put together. As emperor, he changed the format of law and made many changes so China would corporate like never before. To fulfill his goal, Shi Huangdi decided that a rigid law code had to be made. Shi Huangdi was tough and strong because of the following rules he set through legalism …show more content…
Shi Huangdi appointed Li Si, an educated legalist philosopher, to help him spread his ideas and overcome the Qin Dynasty goal. The goal was to destroy all history that did not support harsh punishment and law ideas. He felt this was necessary to keep things organized and structured so China would not result into disorderly chaos like it was before during the Period of Warring States. Shi Huangdi felt threatened by the historical records and political philosophies from the Zhou Dynasty. A book named History of the Chinese Emperor written in the 17th century states that the “burning of books and the banishing of unsupportive scholars” was displayed a great deal during Shi Huangdi’s early years of ruling. Anyone that did not agree that the rule of law was the supreme way of life would be banished or executed. Li Si taught Shi Huangdi the basic legalist ideas. He taught him that humans were selfish and the only way to control them was to enforce severe laws. Shi Huangdi was known as a tyrant; he would not loosen his grip on China because, he was afraid of losing power and he thought keeping a strict government would prevent rebellions. Shi Huangdi survived many attempted assassinations when his people did not agree with him. Because he was so strict this helped the people of China see him in such a high place of authority. The
The founder of the Qin dynasty was Qin Shi Huangdi, a title meaning “First Emperor.” He was a brutal ruler, but he brought about many changes. However, in addition to all the new, some old ideas were continued from the Zhou, such as the emphasis on the wheat and rice staple foods, and the philosophies, Confucianism and Daoism. The old continuities tended to have been deeply embraced by China, and, just as the Zhou did, the Qin would create some ideas that lasted, and some that did not. Qin Shi Huangdi enforced a tough autocratic rule and, as a result, opposed formal culture that could make people counter his rule. This meant that he burned many books and attacked Confucian ideas in order to keep the people from generating rebellious ideas. When the Qin dynasty fell, so too did the opposition towards education, because it took away from the civilization culturally. Despite the fact that the Qin dynasty was very short and had little time to fully develop its systems and ideas, it did pump out a vast quantity of new and lasting concepts, such as the Great Wall and a central government. One of the biggest contenders for the most well-known feature of the Qin dynasty is the Great Wall. This architectural masterpiece extends over 3,000 miles, and was mainly a
While analyzing the legal reforms of the Qin dynasty, the connections between Shi Huangdi and Hammurabi are clear. They both ruled the subjects with an iron fist, some people analyzing both of them would even use the word totalitarian to describe them. Shi Huangdi wanted to be in total control of the empire and its people. He didn’t like to be spoken against, those who did were put to death like the 460 scholars he put to death. With Hammurabi, he believed in “ an eye for an eye”.
Shi Huangdi was the first emperor of the Qin Dynasty who united China while it was experiencing civil war, also known as the Period of the Warring States. Through his Legalist ideas and integrity, Shi Huangdi was able to maintain political and social order by means of a centralized government. In under eleven years, he constructed the famous
After starting the Chinese Empire, Shihuangdi based the empire on a harsh law system called legalism and was also influenced by Confucianism. Since Shihuangdi was the only ruler of the empire, the government was considered a strong central monarchy. When the Chinese empire had a good start, they expanded their territories to northern Vietnam, Korea, and the northwest steppes. Shihuangdi believed the harsher the empire the more respected, so he invested heavily into a strong military army a...
They also placed great importance on rituals and other traditions. Many practices continued throughout generations. Legalism believed that such aspects should have no role in the government. According to them, a strong rule with a strict hand was necessary in order to keep the citizens from growing lazy and disrespecting the authority. Out of the three different thought systems, Legalism was a success in the sense that it achieved what the other two systems desperately strove for - the unification of China.
These dual lifestyles of Li Si, and their respective consequences, in many ways parallels the two systems implemented by the Qin and Han Dynasties. Using the values written in the "Analects of Confucius," the work of Li Si to establish the Qin Dynasty can ultimately be assessed as a failure, due mainly to his weaknesses outweighing his strengths later in his life. Bearing in mind that the "Historical Records" were written with Confucian values as the ideal way of life, it can be seen how Li Si was portrayed as a good advisor for the Qin ruler, but a bad advisor for China. Qian begins the account of Li Si by describing his rise from the minor position of clerk to his eventual high rank. Qian makes note of the strengths that Li displays to put himself in such a position.
Of 1404-1433, Zheng He made seven expeditions and each expedition lasted more or less 2 years. He died in 1433(in the 10th year of the reign of Emperor Xuande Ming) at the age of 62 and was buried in the Bull's Head Hill (Niushou) in the southern suburbs of the present city of Nanjing in Jiangsu Province..
