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Qin Shi Huang's Biblioclasm
The burning of books and burying of scholars was the purported burning of texts in 213 BCE and live burial of 460 Confucian scholars in 212 BCE ordered by Chinese emperor Qin Shi Huang. The events were alleged to have destroyed philosophical treatises of the Hundred Schools of Thought, with the goal of strengthening the official Qin governing philosophy of Legalism. Modern historians doubt the details of the story, which first appeared more than a century later in the Han dynasty official Sima Qian's ''Records of the Grand Historian''. As a court scholar, Sima had every reason to denigrate the earlier emperor to flatter his own, but later Confucians did not question the story. According to the historian Ulrich Neininger, their message was, "If you take our life, Heaven will take the life of your dynasty." Modern scholars agree that Qin Shi Huang gathered and destroyed many works that he regarded as incorrect or subversive. He ordered two copies of each text to be preserv ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Qin Empire 210 BCE
Qin may refer to: Dynasties and states * Qin (state) (秦), a major state during the Zhou Dynasty of ancient China * Qin dynasty (秦), founded by the Qin state in 221 BC and ended in 206 BC * Daqin (大秦), ancient Chinese name for the Roman Empire * Former Qin (前秦), Di state/Di (Wu Hu) in the Sixteen Kingdoms period, 351 AD * Later Qin (后秦), Qiang state in the Sixteen Kingdoms period, 384 AD * Western Qin (西秦), Xianbei state in the Sixteen Kingdoms period, 409 AD Geography * Qin (秦), another name of Shaanxi province, China * Qin County (沁县), in Shanxi province, China * Qin River (Shanxi), Qin River (沁河) in Shanxi, tributary of the Yellow River * Qin River (Hebei) (寢水) in Hebei, a former name of the Ming River Other uses * Qin (surname) * Qin (board game), ''Qin'' (board game) * Qin (Mandaeism), a demon of the Mandaean underworld * Qin (Star Wars), Qin (''Star Wars''), a character on the television series ''The Mandalorian'' * BYD Qin, a car * Guqin (� ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Eastern Wu
Wu (Chinese language, Chinese: 吳; pinyin: ''Wú''; Middle Chinese *''ŋuo'' < Eastern Han Chinese: ''*ŋuɑ''), known in historiography as Eastern Wu or Sun Wu, was a Dynasties of China, dynastic state of China and one of the three major states that competed for supremacy over China in the Three Kingdoms period. It previously existed from 220 to 222 as a vassal kingdom nominally under Cao Wei, its rival state, but declared complete independence in November 222. It was elevated to an empire in May 229 after its founding ruler, Sun Quan (Emperor Da), declared himself Emperor of China, emperor. The name "Wu" was derived from the place it was based in—the Jiangnan (Yangtze River Delta) region, which was also historically known as "Wu (region), Wu". It was called "Dong Wu" ("Eastern Wu") or "Sun Wu" by historians to distinguish it from other Chinese historical states with similar names in that region, such as the Wu (state), Wu state in the Spring and Autumn period and the Wuyu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Great Wall
The Great Wall of China (, literally "ten thousand Li (unit), ''li'' long wall") is a series of fortifications in China. They were built across the historical northern borders of ancient Chinese states and Imperial China as protection against Eurasian nomads, various nomadic groups from the Eurasian Steppe. The first walls date to the 7th century BC; these were joined together in the Qin dynasty. Successive dynasties expanded the wall system; the best-known sections were built by the Ming dynasty (1368–1644). To aid in defense, the Great Wall utilized watchtowers, troop barracks, garrison stations, signaling capabilities through the means of smoke or fire, and its status as a transportation corridor. Other purposes of the Great Wall have included border controls (allowing control of immigration and emigration, and the imposition of duties on goods transported along the Silk Road), and the regulation of trade. The collective fortifications constituting the Great Wall stret ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Shujing
