Qin Shi Huang Di

722 Words3 Pages
To what extent was Qin Shi Huangdi a successful ruler? Qin Shi Huangdi was the First Emperor of the Qin Dynasty who ruled a unified China from 246 BC to 221 BC who, in his reign, standardized the Chinese system of writing and their Chinese currency, benefited the economic development and cultural exchanges, built the iconic Great Wall of China and unified the seven warring states of China. It was said that his conquest of gaining absolute power costed millions of innocent lives. Whether success is measured through his power, influence, achievements, wealth, creations or oppressive tyranny is a matter of dispute, but is agreed that Qin Shi Huang, the first emperor of the Qin Dynasty, was one of the most important rulers in Chinese history. Qin Shi Huangdi was able to annex all seven states and bring them under his control. As he ruled, the First Emperor had a long lasting influence on China. He reorganized the political and legal systems and added supplementary changes to consolidate China as he standardized the system of Chinese units of measure such as weights, measurements and currency were standardized. The currencies of different states were standardized to Ban Liang Coin which allowed easier importation and exportation with traded goods. He also worked with standardizing the Chinese system of script as he removed variant forms within the Qin script. The new script was made official throughout all the conquered regions, allowing China to form one language and communication system for all of China. With Qin Shi Huangdi’s amendments to Chinese monetary coinage, weights, measurement, and system of writing, he was able to standardise their various ways to one common structure, bringing unity to China as a whole as a successful ruler. Anything to do with Confucianism was a serious crime. Under Qin Shi Huangdi’s rule, many existing books were burnt. He
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