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Home , Qin dynasty

THE DYNASTY By 221 B.C.E. a man by the name of Qin had overthrown all remaining members of the Dynasty, and all other opposition, allowing him to place himself as the ruler of . QIN SHIHUANGDI

• In order to show his importance and power, Qin added a new name to his own. He began calling himself Qin Shihuangdi, which means Qin, the first . “CHINA”: DERIVATIVE OF “QIN”

Dynasty would last less than 15 years. Yet would make changes that would effect the for thousands of years. The name of the nation, China, is a derivative of his name. CONTROL FREAK • Qin wanted everything to be under his direct authority and control.

• He ruled using Legalism.

• could not trust his subjects to make good choices.

• He burned books so he could control the thoughts of his people. BOOK BURNING

• He greatly weakened the teachers and scholars: Censorship was introduced. Qin burned what he called useless books. If a book was not about agriculture, medicine, or prophecy, it was burned. Scholars who refused to allow their books to be burned where either burned alive or sent to work on the wall. Qin did not want his people wasting time. He wanted nearly all the people to grow food. WRITTEN LAWS

• He established a strict set of written laws that were recognized throughout China, and setup military control in each region of China so that

local nobleman could not rebel All people are subject to me, against the emperor. Every field harvest, and Everyone can have enough food. “A THOUSAND MAY DIE SO THAT MILLIONS MAY LIVE."

• He gave most peasants one of two jobs: Either a peasant was assigned to grow food or to harvest silk. If they tried to do anything else besides their assigned job, they were put to death or sent to work on the wall. If people were slow or lazy, they were put to death or sent to work on the wall. • He built public works projects: Qin put some people to work building bridges, roads, canals, and systems of flood control. The people he assigned to do this work either did the work they were assigned to do quickly and well, or they were killed or sent to work on the wall. STANDARDIZATION

• Qin standardized writing, weights and measures • He also standardized coins • Built an extensive large road system

QIN BUILDING PROJECTS

• He used peasants, forcing them to work under slave conditions, so that he could build roads, bridges, canals, buildings

• . THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA

THE GREAT WALL Early emperors built walls in the north to protect against attack from outsiders

Qin connected the existing walls and expanded them PEASANT LABOR • Hundreds of thousands of peasants were forced to help build the Great Wall of China. Many of them died during the construction. After working for several years, the Great Wall of China was completed, and still stands today as one of the great building projects in .

QIN’S TOMB • In 1974 in China archaeologists made the most incredible find buried in the earth. They discovered about 8,000 life-sized warriors, made of clay, buried together, standing upright, as if ready to fight a war. • Some statues are kneeling. Some have bows and arrows made of clay, drawn and ready. Some have armor made of clay. There were and spears and knives and all kinds of weapons, all made of terra-cotta clay. Even their clay faces were different. Some men had moustaches. No two statues looked alike. PIT NUMBER ONE PIT # 1 CONTAINS OVER 6,OOO SOLDIERS SITE OF THE WELL WITH UMBRELLA TROOPS