Qin Shi Huangdi and his Terra Cotta Army:

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Qin Shi Huangdi and his Terra Cotta Army

• The State, the Man, the Context,
• and the Incredible Discovery
• October 4, 2008
• Suzanne Cahill, UCSD
• secjbm34_at_aol.com

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Outline

• Sources
• Sources of Confusion
• The Qin State Dynasty
• Legalism vs. Confucianism I Legalism
• Legalism vs. Confucianism II Confucianism
• Qin Shi Huangdis Religion
• Verdict on Qin Shi Huangdi
• Terra Cotta Army as a Historical Source
• Sources for Teachers I
• Sources for Teachers II
• Pictures

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Sources

• Archaeology
• Historical record Records of the Grand
  Historian by Sima Qian, c. 90 BCE
• History written by victors Han dynasty (206 BCE
  - 220 CE)
• Justify rebellion conquest
• Paint Han as virtuous, deserving mandate of
  heaven
• Qin as evil, excessive, deserving defeat
• Distinguish selves from Qin
• Other literary sources folk tales poetry

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Sources of Confusion

• 2 Romanization systems
• Wade Giles (Chin Shih Huang-ti)
• Pinyin (Qin Shi Huangdi)
• Swift pace of archaeological discovery
• Outlying pits vs. Qin Shi huangdis tomb
• Actual tomb not yet excavated
• Tall tales
• Interpretation narrated as fact
• Gradual processes telescoped into sudden change

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The Qin State Dynasty

• Context Warring States (or Hundred Schools of
  Thought) Period, c. 480 - 221 BCE
• Era of war disunion
• Fertile for Chinese thought
• Qin one of many states, in far NW,
  uncivilized
• King Cheng rules Qin State, 256 - 206 BCE
• Swift rise to power unification
• Incredible military machine technology and
  strategy
• Charismatic leadership
• Legalist political theory
• Minister Li Si, d. 208
• Centralized control w/ loyal bureaucracy
• Brilliant practical diplomat (vertical
  horizontal alliances)
• After conquering other states, King Cheng takes
  name Qin Shi Huangdi (First Divine Emperor of
  the Qin Dynasty) in 221 BCE

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Legalism vs. Confucianism I

• Legalism (identified with Qin)
• Government by universal, equal, published law
  codes
• Punishments rewards
• Total control by emperor at center
• Emphasize army agriculture bases of power
• Practical effective
• Assumes human nature is bad
• Bad reputation after Qin
• Always combined w/ Confucianism after Qin
  hidden face of Confucianism

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Legalism vs. Confucianism II

• Confucianism (identified with Han)
• Government service highest calling
• Government by good talented people ideal
• Law sign of our imperfection
• Small government good
• Human nature good
• Hierarchies natural good, in cosmos, society, 7
  family
• Family government parallel
• In family (son obeys father father teaches son)
• In government (people loyal to ruler, ruler
  protects people)
• Superiors moral exemplars, responsible for
  inferiors
• Equality is unnatural chaotic
• 5 relationships hierarchical father/son,
  ruler/minister, older brother/ younger brother,
  husband/wife, friend/friend
• Combined w/ Legalism after Qin

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Qin Shi Huangdis Religion

• Expressed in tomb architecture contents
• Traditional Chinese beliefs
• Tomb home, microcosm, launching pad
• Afterlife
• Vague, but included underworld bureaucracy
  judges
• Burial practices
• Take to next world what you need in this one
• Ancestor worship
• Assumptions they exist, we affect them, they
  affect us
• New, growing Daoist religion
• Individual immortality possible
• Elixir
• Exercises
• Immortal teachers
• Cults of deities, saints, spirits

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Verdict on Qin Shi Huangdi

• Positive
• Unified country, set boundaries of China
• Unified standardized weights, roads, language
• Huge public works projects infrastructure
• Capital and palace near Xian, great wall, tomb
• Institution building
• Provincial system, laws, bureaucracy, army
• Negative (often flip side of the positive)
• Overused human natural resources
• Cruelty excess political foundation later
  discredited
• 213 Burning of the Books censorship
• Great Wall folk story of Lady Meng
• Horrible reputation Assassination attempts,
  slander
• Tomb example of both
• Chairman Mao admired emulated him
• Movie Hero glorifies him CCP connection?

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Terra Cotta Army as Historical Source

• Religious Beliefs
• Organization of army hierarchies
• Material culture
• Tomb building construction
• Military technology weapons armor
• Vehicle construction horse trappings
• Modes of production
• Artistic skills aesthetics
• Ethnic identity
• Verify challenge historical accounts

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Sources for Teachers I

• General Histories
• Patricia Ebrey et al. Pre-Modern East Asia to
  1800. New York Houghton Mifflin, 2006
• Jacques Gernet. A History of Chinese
  Civilization. Cambridge Cambridge UP, 1982
• Qin History Archaeology
• Primary Sources
• Sima Qian, translated by Burton Watson, Records
  of the Grand Historian Qin Dynasty. New York
  Renditions - Columbia University, 1993
• Secondary Sources
• Denis Twitchett John K. Fairbank, General
  editors, The Cambridge History of China, Volume
  I The Chin and Han Empires, 221 B.C. - A.D.
  220. Cambridge Cambridge University Press, 1986
• Li Xueqin, translated by K. C. Chang. Eastern
  Zhou and Qin Civilizations. New Haven Yale, 1985

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Sources for Teachers II

• Lothar Ledderose. Ten Thousand Things Module and
  Mass Production in Chinese Art. Princeton
  Princeton UP, 2000, chapter 3
• Doreen Rappaport, The Journey of Meng. New York
  Dial, 1991
• Video
• NHK TV Series, The Silk Road, I The Glories
  of Ancient Changan. New York Central Park
  Media, 2000
• Hero, directed by Zhang Yimou, with Jet Li,
  Michelle Yeoh, Zhang Ciyi
• Internet
• Youtube, 1000s of hits, including Bowers show