In Russian school textbooks on history, ancient China is not told in great detail. Hardly everyone understands that the III century BC. BC, when Qin Shi Huang Ti, the first Chinese emperor, united the warring disunited kingdoms, this was also the time of the Punic Wars between Rome and Carthage. And the events that took place in the East are no less significant than those that shook Europe and its closest neighbors.
Qin Shi Huandi instilled an ideology of order and strong central authority, which is quite relevant for modern humanity. He wanted to live forever. As a result, if not forever, then his funeral pyramid has lived for a very long time, which became the largest archaeological sensation of the 20th century. The so-called Terracotta Army was discovered there - a unique monument that was brought to Moscow in the 21st century and exhibited in the State Historical Museum.
Qin Shi Huang was born in 259 BC. e. in Handing, in the Zhao principality of the Qin kingdom. His father Chuangsiang-wang was a ruler, this follows from his name, because "wang" means "prince" or "king".
The mother was a concubine. That is, Qin Shi Huang Ti is a bastard (illegitimate, illegitimate child). Moreover, the mother passed to Chuangxiang-wang from the previous gentleman, the courtier Lü Buwei. And there were rumors that the son was really his. Lu Buwei, by the way, patronized the boy in every possible way. However, it was not very flattering to be his son, because, unlike Chuangsiang-wang, he was not a prince and even engaged in trade.
The origin can explain a lot about Qin Shi Huang's character. History knows many examples of how it is the illegitimate, and consequently, the wounded, who are desperately striving for power. The great Shakespeare wrote about this many times. There is such a special desire to prove to everyone that, although you are not as noble as others, you are the strongest.
The boy was named Ying Zheng, which means "first." An ingenious guess! After all, he actually became the first Chinese emperor.
As a result of complex court intrigues, Lü Buwei was able to ensure that at the age of 13 Zheng became the ruler of the Qin state - one of the seven Chinese kingdoms. China was going through a period of fragmentation at that time, and each of the principalities had relative independence.
The Chinese civilization is one of the oldest in the world. Its beginning dates back to the XIV century BC. e. It originated, like some other ancient cultures of the East, in the valley of two great rivers - the Yellow River and the Yangtze. River civilization is highly dependent on irrigation. By fighting with neighbors, it is possible to simply destroy the irrigation system that provides the fields with water. Both drought and flooding can cause crop loss, which means famine.
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In the VIII-V centuries BC. e. China was going through a phase of fragmentation and internal wars. However, even in spite of this, the ancient Chinese were characterized by the awareness of themselves as a single great civilization, the Celestial Empire - a wonderful world, surrounded by "evil barbarians" and therefore forced to defend themselves. At the same time, the Chinese actually had something to be proud of. They already had a written language, they mastered metallurgy and were able to create a perfect irrigation system.
It should be noted that the 7 Chinese kingdoms are a semi-legendary concept. For example, Britain on the islands in the Middle Ages also began with the so-called 7 Anglo-Saxon kingdoms. This is a kind of symbol of fragmentation. The Chinese principalities are Yan (northeast), Zhao (north), Wei (northwest), Qin (also northwest), Qi (east), Han (center), and Chun (south).
An important role in overcoming the mosaic disunity was played by the Qin kingdom, located on the northwestern border, in the foothills, in the Yellow River bend. It was not the most advanced economically, because its main forces went to restrain the barbarians who were advancing from the northwest, including the Huns, the future Huns. This is what prompted the inhabitants of the Qin kingdom to create a military organization more powerful than that of their neighbors.
Researchers compare the internal structure of the Qin kingdom with the military organization of Sparta. There are such states - not the most advanced economically, but the most forcedly organized. The strictest discipline, excellent use of weapons - this puts them in the forefront. So Qin turned out to be the most noticeable among the 7 Chinese kingdoms.
Zheng's first 8 years on the throne didn't really rule. Power was in the hands of his patron Lü Buwei, who called himself regent and first minister, also receiving the official title of “second father”.
