State of Qin vs. the Qin Dynasty

1. State of Qin vs. the Qin Dynasty • State of Qin (778 BC-207 BC) merged as one of the strongest seven states due to the Shang Yang Reform, among other things; • His patron is Duke Xiao of Qin 秦孝公; • A humble start; • The Qin Dynasty (221 to 206 BC) marked a turning point in history from a multistate nation to a unified and more centralized kingdom. • China has become imperialistic.

2. Strategic Locationthe Hangu Pass • Hangu Pass 函谷关, a strategic pass in today's Lingbao County, Henan Province. Built in 361 BC • a vital route • Lao Zi supposedly wrote the Dao De Jing 道德经at Hangu Pass.

3. Strategic Location • 一夫当关【yīfūdāngguān】 one strong man stand in the way full of valor and vigor.，万夫莫开【wànfūmòkāi】 even 10,000 men can not break through; unbreakable.

4. The Qin army opened the pass to meet the enemy, yet the troops of the nine states, hesitant to move forward, dared not enter… Jia Yi’s “The Faults of Qin” 秦人开关而迎敌，九国之师逡巡而不敢进

5. In the latter half of the Warring States, King Zhaoxiang of Qin 秦昭襄王 or 秦昭王) (324 BC – 250 BC) or King Zhao of Qin adopted a strategy by Fan Zhui 范雎, his chancellor. The strategy destroyed the alliance among the six states. In 260 BC, King Zhao won the vital Battle of Changping against the State of Zhao. Befriend a distant state while attacking a neighbour 远交近攻 (No. 23 out of the Thirty-Six Stratagems)

6. Map of the Warring States

7. The Sequence in Qin’s Conquest of other states • Conquest of Han: 230 • Conquest of Zhao: 228 • Conquest of Wei: 225 • (Han, Zhao and Wei used to be the State of Jin, but divided in 403 BCE—partition of the Jin 三家分晋) • Conquest of Chu: 223 (Chu being the biggest state in the south) • Conquest of Yan: 222 (See the Emperor and the Assassin 荆轲刺秦王, a film directed by Chen Kaige) • Conquest of Qi: 221 (surrendered to Qin without fighting though it is one of the strongest.)

8. Sequence and Consequence

9. Military Supremacy兵马俑【bīngmǎyǒng】 burial figures of warriors and horses;terracotta warriors • Qin’s archery (Zhao’s calligraphy); • Qin’s soldiers fight without helmets--bare-headed” army of the Qin dynasty • Shang Yang’s military reform—based on merit and equality, getting rid of hereditary succession; • Ebrey 39—what happened to artisans and craftmen?

10. Welcome Worthies and Talented • Zhengguo Canal 郑国渠; • Originally dispatched to Qin from Han as a spy to exhaust the State of Qin by a huge undertaking 疲秦计, but the King of Qin did not kill him; • About 150 kilometers long, the canal diverted River Jing to River Wei, thus able to irrigate 40,000 顷 field • 【qǐng】 qing, a unit of area (=6.6667 hectares);

11. A dam is a barrier to obstruct the flow of water, esp. one of earth, masonry, etc., built across a stream or river. Weir 〔英国〕堰，(导流)坝To divert the flow of the water The Weir at River Du, Dujiang Yan 都江堰, 256 BCE; Zhengguo Canal郑国, 246 BCE Lingqu Canal 灵渠, 214 BCE A weir is a dam placed across a river or canal to raise or divert the water, to regulate or measure the flow. A Dam/Dike vs. a Weir

12. Its length reaches 36.4 km and was installed with thirty-six canal lock gates. The architect who designed the canal was Shi Lu (fl. late 3rd century BC). The canal has been placed on the UNESCO World Heritage Sites Tentative List. thirty-six canal lock gates

13. 秦始皇【qínshǐhuáng】 the first emperor who united China, title change; king of the Chinese State of Qin from 246 BC to 221 BC during the Warring States Period. He became the first emperor of a unified China in 221 BC and died in 210 BC. Qin Shi Huang, Ebrey 37-40(259 BC – 210 BCE)

14. A strong Centralized Government • County magistrates are appointed by the central government; • Registration of the Household, a leash on residents; 户籍【hùjí】 census register; household register; registered permanent residence. This curbs mobility of residents (as responsibilities and benefits are tied to where you live); • Grown up sons must establish their own residence for tax purpose; • Draconian 严厉的，苛刻的 legal practice;

15. Two famous Chancellors • Lǚ Buwei • the 239 BCE Lüshi Chunqiu (Mr. Lü's Spring and Autumn Annals, the title echoes Confucius’ Spring & Autumn Annals). • Offered award for any revision—1000 gold pieces for one word; • His dynamic relationship with the first emperor; • Li Si 李斯; (ca. 280 BC – September or October 208 BC) was the influential Prime Minister (or Chancellor) of the feudal state and later of the dynasty of Qin, between 246 BC and 208 BC. A famous legalist, he was also a notable calligrapher of小篆Xiao Zhuan, Small Seal Script.

