Premium Essay

First Empire of China

In:

Submitted By rhi0099
Words 1779
Pages 8
King Zheng first Emperor of China is considered the most powerful and successful leader in his time. Zheng was a successful leader as he not only unified all 6 warring states but then further developed a lasting government and legal system, gained control over a powerful army, introduced a new coinage system, establishing social cohesion, developed a building program and a consistent system of transport which all contributed to his lasting legacy.

King Zheng established a unified China with one ruler, the Emperor, regarded as the sole divine power. He accomplished this by using his army to overtake all the other six states he did this by taking over the neighbouring Han State, which already had a political organisation and combined their armies with his giving him enough power to conquer all other states. He then made himself the ‘sole divine leader.’ After he accomplished this he established a system of government among the seven states none of which had any more power than him. He was the sole leader of his and the other six states, which were ruled by six governors or ministers and under them were six lower leaders of their own individual sections. He established this and form of government to gain full control over all people of China. Each set family would spy on one another and report back to the Emperor, thus giving King Zheng control of all aspects of life. An example of this occurs in the movie/documentary ‘The first Emperor of China’ where a spy uncovers plans his mother had to overthrow his rule and have it succeeded by one of her other sons, resulting in their death. He believed himself so successful that he considered himself above man, as a divine power such as a god. Although his methods were forceful, King Zheng successfully overthrew all six states Uniting China and became the sole Emperor with divine power who controlled his government and

Similar Documents

Premium Essay

Dramatic Change In Ancient China

...potentially, a few years, it would be noticeable, and people might recognize the change. However, with a drawn out decline, like that of the Roman Empire, that lasted around hundred or more years, it is very difficult to predict or be cognizant of, the dramatic change that is occurring. Like the frog, everything...

Words: 674 - Pages: 3

Premium Essay

Compare And Contrast Sui And Tang Empires

...chapter 11 begins with the sui and tang empires which had ruled over parts of east Asia and china during the span of 581 bce to 755 bce. The sui empire was established after the fall of the Han in 581 bce and within the time period the area that was was previously known to be Han was broken into pieces . across that region that had been previously known to be Han territory had then became sui territory after the sui people had taken rule over China. As soon as the sui rulers had settled themselves within the empire the began to change and structure the empire and the first change they had made was renaming their capital changan. Yet ,the empire was governed and constituted in northern China ,along the yangzi river where most of the population...

Words: 583 - Pages: 3

Premium Essay

Emperor Qin Shi Huang

... Emperor Qin Shi Huang was the first emperor of what would come to be known in the Western world as China. He unified the warring states of China and kept them together by means of a centralized bureaucracy and a standardized and codified law system. In his 35-year reign, he managed to create magnificent and enormous construction projects such as the Great Wall of China and the Terracotta Army. He standardized all weights and measures used in China, and it was during his reign that the Chinese system of written characters became used throughout the land. Today’s Chinese characters are written differently, but are direct descendants of those used during Qin Shi Huang’s reign. Despite his good intentions in unifying China, he did many things that were deemed ruthless. With Li Si’s advice, he banning and burning of many books and the execution of recalcitrant scholars. At the same time, many slaves were sacrificed during the construction of the Great Wall of China. Many scholars have argued that Emperor Qin Shi Huang was a brutal Emperor and disregard his contributions to China. However, his contributions far surpassed his unmerciful action. Therefore, Emperor Qin Shi Huang was the one of the greatest reformer and pioneer in China history and left behind many legacies that has made China what it is today. Emperor Qin named himself “Qin Shi Huangdi,” which means the first great emperor of China. "Qin was for his original states, 'Shi' means first, and 'Huangdi' was a new compound...

Words: 1564 - Pages: 7

Premium Essay

How Did The Yuezhi Build Too Much Power

...could go from being simple tradesmen in China, to being run out of the country, to starting their own empire, and finally being lead to their own demise. Sometimes too much power is a bad thing, and eventually has the opposite effect on a group of people. The Yuezhi were an Indo-European civilization of about 400,000 that originally resided along the border of China. They were peaceful people and generally tried to avoid conflict. The Yuezhi were mainly known for their trade and for the founding of the Kushan Empire. The Yuezhi were first mentioned in 1st century BC by Guan Rhong, which suggests this is around the time the civilization began. They started out living in the north-western border of China, which gave them access to the jade in the mountains in Gansu. They took this jade and supplied it to the Chinese rulers. Along with the jade, the Yuezhi started providing these same rulers with war horses. A trust was established, and the Yuezhi eventually became the middlemen between China and...