Young Zheng was imbued with a new ideology, the center of which at that time was the Qin principality. She received the name of legalism, or law school. It was the ideology of totalitarian power. Boundless despotism is generally characteristic of the Ancient East. Let us recall the ancient Egyptian pharaohs who recognized themselves as gods among people. And the rulers of Ancient Assyria said about themselves: "I am the king, the king of kings."
In ancient China, the ideology of legalism replaced the philosophy that was developed about 300 years before Shih Huangdi by the famous thinker Confucius (Teacher Kun, as he is called in the documents). He organized and led the first private school in China. Everyone was accepted into it, not just the children of aristocrats, because the main idea of Confucius is to morally re-educate society through re-educating rulers and officials.
This is in many ways close, for example, to the views of the ancient Greek philosopher Plato, who in the V-IV centuries BC. e., about a century after Confucius, also talked about the need to reeducate the rulers and even tried to move on to practical activities. As you know, Plato irritated one of the tyrants to such an extent that he sold him into slavery.
Confucius, according to the famous historian of ancient China Sima Qian, offered his services to 70 rulers, saying: "If someone uses my ideas, I can do something useful in just one year." But nobody responded.
Confucius' ideas anticipate the philosophy of humanism. His working people should be subordinate and hard-working, but the state is obliged to take care of them and protect them - then there will be order in society. It was Confucius who taught: "Office does not always make a person a sage." And his dream was a sage in a high position.
As Sima Qian wrote, Confucius was dissatisfied with contemporary society, saddened by the fact that the path of the ancient rulers was abandoned. He collected and processed ancient hymns, poems about the unity of the people and power, about the need to obey the ruler, who must be kind to the people. He saw the social order as a close-knit family. Poet Confucius was credited with the authorship, but, apparently, he actually only collected these works.
In the opinion of the young Zheng, fascinated by the ideas of legalism, the law is the supreme power coming from heaven, while the supreme ruler is the bearer of this supreme power.
238 BC e. - Zheng began to rule on his own. He exiled Lu Buwei, suspecting - perhaps not groundlessly - of preparing a rebellion. Then he was forced to commit suicide. The rest of the conspirators were brutally executed. Among others - the new lover of Zheng's mother, Lü Buwei's protege Lao Ai. The era of great executions began.
Qin Shi Huang Ti became the sovereign master of a small but rather warlike principality. For the first 17 years of his independent reign, he constantly fought. Someone Li Si became his right hand. He was a terrible person. Coming from the bottom, from a remote village, he turned out to be very cunning and very belligerent. Li Si ardently shared the ideology of legalism, giving it a certain cruel orientation: he assured that the law and the punishment that ensures it, and therefore rigidity and fear, is the basis of the happiness of all people.
By 221 BC. e. the Qin ruler was able to conquer the other six Chinese kingdoms. On the way to his intended goal, he used both bribery and intrigue, but more often - military force. Subjugating everyone, Zheng declared himself emperor. It was from this time that he was called Shi Huangdi - "the founding emperor" (similar to the ancient Roman designation "Emperor Augustus"). The first emperor, Qin Shi Huang, announced that tens of generations of his descendants would rule. He was cruelly wrong. But so far it seemed that this genus is in fact invincible.
Qin Shi Huang's army was huge (its core was 300 thousand people) and had more and more advanced iron weapons. When she launched a campaign against the Huns, the barbarians were driven back, and the Chinese territory in the north-west was greatly expanded. To provide protection from a hostile environment, the first Chinese emperor ordered to connect the former fortifications of the six kingdoms with new fortifications.
This marked the beginning of the construction of the Great Wall of China. It was built, so to speak, by the whole world, but not voluntarily, but forcibly. The main building force was the soldiers. Hundreds of thousands of prisoners worked with them.
