History Of Emperor Qin

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The mystery that still puzzles scholars and archaeologists is why Emperor Qin had 7,000 Terracotta Warriors officers, soldiers, horses, and chariots underground just outside Mount Li in Shaanxi China, the legendary resting place of the First Emperor.

1ST Theory:
The answer may lie with the other items found in his tomb in addition to the terracotta warriors. Very little of the tomb has actually been exhumed, but the writings of the Han scholar Sima Qian (145–c. 90 BC) provide us with the only record of what the tomb of the First Emperor may contain. In this assignment I will argue that Qin’s elaborate tomb and its guardians reflect the parts of life that the Emperor thought were of greatest importance to him, and those things which he wanted to take with him into the afterlife. Reading the articles written about Qin we find that he was obsessed with immortality. This desire for a reconstruction of certain aspects of his surroundings in his final resting place may have stemmed from this obsession.

Edmund Capon’s book on the Terracotta army gives great detailed account of the archaeological findings at the excavation site it also gives the reader an introduction to Emperor Qin for whom this grandiose burial was completed. From Capon’s book we can learn the political and philosophical climate of the time and Qin’s place in it.
He ruled his empire by employing the philosophy of Legalism (Capon 1983), a revolutionary approach to governing that condemned the old ways and relied heavily on his army. As the head of his new empire, Qin disbanded the feudal system, centralized the State, and unified China under his banner. However, his Legalist policies and contempt for the old philosophical views of Confucianism lead him to facilitat...

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...n’s historical account.

Sima Qian (145-86 B.C.E.) was the son of the Grand Historian of China and assumed that title himself in the imperial court of the Han Dynasty in 107 C.E. He is most famous for writing a monumental work on Chinese history known as Shi Ji, The Records of the Grand Historian. Shi Ji consists of 130 chapters in five volumes. In it, Sima Qian presents biographies of the Chinese rulers from the first legendary Yellow Emperor to the emperor of his time, as well as well-known feudal families and famous men. He also treats various subjects such as ritual practice, music, and general history. Shi Ji is considered to be the greatest history writing of Classical China, and Sima Qian the greatest historian of all time. Sima Qian's portrait of the Qin Shihuang was the most vivid and truthful record in understanding both the Qin Dynasty and its ruler.
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