1. Shi Huangdi Unites China
Chapter 15, section 1
Shi Huangdi Unites China

2. Kingdom of Qin (one of the warring states) united China after the Warring States period.
In 221 B.C. the king of Qin defeated the last rival kingdom and declared himself the “first emperor” (Shi Hunangdi).

3. Emperor Qin Shi Huangdi

4. Shi Huangdi accomplishments
Shi Huangdi built the Great Wall of China to protect against a nomadic invasion from the north (by the Mongols).
City walls protecting small states were torn down. Why? (read top paragraph p. 453)
Building the wall was hard and dangerous. Many thousands dies while building the wall.
How think was the wall? How tall was the wall? (remember the video from two weeks ago?)

6. Why do you think the wall had to be so thick? (pair share)

7. Which Chinese city is really close to the Great Wall of China
Which Chinese city is really close to the Great Wall of China? Which Desert lies north of the great wall?

8. Later emperors added towers to the wall

9. Shi Huangdi Standardizes many things (standardize = to make all things similar)
Anyone who did not follow the standard was punished
Standard characters (written language)
Standard axle length for carts (why is it good? Read p. 453, “Transportation was also…”)
Standard weights and measures
Uniform currency (currency = money)
Uniform legal code
He created a strong central government
36 provinces
many counties in each province
County leaders -> province heads; province heads -> central government; central government -> emperor
Noble families were forced to move to the capital. Why?

10. Classwork: Write full sentences to the following questions:
How did the Warring States period come to an end? P. 452
Why did Shi Huangdo build the great wall? P. 453
Why did Shi Huangdi standardize the width of carts? P. 453

12. Rule of the First Emperor (p. 454)
c. gov, provinces, counties
Shi Huangdi was a cruel leader. He imposed strict rules, which helped unite the empire.
Legalism (by Han Feizi) = a strong legal system was needed to keep order.
Heavy taxes and forced labor made the king wealthy.
Han Feizi: people must be FORCED to be good; modeling good behavior is not enough.
Thieves had their feet or nose cut off
Less serious offense carried a penalty of hard labor
Very serious crime was punished with beheading, or cutting the criminal in half.
460 scholars were executed for disobeying an order

13. Pair-share: Read quote by Han Feizi p. 455 and answer the following:
Why should the government punish light crimes severely?
How can we stop people from committing even light crimes?
Is the quote a primary source or secondary source?

14. See picture on p. 454. What’s happening? Why?

15. Censor = to ban words or speech
Shi huangdi censored some books that he found to be in favor of Confucianism. Confucianism believed that people could be led by setting a good example.
Qin dynasty collapsed when the king died. People rebelled against such harsh rule.
Chen Sheng, called to secure the border, led an uprising.