Strengthening the internal order, Qin Shi Huang did not stop fencing off from the outside barbarian world. The mobilized population tirelessly built the Great Wall. The Chinese emperor and conqueror remained. He started wars in South China, on lands that were not part of the 7 kingdoms. Expanding his possessions in the south, Qin Shi Huandi moved further and conquered the most ancient states of Vietnam, which were called Namviet and Aulak. There he began to forcibly resettle the colonists from China, which led to a partial mixing of ethnic groups.
Qin Shi Huang Ti thoroughly engaged in the internal affairs of the state. He is credited with the following slogan: "All chariots with an axis of the same length, all hieroglyphs of the standard writing." This meant the principle of uniformity in literally everything. As you know, the ancient Romans also strove for standardization, in particular of measures and weights. And this was very correct, because it promoted the development of trade. However, in Rome, with all the craving for order and discipline, the elements of democracy were also preserved: the Senate, elected government offices, etc.
In China, however, uniformity was primarily supported by an unrestricted central government. The emperor was declared the son of heaven. There was even an expression "mandate of heaven" - a mandate from higher powers to absolute power over every person.
Taking care of uniformity, Qin Shi Huang Ti created an integral road network. In 212 BC. e. he ordered a road to be drawn from north to east, and then directly south to the capital. At the same time, it was ordered to lay it straight. Fulfilling the command of the emperor, the builders had to cut mountains and throw bridges over rivers. It was a tremendous job, feasible only for the mobilized population of a totalitarian state.
The first Chinese emperor, Qin Shi Huang, introduced a unified system of writing hieroglyphs (in the conquered kingdoms, the writing was somewhat different) and a general system of measures and weights. But along with these good deeds there was also the organization of a unified system of punishments. The Legists stated: “It is possible to trust the mind of the people as much as the mind of a child. The child does not understand that suffering from a small punishment is a means to receive great benefit."
The new capital of Shihuangdi made the city of Xianyang, not far from modern Xi'an, southwest of Beijing, in the center of modern China. The highest nobility from all six kingdoms - 120 thousand families - was moved there. In total, about a million people lived in the capital.
The entire territory of the state was divided into 36 administrative districts, so that the former borders of the kingdoms were forgotten. The new division did not in any way correlate with the former borders or with the ethnic characteristics of the population. Everything was based solely on violence.
Not a single person in the empire could have a personal weapon. It was taken away from the population, and bells and 12 giant statues were cast from the resulting metal.
213 BC e. - passed a law on the destruction of books. His enthusiast was Li Si. He considered it important that people forget about scholarship and never remember the past in order to avoid discrediting the present. The historian Sima Qian quoted the text of Li Si's appeal to the emperor.
The courtier reports with indignation: “Having heard about the publication of the decree on books, these people immediately begin to discuss it based on their own ideas! In their hearts, they deny it and gossip in the side streets! They make a name for themselves by reviling their bosses. All this was considered unacceptable. The people should not have any ideas of their own, and the decisions of the authorities were not subject to discussion.
Li Si's conclusions are as follows: it is impossible to put up with such a situation, as it is fraught with the weakening of the ruler. All the books in the imperial archives must be burned, except for the Qin Dynasty Chronicle. The Shijing and Shu-ching texts - ancient hymns and historical documents, the association of which is attributed to Confucius - should be seized and everything should be burned indiscriminately. Only books on medicine and fortune-telling were not subject to destruction. "Those who wish to learn," writes Li Si, "let him take officials as mentors."
And, of course, anyone who dares to talk about Shijing and Shu-ching should be executed, and the bodies of those executed should be displayed in the shopping areas. If someone begins to criticize the present, referring to the past, and keep forbidden books, he should be executed along with the whole family, while destroying three generations associated with this person.
