Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Who was Shi Huangdi?

So, who was Ying Zheng?(his real birth name) He was born in 259 B.C. to the leader of the Qin state. At the age of thirteen Shi tool the throne from his father and an advisor was the ruler until he turned 22 and became ruler of the Qin state. He then used the large army of the Qin state to overthrow the other states and united China. as you can see Shi Huangdi was a very important part of ancient China.

Friday, February 11, 2011

The Ruling Methods of Shi Huangdi

Huangdi was not the kindest ruler, he had harsh laws and didn't care that much for his subjects welfare. There was a reason for this though. Many people in China then were not happy with being conquered by the Qin state. The result was a group of rebels. To keep his country in order Shi Huangdi had to build the great wall to keep his subjects from leaving and all books besides ones related to agriculture were burned. I'm not sure I agree with his tactics, but he sure did have a hard job.

The TerraCotta Army

As you can see Shi Huangdi had no problem with safety after he died. When he turned thirteen Huangdi had his tomb built and it was still not finished when he died. Inside were an estimated 6,000 terracotta warriors(a type of clay). Each and every one of the warriors were brightly colored and some were on foot, horse, and chariot. Buried under 10' of dirt this motionless army was not meant to be seen or found.

The great, Great wall of China

Shi Huangdi was the person in command of the construction of the Great Wall. During this massive assembly, lets say not everything was bright and sunny. A staggering ~400,000 perished during construction, some were buried alive into the wall because they were found sleeping on the job. The reason for this consturction was the strange part. Shi Huangdi had the wall built not to keep invaders out, but mostly to keep his rebeling subjects from leaving! I think we have an ancient Hitler here!

Thursday, February 10, 2011

The beggining of China as a country... a long time ago

You probably think this old guy is some boring history,(and he might be) but I think you should still read this blog because he pretty much had his own holocaust. So, to begin for almost 250 years what is now China was separate countries called the seven warring states. Eventually at 221 B.C. Shi Huangdi, leader of the Qin state and part of the Qin dynasty, came out as the man who declared himself the first emperor of China.(sounds like a dictator to me) Finally, China was a united country.