The ''Book of Documents'' ( zh, p=Shūjīng, c=書經, w=Shu King) or the ''Classic of History'', is one of the Five Classics of ancient Chinese literature. It is a collection of rhetorical prose attributed to figures of ancient China, and served as the foundation of Chinese political philosophy for over two millennia. The ''Book of Documents'' was the subject of one of China's oldest literary controversies, between proponents of different versions of the text. A version was preserved from Qin Shi Huang's burning of books and burying of scholars by scholar Fu Sheng, in 29 chapters ( ). This group of texts were referred to as "Modern Script" (or "Current Script"; ), because they were written with the script in use at the beginning of the Western Han dynasty. A longer version of the ''Documents'' was said to be discovered in the wall of Confucius's family estate in Qufu by his descendant Kong Anguo in the late 2nd century BC. This new material was referred to as ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Shi Jing
The ''Classic of Poetry'', also ''Shijing'' or ''Shih-ching'', translated variously as the ''Book of Songs'', ''Book of Odes'', or simply known as the ''Odes'' or ''Poetry'' (; ''Shī''), is the oldest existing collection of Chinese poetry, comprising 305 works dating from the 11th to 7th centuries BC. It is one of the " Five Classics" traditionally said to have been compiled by Confucius, and has been studied and memorized by scholars in China and neighboring countries over two millennia. It is also a rich source of '' chengyu'' (four-character classical idioms) that are still a part of learned discourse and even everyday language in modern Chinese. Since the Qing dynasty, its rhyme patterns have also been analysed in the study of Old Chinese phonology. Name Early references refer to the anthology as the ''300 Poems'' ('' shi''). ''The Odes'' first became known as a ''jīng'', or a "classic book", in the canonical sense, as part of the Han dynasty's official adoption of Con ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
All Under Heaven
''Tianxia'', 'all under Heaven', is a Chinese term for a historical Chinese cultural concept that denoted either the entire geographical world or the metaphysical realm of mortals, and later became associated with political sovereignty. In ancient China and imperial China, ''tianxia'' denoted the lands, space, and area divinely appointed to the Chinese sovereign by universal and well-defined principles of order. The center of this land was directly apportioned to the Chinese court, forming the center of a world view that centered on the Chinese court and went concentrically outward to major and minor officials and then the common subjects, tributary states, and finally ending with fringe barbarians. The center of this world view was not exclusionary in nature, and outer groups, such as ethnic minorities and foreign people, who accepted the mandate of the Chinese Emperor were themselves received and included into the Chinese ''tianxia''. In classical Chinese political thought ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Qin (state)
Qin (, , or ''Ch'in'') was an ancient Chinese state during the Zhou dynasty. It is traditionally dated to 897 BC. The state of Qin originated from a reconquest of western lands that had previously been lost to the Xirong. Its location at the western edge of Chinese civilisation allowed for expansion and development that was not available to its rivals in the North China Plain. After extensive reform during the 4th century BC, Qin emerged as one of the dominant powers among the Seven Warring States. It Qin's wars of unification, unified the seven states of China under Qin Shi Huang in 221 BC. This unification established the Qin dynasty, which, despite its short duration, had a significant influence on later Chinese history. Accordingly, the state of Qin before the Qin dynasty was established is also referred to as the "predynastic Qin" or "proto-Qin". History Founding According to the 2nd-century BC ''Records of the Grand Historian'' by Sima Qian, the state of Qi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Li Si
Li Si (; 208 BC) was a Chinese calligrapher, philosopher, and politician of the Qin dynasty. He served as Chancellor from 246 to 208 BC, first under King Zheng of the state of Qin—who later became Qin Shi Huang, the "First Emperor" of the Qin dynasty. He then served under Qin Er Shi, Qin Shi Huang's eighteenth son and the second emperor. Concerning administrative methods, Li Si is said to have admired and utilized the ideas of Shen Buhai, repeatedly referring to the technique of Shen Buhai and Han Fei, but regarding law, he followed Shang Yang. John Knoblock, a translator of classical Chinese texts, considered Li Si to be "one of the two or three most important figures in Chinese history" as a result of his efforts in standardizing the Qin state and its conquered territories. Li Si assisted the Emperor in unifying laws, governmental ordinances, and weights and measures. He also standardized chariots, carts, and characters used in writing, facilitating the cultural ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Emperor Of China
