It seems that a group of terra-cotta warriors are making the trip from Xian to London, to be exhibited at the British Museum.  A rather breathless article in the New Stateman (hat tip, CDT) sets the stage:

"The First
Emperor was able to dream on a scale that no one else has ever dreamt,"
he [Neil MacGregor, director of
the British Museum] says with a boyish breathlessness. "No one else in history has tried
to create a life-sized parallel universe in which he will rule for
ever. So much of what modern China is can be seen as a direct
consequence of what that man did. There are very few historical figures
who changed the world in such a way that we are still living with the
consequences."

 Yes, but…and a rather large "but" it is….Qin was responsible for enormous crimes against Humanity, and I mean that in the Confucian sense, as the article rightly points out:

…before his death he ordered the mass burning of history books and the
execution of their authors. Nearly 500 Confucian scholars are said to
have been buried alive for some long-forgotten failure to please the
emperor; others were castrated.

    We must always keep that context in mind.  However impressive the terra-cotta soldiers are, they are the product of a power-crazed, megalomaniac who forced thousands and thousands of people to slave away at the creation of an underground army that would protect him in the afterlife.  He destroyed large swaths of Chinese culture – the texts of the hundred schools of thought lost to the world forever.  He left much in his wake, but he erased and ruined much as well.  I’m with Mencius, who presciently wrote before Qin:

When Confucius said "Whoever invented burial figures deserved no descendants," he was condemning the way people make human figures only to bury them with the dead.  (7-8)

     By those lights, Qin really, really deserved no descendants.

Sam Crane Avatar

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17 responses to “Qin Shi Huangdi Was A Bad Man”

  1. chriswaugh_bj Avatar

    I’m thinking that Neil MacGregor character needs to pull his head out of Qin Shihuang’s arse and read more about Genghis Khan. Genghis was the far greater man in every sense.

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    this is gay

    write less

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  3. bob Avatar
    bob

    why would he nuter them!!!???

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  4. N/A Avatar
    N/A

    it was a form of torture… 0.0

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  5. Nick Avatar
    Nick

    Except Shi Huangdi banned Confucian teachings from China, so obviously, he didn’t care what Confucius thought. Who cares about what good the Terracotta Warriors did when he standardised currency, language, text and measurement, not to mention revolutionising the political system and creating an intricate and efficient road system.
    What he provided for China FAR outweighs the crimes he perpetrated (which were admittedly bad).

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  6. Anonymous Avatar
    Anonymous

    Qin did all the good things he did for himself.
    He didn’t care about his people.
    He was a tyrant who’s tyranny is a tyranical disgrace.
    He was selfish.
    He wanted to be immortal.

    Like

  7. tyrone Avatar

    sounds like george W. bush…

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  11. Morgan Avatar
    Morgan

    I think Qin Shi Huangdi was a ok man. He did good and BAD things. It kinda hard to choose………….

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  12. Kraz Avatar
    Kraz

    You guys shut up, so what if he did bad things? If he didn’t what he did, today they will not be China and he did bad things because those people did something bad to him, like trying to kill him when he was little!

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  13. darkforces Avatar

    self centered..and egocentric.

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  14. Ken Avatar
    Ken

    I’am trying to do a Scrapbook about him.Can you help me?

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  15. Leah Avatar
    Leah

    he was mean

    Like

  16. jack mellhorn Avatar
    jack mellhorn

    He ate dogs

    Like

  17. jack mellhorn Avatar
    jack mellhorn

    jk lol. I eat dogs

    Like

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