If the citizens in a society do not obey the law, anarchy will ensue. Anarchy is a lack of government, a state of total political disorder and lawlessness due to the absence or incapability of a supreme power. Military rule in Indonesia and authoritarian rule in Singapore and Malaysia have led to a persuaded efficiency that was later torn apart by stress. The system broke down in social chaos, riots, and civil disorder that did not lead to fairnesss or justice. The same fate is probable for the United States, if every individual tossed aside the importance of the law. A law is an important system of rules established to maintain order and function of the state. Without the effectiveness of laws, society as we know it would crumble.
Zheng He was born in 1371, Kunyang Yunnan province, China and died in 1433, Calicut, now Kozhikode. He was an admiral, explorer, eunuch, diplomat, and trader, whose adventures brought great wealth and riches to China and spread its religions and influences across Southeast Asia, Persia, Arabia, Africa and India. He was always remembered for his greatness and his leadership in the expeditions and adventures he made. He made a whooping number of SEVEN voyages, each aiming extend Chinese maritime and establish trade across all these places.
In function, the Legalist is more of a powerful and influential government consultative committee than a philosophical school. In practice, they openly advocate war as a means of state expansion and transforming people into more submissive and loyal or inversely, a way for its people to server the state; they conceive a political structure where all government apparatus and social institutions reside under an absolute monarch, who has the ultimate power and set his foundation in an elaborately self-contained, austerely impartial and severely coercive legal machinery; the state would also find no existence of the earlier schools of thoughts if not their total annihilation; loyalty to their emperor and “weakened” minds among people would prevail, bringing about social stability enabling intensive and efficient farming.
From 1700 to roughly 220 BCE (before the Common Era), the region currently known as China was divided into six states: Qin, Wei, Zhao, Qi, Yan and Zhongshan, each ruled by different kings. These inter-warring states were already familiar with wall building techniques, each having constructed extensive fortifications to defend their own borders. When Shih Huangdi, the young king of the ancient Chinese state of Qin (also spelled Ch’in, from which the word China derives), conquered each of the remaining five states in 221 BCE, the continuous warring finally came to an end. By conquering these states, Shih Huangdi established the Qin Dynasty, thus creating the first unification of China, and the first Chinese central government. In his efforts to make this new concept of centralized rule “stick”, as well as prevent the reemergence of feudal lords, Shih Huangdi ordered the destruction of the wall sections that divided his empire along the forme...
The way the Chinese have conceived of their past, and of themselves, was profoundly shaped by the Shiji. The Shiji, or Historical Records, was a monumental work composed of 130 chapters written during the Han dynasty by Sima Qian. It presented the past from several perspectives: a chronological narrative of political events; topical accounts of key institutions; and biographies of individuals that Qian saw as important. The political narrative began with the Yellow Lord and continued through the Xia, Shang, and Zhou dynasties, down to the Han dynasty and Emperor Wudi of Sima Qian's day. Chronological charts with genealogical data and information on government posts came next, such as the calendar, state ritual, the construction of waterworks, and government finance. Thirty chapters were devoted to the ruling houses of the states of the Zhou period, recounting the reigns of successive rulers. These were supplemented by seventy chapters on other important individuals, including not only great officials and generals, but also people not associated with the government, both the famous and infamous including: philosophers, poets, merchants, magicians, and even rebels. Even non-Han people along the frontiers were described in narrative accounts. The emergence of a unified empire out of the warring States of pre-Qin China, the consolidation of the former Han, and the relations between the empire and the surrounding people groups were major themes in the Shiji. Qian’s records also offer insights through his role as a historian and his attempt to resolve a life changing experience he distinguished in his own life. Equally important, Sima Qian, by writing so well on so much, had a profound impact on Chinese thinking about government, pers...
He decided to spread Catholicism and to fight the infidel Moors. Thus, his sailors treated unfamiliar cultures and religions as hostile as well as searching military allies in western Africa. One of the Muslim city was attacked by Prince Henry and his brother in 1437. (Wolf, 2005, p. 7) In contrast, Zheng He was a servant of Yongle Emperor. He was just executing the orders from the emperor that were showing Ming’s power to foreign countries, establishing diplomatic relations, trading and intelligence collection.
rules and laws that applied only to those who were peasants. The laws sort of boosted their lives; he kept the land tax low, and the granaries stocked to guard against famine. During his reign he also attempted and succeeded in building up the class of those of the peasant and working class. Hongwu’s new government did not cause any change for those in other social classes.