Witness to China's Qin Terracotta Warrior Army>>The Decline of the Qin Empire and the Death of the First Emperor of China

 

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The Decline of the Qin Empire and the Death of the First Emperor of China

 

In Qin era, China was subjected with the most violent and bloody phase based on a rigid control of intellectual life. In 213 BC the first emperor of China ordered burying 460 Confucius scholars and other 700 their relations alive. In addition, all histories works referring to topics rather than totalitarian philosophy he advocated, would be burned. It witnessed an unprecedented cultural disaster which caused many of the schools of thought disappeared and it marked the signs of more political instability and thereafter caused the decline of the Qin Empire.

 

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In addition, the First Emperor of China invested huge resources in a series of massive projects. There built so many royal palaces around China that some never had a chance to be visited. Every palace was enormous. Some years latter, a rebellion army burnt the royal palaces in the Qin's capital, Xianyang. It was rumored the fire had lasted for three months. Other famous projects he created including the grand mausoleum complex for himself, the extension and construction of the Great Wall of China, 2,600 miles defensive fort in keeping out nomad invaders.

To support those massive projects, the first emperor of China created a tax system that was said to take as much as 50 percent of a family's yearly earning. He who could not pay their taxes together with those who commit crimes would send faraway to labor on the toughest projects.

 

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Even more oppressive, was conscription. All males unless those who had noble privileges, from 15 to 59 years of age were obliged to work one month per year on local projects. These projects could be roads, irrigation systems, royal palace, mausoleum constructions and many others. People were also required to serve in the army at least two years in their lives including one year at the frontier. More over, they may be forcibly recruited at any time into the army for any military campaigns while they were not on those duties.

The first emperor of China imposed a harsh legal code on his empire to ensure his firmly control. Any one who was believed to threaten the emperor would no doubt to be executed. And the criminals' all relatives and friends even the neighbors would face the same punishment if they didn't reveal the criminals initially.

Many people thus had to away from the fields, conscripting in the army, banishing to work on the emperor's numerous projects. Their crops frequently failed. Consequently the poor often starved to death.

Through years of ruthless and brutal control over the Qin empire, the emperor was greatly resented-three times his enemies almost killed him. And for the rest of his reign, he was increasingly paranoid suffering from the images of death haunted his dreams. He became obsessed with finding an elixir for immortality and took more and more so-called elixir, which contains mercury and other poisonous substances. Far from prolonging his life as the result, it ironically had the opposite effect. In 210 BC at the age of 49, he died on the way of inspection tour.

One year latter, during Qin II's reign, 900 peasants were late for the duty to the northern frontier regions due to heavy rain. They would be all beheaded once after they arrived according to the Qin harsh law code. Thus a revolt erupted and then followed by rebellions all over the Qin empire. In 206 BC the Qin reign was overthrown with the surrenders of the Qin's new leader, Zi Ying only 47 days after he came to the power.

Rather than lasting forever as the dictator once proclaimed,  the Qin empire existed only 15 years. However, his ideas and accomplishments influenced Chinese civilization for thousands of years.

Today, with tourists from around the world come in an endless stream, the splendid Great Wall of China as well as the breathtaking scale of Qin Terracotta Warrior Army offer a glimpse of the Chinese giant's ambition: he may not rule the world forever, but he has certainly achieved immortality of a kind.

 

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