Since Qin Shihuang unified the six countries, it is natural to consider the overall situation. Books that wanted to be preserved for a long time at that time were generally carved on bamboo slips with knives, and those masterpieces with original ideas took years and decades. Therefore, in terms of the types of books to be burned, Qin Shihuang made a rule that only the following two kinds of books should be burned: the first is the history books whose authors are not Qin people, and the second is the poetry books and hundreds of languages. In this way, many books survived. This also proves that Qin Shihuang did not burn hundreds of books, and some books were not included in the scope of burning.
Secondly, what is the fundamental purpose of burning books? Is to tell the people which books can't be read, which books can't be hidden, and what to do with them. But Qin Shihuang himself knew that these books were just invisible to the people, and there were manuscripts in the palace. Although some words are not conducive to the peaceful reunification within the state of Qin, there are still many places worth learning from. Therefore, burning books is just a means, a means to shock the people, so that everyone can take the initiative to hand in the books they should burn. If the source of bad speech is gone, people will naturally not discuss it, and the country can maintain long-term stability.
In this way, the burning of books in the Qin Dynasty is actually just an illusion. Most books have been preserved, even if they are not original. As long as the state of Qin exists, these books will be circulated all the time.
Having said that, some people may ask, why do many precious ancient books no longer exist? Xiang Yu is one of the reasons. After Xiang Yu invaded Xianyang, in addition to burning and looting, he also set fire to Qin Gong. Legend has it that the fire did not go out in March, which caused many books in the palace to be burned. Another reason is that the preservation of ancient books after the Han Dynasty is not perfect. According to statistics, about 80% of Han Dynasty books no longer exist.
Therefore, Qin Shihuang did not burn all the precious books, as many people thought. From this perspective, Qin Shihuang did have many advantages.