Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
Shaanxi province. Because some of them were spoiled by exposure to
oxygen and sunlight, later excavations made better efforts to preserve
them. The Chinese today are in no hurry to excavate the gigantic tomb
at the center of the burial complex. They know where it is, and when
the time is right and the funding is in place, they will excavate it.
The Fall of the Qin
The Qin was undone and overthrown because of the very Legalist
ideology that had helped establish it in the first place. In retrospect, it
seems that the main contribution of Legalism and the Qin state that
applied it was the unification of China and the creation of a structural
model for future dynastic governments. Legalism as an ideology was
later abandoned during the Han dynasty.
Two great rebel alliances emerged, and by 206 the Qin was deposed
and its capital city sacked. China was well rid of a harsh dynasty and
totalitarian government. By 210 B.C., the Qin's subjects had been
pushed to the limits of their endurance. There followed a four-year
civil war between the two rebel alliances, one under the leadership of
Xiang Yu, an aristocrat from one of the powerful states before the Qin
unification, and Liu Bang, a coarse and unrefined commoner who
had risen to military leadership by dint of his native intelligence,
resourcefulness, and widespread popular appeal. Liu Bang was origi-
nally under Xiang Yu's command but broke away from him because
he disagreed with Xiang Yu's military tactics and found him to be
unnecessarily cruel and vengeful toward the Qin. The two
commanders eventually came into conflict, and in 202 B.C. a dramatic
and decisive clash, celebrated ever since in Chinese literature, ended
with Liu Bang's triumph and Xiang Yu's suicide.
The Rise of Han
In 202 B.C. Liu Bang became the founding emperor of the Han
dynasty, a regime that endured until A.D. 220 with one brief interrup-
tion, which occurred during the life of Christ. Liu Bang was one
of only two commoners in Chinese history ever to found a major
dynasty. (Zhu Yuanzhang, the founder of the Ming dynasty in A.D.
1368, was the only other.) He had the common touch and exuded the
common man's sense of decency and fair play, and for this the Chinese
have loved him ever since.
Liu Bang is remembered for understanding the importance of rely-
ing on competent and educated men for advice and expertise in