Throughout Chinese history, "Emperor" () was the superlative title held by the monarchs of imperial China's various dynasties. In traditional Chinese political theory, the emperor was the " Son of Heaven", an autocrat with the divine mandate to rule all under Heaven. Emperors were worshiped posthumously under an imperial cult. The lineage of emperors descended from a paternal family line constituted a dynasty, and succession in most cases theoretically followed agnatic primogeniture. The emperor of China was an absolute monarch. During the Han dynasty, Confucianism gained sanction as the official political theory. The absolute authority of the emperor came with a variety of governing duties and moral obligations; failure to uphold these was thought to remove the dynasty's Mandate of Heaven and to justify its overthrow. In practice, emperors sometimes avoided the strict rules of succession and dynasties' purported "failures" were detailed in official histories written by ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Western Wei
Wei (), known in historiography as the Western Wei (), was an imperial dynasty of China that followed the disintegration of the Northern Wei. One of the Northern dynasties during the era of the Northern and Southern dynasties, it ruled the western part of northern China from 535 to 557. As with the Northern Wei dynasty that preceded it, the ruling family of the Western Wei were members of the Tuoba clan of the Xianbei. History After the Xianbei general Yuwen Tai killed the Northern Wei emperor Yuan Xiu, he installed Yuan Baoju as emperor of Western Wei while Yuwen Tai would remain as the virtual ruler. Although smaller than the Eastern Wei in territory and population, Western Wei was able to withstand the attacks from the eastern empire, most notably at the Battle of Shayuan in 537. Due to its better economical conditions, Western Wei was even able to conquer the whole western part of the Liang empire in the south and occupied the territory of modern Sichuan. In 557 Yuwen Ta ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Liang Dynasty
The Liang dynasty (), alternatively known as the Southern Liang () or Xiao Liang () in historiography, was an imperial dynasty of China and the third of the four Southern dynasties during the Northern and Southern dynasties period. It was preceded by the Southern Qi dynasty and succeeded by the Chen dynasty. The rump state of Western Liang existed until it was conquered in 587 by the Sui dynasty. Rule During the Liang dynasty, in 547 a Persian embassy paid tribute to the Liang, amber was recorded as originating from Persia by the '' Book of Liang''. In 548, the Prince of Henan Hou Jing started a rebellion with Xiao Zhengde, the Prince of Linhe, nephew and a former heir of the Emperor Wu of Liang, and installed Xiao Zhengde as emperor. In 549, Hou sacked Jiankang, deposed and killed Xiao Zhengde, seized power and put Emperor Wu effectively under house arrest. He dismissed the armies opposed to him in the name of Emperor Wu. In 549, Emperor Wu died; Emperor Wu's third ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Emperor Yuan Of Liang
Emperor Yuan of Liang () (16 September 508 – 27 January 555), personal name Xiao Yi (), courtesy name Shicheng (), childhood name Qifu (), was an emperor of the Chinese Liang dynasty. After his father Emperor Wu and brother Emperor Jianwen were successively taken hostage and controlled by the rebel general Hou Jing, Xiao Yi was largely viewed as the ''de facto'' leader of Liang, and after defeating Hou in 552 declared himself emperor. In 554, after offending Yuwen Tai, the paramount general of rival Western Wei, Western Wei forces descended on and captured his capital Jiangling (江陵, in modern Jingzhou, Hubei), executing him and instead declaring his nephew Xiao Cha (Emperor Xuan) the Emperor of Liang. Emperor Yuan was a renowned writer and collector of ancient books, but was criticized by historians for concentrating on eliminating potential contenders for the throne rather than on fighting Hou Jing. As Jiangling was besieged by Western Wei troops, Emperor Yuan set his ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