About 50 years after the death of the emperor, books were found walled up in the wall of one of the old houses. When scientists died, they hid them in the hope of preserving knowledge. This has happened many times in history: the ruler exterminated scientists, but the culture was later revived. And China during the Han dynasty, which established itself on the throne after the successors of Shi Huang, returned to the ideas of Confucius. Although, the great sage could hardly recognize himself in new retellings.
His philosophy was largely based on patriarchal dreams of justice, equality, on the belief in the possibility of re-educating the ruler. After the rule of legism, neo-Confucianism absorbed the idea of the inviolability of order, the natural division of people into higher and lower ones, and the need for a strong central government.
In order to enforce his laws, Emperor Qin Shi Huang created a whole system of severe punishments. The execution types were even numbered for order. At the same time, killing a person with a blow of a stick or piercing a spear are easy methods of execution. In many cases, others, more sophisticated, are needed. Shihuandi constantly traveled around the country, personally monitoring the execution of his orders.
Steles were erected everywhere with inscriptions of the following, for example, content: “The great principle of governing the country is beautiful and clear. It can be passed on to descendants, and they will follow it without making any changes. " On another stele the following words appeared: "It is necessary that people everywhere now know what not to do." The steles of this emperor are the quintessence of despotism based on a prohibitive and punitive system of total control.
Qin Shi Huang built gigantic palaces for himself and ordered to connect them with intricate roads. No one was supposed to know where the emperor was at the moment. He always and everywhere appeared unexpectedly. He had reason to fear for his life. Shortly before his death, three conspiracies were exposed one after the other.
And Shih Huang did not want to die. He believed in the possibility of finding the elixir of immortality. To obtain it, numerous expeditions were equipped, including to the islands of the East Sea, probably to Japan. In ancient times, there was every rumor about this distant and inaccessible land. Therefore, it was not difficult to believe that the elixir of immortality is stored there.
Upon learning of the search for the elixir, the surviving Confucian scientists declared that this was superstition, such a remedy could not exist. For such doubts, 400 or 460 Confucians were buried alive in the ground by order of the emperor.
Never having procured the coveted elixir, Qin Shi Huang focused his attention on his tomb. It is difficult to say whether he actually had the idea that his gigantic army was buried with him, and whether the emperor had to be persuaded to replace the living warriors with terracotta ones.
Shihuangdi died in 210 BC. e., at the next detour of the possessions. His conviction that the established order was unshakable did not materialize. The collapse of the system came pretty soon after his death. Li Si ensured the suicide of the direct heir, the eldest son of Emperor Fu Su, and then made sure that all the sons and daughters of the first Chinese emperor Qin Shi Huang were destroyed one after another. They were done away with by 206. Only his protégé Li Si, the youngest son of Shihuandi Er Shihuang, remained alive, whom Li Si considered a puppet, a toy in his hands.
But the chief eunuch of the palace was able to deal with Li Si himself. The former omnipotent courtier was put to death according to all the rules that he propagandized and enforced, with the fourth, most monstrous version. A very instructive story for villains …
206 BC e. - killed the second emperor Er Shi Huang. A powerful movement of social protest unfolded in the country. After all, the population has suffered for many years from the cruel rules and the growth of taxes. It got to the point that about half of the income was taken from each person. Popular uprisings began, one of them, surprisingly, was successful. The Han Dynasty, which followed the Qin Dynasty, are the descendants of one of the victors who led a massive popular movement.
1974 - A Chinese peasant discovered a fragment of a clay sculpture in a village near the city of Xi'an, not far from the former capital of Shihuangdi (video at the end of the article). Excavations began, and 8,000 terracotta soldiers were found, each about 180 cm high, that is, of normal human height. It was the Terracotta Army that accompanied the first emperor on his last journey. Burial of Qin Shi Huang himself has not yet been opened. But archaeologists believe that it is located there.
The first emperor of China became the hero of numerous books and films. It should be noted that he was very fond of the fascists, who to this day mold their ideal out of him, forgetting how dear the order he created cost the country and how short-lived it turned out to be.
N. Basovskaya