Led by a series of gifted leaders, Qin won 15 major wars from B. Zizhu died after only three years on the throne. Cheng succeeded him.
But since Cheng was only years-old, his mother and Lu Buwei governed in his name until he reached adulthood. When Cheng turned 21 in B. But his mother and her lover conspired possibly with Lu Buwei to overthrow his rule. King Cheng acted quickly to crush the conspiracy. He temporarily banished his mother from the Qin capital, decapitated her lover, and removed Lu Buwei from his high office. King Cheng decided to undertake something never before accomplished by any ruler in the land: the conquest of all the other kingdoms and unification of them under one rule.
He followed Li Si's plan to use spies and bribery to prevent a grand alliance of the other six kingdoms against him. At the same time, he created an unstoppable army that included up to , fighting men, most of them conscripted drafted peasants. Beginning in B. In less than a decade, he had conquered and annexed all six enemy kingdoms. In B. An ancient chronicle of Chinese history records that after the last of the six kingdoms fell, "Qin now possessed All under Heaven.
Shi Huangdi himself declared that his dynasty would endure "for generations without end. Unlike most leaders before him in China, Shi Huangdi favored the new and innovative while rejecting many past traditions. Li Si, appointed as the first emperor's grand counselor, shared this view. During the next few years, the first emperor and Li Si brought about many changes in China.
They standardized writing, coins, and weights and measures. They created a network of tree-lined highways covering more miles than the Roman road system would a few hundred years later. They built palaces, canals, irrigation systems, and Shi Huangdi's own tomb complex.
The first emperor also ordered the extension and new construction of earthen defensive walls in the north to keep out barbarian invaders. This Great Wall of China ran 2, miles across northern China to the sea. Almost 1, years later, it was reconstructed with stone during the Ming dynasty. To support his massive projects, the first emperor created a tax system that burdened everyone, especially the common people.
The emperor's land tax took up to 50 percent of a family's yearly grain production. Even more oppressive, however, was conscription. In addition to military conscription, all males from 15 to 60 years of age had to work for fixed periods on local public works, such as building roads and repairing dikes.
They believed that to be good members of society, people had to be controlled by a strong ruler, strict laws, and harsh punishments. The ruler should be all- powerful. The first emperor believed that Legalism would help him rule his empire.
The Legalists advocated government by a system of laws that rigidly prescribed punishments and rewards for specific behaviours. They stressed the direction of all human activity toward the goal of increasing the power of the ruler and the state. Chinese Legalism — Definition, Belief, History, and Facts What Is Legalism Legalism is an ancient Chinese philosophical school regarding the law, reform, governance, management, economic regulation, etc.
Skip to content Home Philosophy Why is legalism bad? Ben Davis November 20, Why is legalism bad? Does legalism have a God? What is legalism in world history?
What is ethical legalism? Can you see the Great Wall of China from space? Is the Great Wall of China the longest wall in the world? Where is the end of the Great Wall of China? How much of the Great Wall of China is left? Can you walk the length of the Great Wall of China? How effective was the Great Wall of China? What was before the Ming Dynasty?
What is the longest dynasty in history? What Dynasty is China in now? Why did Chinese dynasties fall? Why did China stop having emperors? What is the mandate of heaven in China? How do dynasties fall? How did dynasties end in China? What is the evidence of the dynastic cycle? Why did China create the civil service exam? Did China invent exams? What are examples of civil service? Peasant revolts directly caused the downfall and Qin Dynasty and proved that people, unlike children, do not bow easily to harsh punishments and ruthless censorship.
Terror and strength can conquer a land, but never rule a land. In addition, legalists argue that minor offense should be punished severely, thus discouraging people from committing even the smallest crime. Henfei Zi, one of the founding fathers of legalism, believes that the best penalties are those that are severe and inescapable, so that people will fear them.
Legalists introduce a fear factor into law, arguing that harsh laws would make people scared so to prevent them from committing misdeeds. Laws punish misdeeds, but their function in actually preventing misdeeds has been a subject of debate for a long time. All legal systems, from ancient to modern, punish the act of stealing.
But to say that these laws have successfully eliminated the act of stealing in human society is unreasonable. Therefore the legalists' intention in using harsh laws to prevent misdeeds turned out to be fruitless.
Qin's law guaranteed death penalty to anyone who starts a revolt, but it clearly did not have any influence on peasant leaders such as Chen Sheng.
In contrary, the legal system was so hateful that the action of deliberately breaking it was regarded as brave and heroic. In the end, what is Qin's "law"? Can those measures that the Qin dynasty used to centralize power and repress people be considered as "laws"? On one hand, Qin's system does give a set of standard rules to the society that everyone has to follow.
Therefore it can be thought of as a legal system since it has sovereign power and well-defined standards. But Qin's legal system is very different from our own perception of what a legal system should be.
The Qin dynasty, because of its totalitarianism, used the legal system to strengthen the power of the central government and weaken people. Therefore laws were used more as a tool to keep control than a balance to maintain justice.
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