This encyclopedia is written in four small topics. Ying Zheng’s personal life, his ancestry and Surname, the country he unified, and how the emperor’s belief in matters spiritual or occult. E. Zurcher has organized the information carefully, and also listed some major events which make this encyclopedia more clearly structured. In the course of my reading, I can have a roughly image about the life of the first emperor Qin Shi Huangdi.
E. Zurcher presented all the evidence logically, which showed events from the birth of Qin Shi Huangdi to his death. Unfortunately, the author does not give any conclusion to his paper. So I feel like to suddenly paused, and does not impress me a lot. But overall, this is a good encyclopedia. The information is organized and shows evidence clearly.
Furthermore, my other source Qin Shihuang was written more on Qin’s war of unification. The author stated that in 230 B.C., Ying Zheng unleashed the final campaigns of the Warring States Period, and he setting out to conquer the remaining independent kingdoms, one by one. The first expansion and occupation of the lands was Han, Wei and Zhao followed from 238 to 236 B.C., with a prince of Zhao setting himself up as king of Dai. By 221, Chu, Yan, Dai and Qi had all been incorporated into Qin. In this website, the author indicated every details of how Qin Shihuang conquered and unified each small state. This website is built by China Culture Organization, but it does not show who is the author, and also does not mention how he/she gets these information. Whereas, it is obviously that the author must get his/her evidence from careful research through manuscripts and documents because in the part of how Qin Shihuang conquered other kingdoms and unified China, the author makes very dramatic description and also in an organized way.
Moreover, this website illustrates how Qin Shihuang abolished the existing feudal system in order to avoid the recurrence of the political chaos of the Warring States Period. Qin Shihuang established prefectures and counties with further townships. These were put under the control of military and administrative officials who were his direct appointees. The state was divided into thirty-six prefectures with counties under their jurisdiction. This system was different from the previous dynasties, which had loose alliances and federations, which means people could no longer be identified be their native region or former feudal state.
This website is just stating the facts in detailed, and there is not judgment or bias. The author describe Qin Shihuang’s unification by using map and picture, which makes me feel clear about Qin Shihuang’s strategy and his route way.
Compare with the encyclopedia and the website, my another source which was an article I found in WSU library named China’s First Empire by Loewe, Michael showed a little biased to this first emperor of China. Obviously, Qin Shihuang was a ruthless tyrant, but under his leadership, he built many brilliant achievements. However, as I read through China’s First Empire, I found that the author only wrote a little on Qin Shihuang’s achievements, but focus on his cruel behavior. Loewe used thousands of words to prove his thesis which was Qin Shihuang was a ruthless tyrant, and people were under a big suffering while he was ruling.
Loewe wrote his article began with the discovery of the underground soldiers, which known as terra-cotta warriors. Then, in the following paragraphs, the author listed many events, such as burn all the books in the empire and to execute those scholars and their families who opposed his rule, also many people were suffering in built the Great Wall and the tomb in Lishan. Loewe also used an example to show how cruelty the emperor was. Loewe said, in the 212 B.C., Qin Shihuang had arrested approximately forty hundred and sixty Confucian scholars and buried them alive for owning the forbidden books in Xianyang City, Shanxi Province.
In here, I must say that, all the events presented by the author were true, however, he evaded from Qin Shihuang’s achievements, but focus on the negative side is really not fair for the emperor. For me, I am a Chinese, and I have been learned about Qin Shihuang in my middle school in China. Therefore, I understand although Qin Shihuang was a ruthless ruler, but his had a lot of achievement which can cover his atrocity. However, let us think about if a person who know nothing about Qin Shihuang, and read this article, he/she must feel that Qin Shihuang has to be a brutal killer with not concerned about his kingdom, but a selfish killer. And with no doubt, this will cause discrimination on this great Chinese emperor.
Nevertheless, this article is really impressing me. And I think this can explain why I feel unhappy when I read this article and find out that the author may have some bias towards Qin Shihuang. This article is well organized, and the good transition makes me feel easily to understand. The author also writes some little stories in his article to show Qin Shihuang’s tyrannical behavior, and this attracted me.
Historically, Qin Shihuang has always been a “cruel” image appeared in front of the future generations. The reason we regard him as a cruel emperor is because of the implementation of a series of “tyranny” when he was in the dominion. However, through careful study the relevant records of Qin Shihuang in China’s First Unifier by Derk, Bodde, I start to realize that some mistakes that Qin Shihuang made were not all his fault. There was another man name Li Ssu, who acted as an advisor of Qin state.
Unlike my other sources, the author of this book does not pay much attention of the emperor, but focused on Li Ssu. The author believes that the life of Li Ssu can represent the development of Qin dynasty. Li Ssu persuaded Qin Shihuang, at the time he was Ying Zheng to conquer other kingdoms, and unify China. After Ying Zheng personally took charge of his kingdom and created a new title calling himself Qin Shihuang, Li Ssu also helped Qin Shihuang to abolish the feudalism, and burned books. Besides, with Li Ssu’s help, Qin Shihuang established law, and also unified the Chinese common written language. Under Li Ssu’s assistance, Qin Shihuang established an extremely centralized government.
Derk did a lot of research before he began to write this book. He got advice and assistance from scholars in Peiping, China and the University of Leyden, Holland. The book had twelve chapters, which Derk considered Li Ssu in three aspects: as an individual, as a statesman, and as a thinker. In his book, Derk believed that Li Ssu might be the key for the achievements of Qin Shihuang.
The author described a lot of facts to support his thesis, and all the evidence were presented logically. But there were some ancient names and details which really made me hard to understand. On the whole, the stories in this book were interesting, and it was a lot of fun to read them.
Comparing all of my four resources, the one I like most is China’s First Empire by Loewe. Although I felt the author may have some bias toward Qin Shihuang, I still like to read it. By reading the text, I can even imagine a vivid picture in my mind. However, I believe the book China’s First Unifier by Derk, Bodde is the most helpful one for me. Honestly, I have no idea about Li Ssu, and I did not know who he was. After read this book, I learned many things about the man who behind Emperor Qin Shihuang.
Worked Cited
Derk, Bodde, China’s First Unifier, Netherlands: Leiden, E.J. Brill, 1938.
E. Zurcher, S.F. Teiser and M. Kern, A Biographical Dictionary of the Qin Former Han And Xin Period (221 B.C. --- A.D. 24), Encyclopedia, United States of America: Cambridge University, 2001.
Loewe, Michael. China’s First Empire, United State of America: History Today, Sep. 2007.<http://ntserver1.wsulibs.wsu.edu:2061/ehost/resultsadvanced?vid=3&hid=102&sid=c98ccbf9-b644-4a6d-b237-00380b062d80%40sessionmgr110&bquery=(America%3a+History+AND+Life+with+Full+text)&bdata=JmRiPWVjbiZ0eXBlPTEmc2l0ZT1laG9zdC1saXZl>.
Qin Shihuang, China Culture.org, Ministry of Culture, P.R. China, 2003.< >.