16. Lǚ Buwei 吕不韦 • Records of The Grand Historian by Sima Qian 司马迁的史记, renditions by Columbia University Press, translated by Burton Watson • The First Emperor was a son of King Zhuangxiang of Qin. When King Zhuangxiang was a hostage for the state of Qin in Zhao, he happened to see a concubine belonging to Lǚ Buwei (35). • It was customary for the ruling families of the various states to exchange sons as hostages so as to insure compliance with diplomatic and military alliances. But usually a king won’t send his best son out on such a mission…Zi Chu was such a son held in the state of Zhao at the time.

17. Lǚ Buwei 吕不韦 vs. Qin Shi HuangThe Emperor and the Assassin • Qin Shi Huang’s birth remains a riddle since in The Records of the Grand Historian 史记, Sima Qian gave us two contradictory accounts; • As Emperor’s 仲父 • 【zhòngfù】 , literally the second father, equivalent to a mentor, god-father figure. • 奇货可居 • 【qíhuòkějū】 hoard as a rare commodity: Lǚ Buwei’s investment in Qin Shi Huang. • See the notes below.

18. Lǚ Buwei carefully plotted the whole thing, and successfully persuaded Lady Huayang in accepting and adopting Zichu (Yiren) as her son; If the first emperor were Lǚ Buwei’s son, it would make sense that he got rid of King Zhuangxiang by drugging him gradually (by a strong a aphrodisiac) so as to install his own son onto the throne. Lǚ has no reason to do this since he is well paid and treated by the king; 移花接木【yíhuājiēmù】 graft one twig on another; graft; stealthily substitute one thing for another.

19. Wang concluded that the first emperor was indeed King Zhuangxiang’s son. His claim is based on the length of pregnancy. But it is too close to call… Wang’s hypothesis could not brush away all the clouds over the birth of the first emperor; Sima Qian left a riddle to us; Professor Wang Liqun 王立群Wang’s lecture on CCTV

20. Feudalistic Land Ownership • Private ownership of land is legally protected in 216 BCE • This changed the nature of the Chinese society, marking a clear-cut break from the Zhou rule under which Enfeoffment defined the relationship between the son of heaven and his vassals.

21. 分封制 vs. 郡县制Enfeoffment vs. the Prefecture-County System • Li Si’s contribution and diagnosis of enfeoffment: • Enfeoffment, based on its hereditary succession of the titles, featured with inequality and privileges, nurtures local snakes, potentially posing a threat to the central government; the emperor “ordered nobles to leave their lands and move to the capital” (Ebrey 37); • Under the Prefecture-County System, local government officials are appointed directly by the central government, accepting only a title without any land, on salary alone.

22. General Meng Tian 蒙恬—(Ebrey 40) In 218 on his military Expeditionto defeat Xiongnu; Headache of Xiongnu who followed pastures, harrassing China from time to time; To counterbalance Xiongnu, the emperor adopted a new immigration policy, moving 30,000 people to the Inner Mongolian area; This turned out to be quite effective Qin vs. Xiongnu (Mongols/Turks)The Hans vs. the Huns

23. 焚书坑儒【fénshūkēngrú】 burn the books and bury 460 scholars alive in 213 BCE. Out of “Legalist suspicion of intellectual diversity” Ebrey 38Li Si: “Memorial on the Burning of Books”, page 209 in the Source Book, v.1,

24. Two Events Associated with Li Si • 焚书坑儒 • 【fénshūkēngrú】 burn the books and bury the Confucian scholars alive. • Framed Han Fei 韩非, a more talented legalist;

25. Unification vs. Fragmentation • The movie Hero tries to justify the importance of unification from the assassins’ perspective; • For the emperor, it is his sentimental education (climaxed on his epiphany of the character “sword”) • 天下【tiānxià】 land under heaven - the world or China. • The movie The Emperor and Assassin dramatizes the price he paid in order to unify China. • His relationship with his adoptive father; his mother, his brothers, his lady, etc.

26. 指鹿为马 【zhǐlùwéimǎ】 call a stag a horse - deliberately misrepresent. A test/threat posed by Zhao Gao 赵高to the second emperor. Zhao Gao, the First Eunuch 太监, 宦官 Chancellor Who Overpowered an Emperor

27. Uprising at Daze Village, (209 BCE) Prefecture Su, Anhui Province