7.7.3 The fall of the Qin Qin Shihuang wanted to live forever. He sent people to ýnd the secret of everlasting life, but they never returned. He surrounded himself with fortune-tellers who promised him immortality, but he died at age 49 in 210 BCE while travelling. His minister, Li Si, and others pretended he was still alive to choose a new leader. To hide the smell of his body, they followed the emperor’s carriage with a cart of rotting ýsh. Later, they announced his death, which might have been caused by mercury in immortality drugs. Qin Shihuang’s successor, the Second Emperor, ruled for only a few years. High taxes and forced labour made life hard for peasants, who were forced to build palaces, roads and the Great Wall. From 209 to 206 BCE, a peasant rebellion destroyed the Qin dynasty. The rebel leader, Liu Bang, became emperor and started the Han dynasty. Qin Shihuang’s dream of a long-lasting dynasty failed, but he united rival states into an empire and created a government system that lasted until the twentieth century.
Did you know? In ancient China, dragons were symbols of wisdom, strength and goodness. Qin Shihuang was the ýrst to use the dragon as a symbol for emperors.
SOURCE4 An extract from Thomas Bartlett, Qin Dynasty: China’s Ancient Revolution
The overall image of the Qin state and its imperial phase [the period of the Qin dynasty], as transmitted through history by surviving records, is a grimly harsh one . . . These charges [against the Qin rulers] reþect early Han writers’ self-interested writing of Qin history . . . Overall, the Qin reþects in concentrated form the inhumane aspects of the Warring States period . . . But, from the perspective of nation building, some modern Chinese . . . emphasise his achievements, typically saying that ‘he sacriýced one generation to beneýt 10 000 future generations’.
SOURCE5 A section of the Great Wall of China
7.7 SkillBuilder activity COMMUNICATING Scenario
Modern leaders sometimes use advertising teams, called ‘spin doctors’, to make their actions seem better. Imagine your group is hired by Qin Shihuang to create an advertisement focusing on his achievements, not the suffering or deaths caused by his rule.
208 Jacaranda Humanities Alive 7 Victorian Curriculum Third Edition
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