Words: 992 - Pages: 4

Free Essay

The Unification of China

...The Unification of China Tameka Davis Dr. Aradas Tameka Davis World Civilization I Dr. Aradas 11/19/14 The Unification of China The movie “Hero” opens up with a brief history saying that China was once divided into seven kingdoms that warred with each other constantly. It took only one man to conquer all the kingdoms and unite the land into what is now known as China. The opening captions introduce the theme of the movie: “People die for all sorts of reasons: for friendship, love, and an ideal…and people kill for these same reasons also.” (IMDB) Emperor Qin Shih Huang was the first Emperor of China. He unified China, and has left many legacies that have made China what it is today. Emperor Qin managed to create magnificent and enormous construction projects. He also caused cultural and intellectual growth, along with a lot of destruction within China. Although he had good intentions on unifying China, the way he went about it could have been better. Emperor Qin killed many scholars, because he thought they would “outsmart” him. At this time, many slaves were sacrificed during the construction on The Great Wall of China. During 475-221 BC, all of the states were at war with themselves. It was called “The Warring States Period.” (Hinsbergh) China was then divided into many small states and they each had their own ways of doing things. The states were fighting for power, and when a state won, they could take over another state. Within twenty-five years of his reign...

Words: 912 - Pages: 4

Premium Essay

Dbq River Valley Civilizations

...inventions from China. Thanks to them, we can have thThe Contributions to the World The four ancient River Valley Civilizations influenced the future civilizations with their wonderful inventions and technologies. The River Valley Civilizations were Mesopotamia, Egypt, India, and China. Mesopotamia had a written language, Egypt built the pyramids, India had medical advancements, and China had a philosophy called Confucianism. Their inventions were...

Words: 904 - Pages: 4

Premium Essay

Hieu 201

...THE ROMANS AND CHINA Robert King HIEU 201-B05 September 29th, 2014 The West and East both had major super powers at the same time. The Romans in the West and the Han Dynasty in the East. Both had no idea how large the other was. The Roman Empire and the Han Dynasty both had created strong government systems, military and had vast technology advancement. Though they had major differences, they both made a lasting impression on Eastern and Western civilization as we know it today At the height of the Roman Empire it had close to nineteen provinces stretching as far as Syria. "The simple mention of the Roman Empire is sometimes enough to conjure up an image of something that is immensely stable." Roman's had an emperor which ultimately controlled everything. As same to the Han dynasty the emperor came to power with no regards to the law. The Roman empire had a different way to govern a provinces and a cities. they had some freedom on running their government but always had to pay tax and had to take command from a assigned governor. Then Han dynasty like the Roman's used their military power to take over their land. At the height of the Han dynasty they had thirty-one districts, creating law, currency, a weight system and a measurement system. These systems where to overtake old ones in all of the China. This did not go as well as the Romans approach. The Roman empire took control of areas but did not try and change their culture as much. They still had their own...

Words: 1662 - Pages: 7

Premium Essay

Similarities Between Han China And Imperial Rome

...Imperial Rome and Han China were two of the most powerful empires to ever exist. In order to maintain their positions of political power, it was imperative that the rulers of each empire had a way of maintaining unity and controlling the populace. Though they had different forms of government- Rome was a republic, which allowed the people some influence, and Han China was a bureaucracy with one overall leader -each had a unique approach of asserting political control among the population, using varying forms of religion, centralized government, and entertainment for the citizens. 1- Religion: Politically and culturally, religion played an extremely important part in providing political control for both Imperial Rome and Han China. However, both the religions and the way they were used to benefit each empire varied greatly in order to serve the...

Words: 844 - Pages: 4

Free Essay

History

...webs.bcp.org Early Modern Empires (1500-1800) Introduction Before we learn about the unlikely and apparently rapid rise of The West during the 19th and 20th centuries, it’s important to understand the powerful empires of the early modern world between 1500 and 1800. Some readers may be surprised to learn about the wealth, thriving global trade, and dominant manufacturing production in Asia that held sway until at least the end of the 18th century. Throughout much of this era, Europe was, in contrast to Asia, an unimpressive backwater of small countries and kingdoms. But Europe’s “discovery” of the Americas and an ocean route to Asia, just before the year 1500, changed all that. The West gradually worked its way into the global economy and planted the seeds for its imperial rise and eventual dominance over most of the modern world. After 1500, world regions—such as West Africa, East Asia, and South America—fused together into one global trade system. For the first time in history, each region of the world now interacted with the others. For example, enslaved African labor was used in South American plantations to sell cheap sugar to Europe. Silver from Mexico bought loans for Spain, and that same silver ended up in China to buy silk or porcelain for Europeans. And so on. A new global system emerged, forged of uneven relationships, in which a small part of the world, Europe, successfully exploited the world’s human and natural resources to its advantage. This was Globalization...

Words: 1604 - Pages: 7

Free Essay

How Revolutionary Was China 1850-1920

...years of 1850-1920 China did have some factors of being revolutionary, the decline in imperial China, their rise of their military as well as the change in the political parties, China also had factors of being a continuation such as their economy and the leaderships. However there wasn’t many factors of China showing to be a continuation this was because China was changing massively and at a fast rate during this period of time. One way to show that China was a revolutionary was the Boxer Rising. This was a popular anti-western movement in China, which was supported by peasants (such as farmers) uprising in 1900 which was set up to drive all foreigners out of China. It was a violent anti-foreigner and anti-Christian movement; it was motivated by proto-nationalists and backed by the empress dowager CIXI. In 1900 the Boxers besieged the foreign embassies in Beijing for two months until they were relieved by an international force. The rising was intervened by the Great Powers, which defeated the Chinese forces; because of this it further reduced the authority of the QING dynasty. The Boxer Risings changed China quite a lot: It made the leaders of China realise that they had to modernize and adopt European technology as well as this it also helped to opened the doors for Revolutionary movements such as the Communist Party and the to rise and to gain the support of China's people. Another factor that shows how revolutionary China was, was the End of the Chinese Empire. The Taiping Rebellion...

