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However, it was not until nearly a century later, after a lengthy series of battles and campaigns, that the king of Qin defeated the last of his enemies in 221 BCE, abandoning the title "king" (王, ''wáng''), and adopting for the first time the title ''huángdì'' (皇帝), today translated as "emperor." As a result, he has come to be known as Qin Shihuangdi, or "First Emperor of Qin." The Qin capital was at [[Xianyang]], on the opposite side of the [[Wei River]] from the later imperial capital of [[Chang'an]]. Founded during the Warring States period, Xianyang remained the capital after unification, and was expanded under Qin Shihuangdi.
However, it was not until nearly a century later, after a lengthy series of battles and campaigns, that the king of Qin defeated the last of his enemies in 221 BCE, abandoning the title "king" (王, ''wáng''), and adopting for the first time the title ''huángdì'' (皇帝), today translated as "emperor." As a result, he has come to be known as Qin Shihuangdi, or "First Emperor of Qin." The Qin capital was at [[Xianyang]], on the opposite side of the [[Wei River]] from the later imperial capital of [[Chang'an]]. Founded during the Warring States period, Xianyang remained the capital after unification, and was expanded under Qin Shihuangdi.
The period saw numerous reforms and institutional establishments, including the institution of universal military service, and the end of Zhou feudalism. Nobles' estates were redivided into prefectures, called ''xiàn'' (県), and were placed under the control of administrators appointed from the center (rather than semi-independent nobles), thus establishing one pillar of an early form of Chinese imperial bureaucracy. This also weakened the ability of nobles to coordinate successful rebellions. The tax system was reorganized to be based on the individual household, rather than by estate, thus more effectively capturing tax revenues from each household. Many of these innovations were not truly new, but were adapted from the practices of states the Qin had conquered.
The period saw numerous reforms and institutional establishments, including the institution of universal military service, and the end of Zhou feudalism. Nobles' estates were redivided into prefectures, called ''xiàn'' (県), and were placed under the control of administrators appointed from the center (rather than semi-independent nobles), thus establishing one pillar of an early form of Chinese imperial bureaucracy. This also weakened the ability of nobles to coordinate successful rebellions. The tax system was reorganized to be based on the individual household, rather than by estate, thus more effectively capturing tax revenues from each household. Many of these innovations were not truly new, but were adapted from the practices of states the Qin had conquered. The Qin also employed corvée labor, drawn up from across the realm, to build roads, canals, the [[Great Wall of China|Great Wall]], and the [[Terracotta Army|First Emperor's tomb]], among other public works projects. The rule of the First Emperor also saw the standardization of weights and measures, of the writing system, and so forth across the realm, where previously each of the warring states had followed its own separate system.
The Qin Dynasty operated chiefly on the ideology of [[Legalism]], in which people were rewarded for good behavior, and harsh punishments were meted out according to the rule of law, along with [[Taoism]]; [[Confucianism]] was harshly suppressed, and only became established as the standard political philosophy of Imperial China beginning in the [[Han Dynasty]].
The Qin Dynasty operated chiefly on the ideology of [[Legalism]], in which people were rewarded for good behavior, and harsh punishments were meted out according to the rule of law, along with [[Taoism]]; [[Confucianism]] was harshly suppressed, and only became established as the standard political philosophy of Imperial China beginning in the [[Han Dynasty]].
==Reputation==
Due to the way Chinese histories traditionally describe former dynasties as corrupt or tyrannical in order to explain their loss of the [[Mandate of Heaven]], as well as due to the dynasty's genuinely harsh policies, the Qin, and Qin Shihuangdi in particular, has acquired a particularly negative reputation as cruel and authoritarian.
The Han Dynasty scholar Jia Yi (201-c. 168 BCE) is among the more oft-quoted sources on the character of the Qin. He emphasizes the First Emperor's policy of [[burning books and burying scholars]], i.e. destroying rival ideologies, characterizing his rule as one of weakening the people and working to keep them ignorant, and accusing him of abolishing the ways of the ancient [[Sage Kings]]. Other writings on the Qin emphasize the heavy burden of conscript labor imposed upon the country by the First Emperor, and the harsh legal code, which often punished an entire family for the wrongdoing of one of its members; however, historians today point out that this was not actually that much harsher than many other regimes, and that the legal code also prioritized seeking actual evidence over confessions by torture.
Though widely acknowledged as quite harsh, many historians today present a more balanced view, emphasizing the need for strong control following such a lengthy and chaotic period of Warring States, and emphasizing too the many positive reforms and institutional precedents set by the Qin.
==Emperors of the Qin Dynasty==
==Emperors of the Qin Dynasty==
|- align="center"
|- align="center"
|width="32%"|Preceded by:<br>'''[[Warring States Period]]'''
|width="32%"|Preceded by:<br>'''[[Warring States Period]]'''
|width="35%"|'''Warring States'''<br>221-206 BCE
|width="35%"|'''Qin Dynasty'''<br>221-206 BCE
|width="32%"|Succeeded by:<br>'''[[Han Dynasty]]'''
|width="32%"|Succeeded by:<br>'''[[Han Dynasty]]'''
|}
|}
==References==
==References==
*Conrad Schirokauer, et al, ''A Brief History of Chinese and Japanese Civilizations'', Fourth Edition, Cengage Learning (2012), 30-31.
*Conrad Schirokauer, et al, ''A Brief History of Chinese and Japanese Civilizations'', Fourth Edition, Cengage Learning (2012), 30-31, 47-51.
[[Category:Historical Periods]]
[[Category:Historical Periods]]