Words: 714 - Pages: 3

Premium Essay

Comparing The Mongol Empire And Genghis Khan

...The Mongol Empire and Genghis Khan are very underappreciated in history. Before the British Empire, the Mongol Empire was the largest land empire in the world and in history. The Mongol Empire included all land from the Pacific Ocean to the Danube River. Genghis Khan, born in 1162, rose from a simple start to be credited with establishing the Mongol Empire. After uniting the nomadic tribes of the Mongolian plateau, Genghis Khan conquered huge chunks of central Asia and China. The Mongol Empire grew to encompass parts of the Middle East and east to the borders of the Korean Peninsula. His descendants expanded the empire even further, after his death, advancing to Poland, Vietnam, Syria, and Korea. At its peak, the Mongol Empire controlled between...

Words: 281 - Pages: 2

Free Essay

Lab 3

...isolated regions with few domesticable plant species;[6] but the relative security and increased productivity provided by farming allowed human communities to expand into increasingly larger units, fostered by advances in transportation. World population[7] from 10,000 BCE to 2,000 CE. The vertical (population) scale is logarithmic. As farming developed, grain agriculture became more sophisticated and prompted a division of labor to store food between growing seasons. Labor divisions then led to the rise of a leisured upper class and the development of cities. The growing complexity of human societies necessitated systems of writing and accounting.[8] Many cities developed on the banks of lakes and rivers; as early as 3000 BCE some of the first prominent, well-developed settlements had arisen in Mesopotamia,[9] on the banks of Egypt's River Nile,[10][11][12] and in the Indus River valley.[13][14][15]...

Words: 3787 - Pages: 16

Premium Essay

Neolithic Revolution Research Paper

...built around farms and schools to educate children. After The Neolithic revolution the first forms of government were established. The Neolithic revolution set the stage for the beginning of civilizations. 2. The Egyptian history was...

Words: 1472 - Pages: 6

Premium Essay

Cultural Identity or Strickt Laws

...Laws History has seen many Empires, their prosperities and downfalls. There were Empires, which had controlled great territories, had amazing culture and had left the great trace in the world history. In general almost every empire had the same story, but the two most significant empires were Roman and Chinese empires. The two had left most enormous traces in History. Roman and Chinese empires had many similarities and differences, but the Roman Empire lasted for only 500 years, while Chinese empire lasted for about 16 centuries. Actually Chine as an Empire had never ruined, it just transformed into a Republic of Chine in 1912. There was simple advantage of Chinese empire over Roman that made it everlasting, China as an Empire was united not only by the laws and military force but also by the culture, ideology and religion, what made Chinese empire one whole nation, whereas Romans were only united by the military forces and not by the cultural heritage that made Chinese empire so united. There are many theories why did Roman Empire collapsed, some of them might seem stupid for example some people think that Romans went crazy because they used led in pots and they ate food which was cooked in pots made of led, so they were poisoned by led and that’s why this huge Empire ruined. Despite these kinds of theories, almost every scholar and historian says that Rome failed as an Empire because of military exhaust, the new religion in the Empire, the division of society, economic...

Words: 1001 - Pages: 5

Free Essay

Milan

...Robert B. Marks, The Origins of the Modern World: A Global and Ecological Narrative Value of Book Wonderful synthesis of recent scholarship on Rise of the West literature with an economic and ecological focus. Uses Global Historical Context to address most issues addressed in the Modern World History course. Use as: Teacher background Use isolated quotes/ chapters for all levels Review book at end of AP curriculum for review Questions raised: 1. How did industry and European-style countries called nation-states—rather than highly developed agrarian empires like China and India—come to define our world? 2. How has the gap between rich and poor increased? 3. How and why have European ways of organizing the world come to dominate the globe? 4. Was the Rise of the West a temporary blip? Scope: Global look (but especially Europe, China and India) 1400 -1900 Chapter by chapter breakdown: Intro “In the space of just 200 years, the world has seen a great reversal of fortune: where once Asians held most of the economic cards, today it is primarily Western countries and Japan.” (p. 2) Concepts addressed/ introduced in chapter: Globalization Enlightenment Communism Nation-states French Revolution Weber-Protestant work ethic Disease Industrial Revolution “modernization” Exploration/ Encounter “Progress History” Colonialism Renaissance Capitalism Slavery Modes of Historical Inquiry  Comparative units of analysis  Definition of Eurocentrism ...

Words: 1368 - Pages: 6