In order to unify people's thoughts, Qin Shihuang adopted a series of cultural measures to form a spectacular situation of great unification.
First, sort out the messy writing and establish a standardized style of writing. During the Warring States Period, the characters were deformed, causing inconvenience in cultural exchanges between countries. Especially after Qin unified the world, it hindered the effective implementation of the central government's laws and regulations. Therefore, Qin Shihuang regarded the unification of writing as a top priority and ordered Li Si and others to organize the writing. Based on the characters of the Qin Dynasty, Li Si absorbed the advantages of simple strokes in the characters of the Six Kingdoms and created a new character with a uniform shape and round and smooth lines, which he called "Qin Zhuan", also known as "Xiao Zhuan". This is a new achievement after "taking the seal script from Shi Zhen, or revising it in some provinces", and it is promulgated as an official text throughout the country. At the same time, the jailer Cheng Miao was imprisoned for his crime and devoted himself to creating a simpler writing based on the popular popular font at the time. He changed the thin round shape of Xiaozhuan into an ellipse, and changed the evenly connected strokes into broken ones, which made writing more convenient and was very popular among disciples and officials. This font spread and became known as "official script". Both forms of writing were promoted at that time, but Xiaozhuan was used as the standard writing script for emperor’s edicts and official documents, while official script was mainly used for daily copying of informal documents. However, the "official script" at this time refers to Qin Li, which can be regarded as a simplified writing method of "small seal script", so the font and strokes still have the meaning of seal script. This is different from the later "Han Li". The shape of the "Han Li" became flat again, and the strokes became thick and fat, which changed the shape of the Chinese characters and the appearance of the pen, and improved the efficiency of writing. Chinese characters thus got rid of their pictorial nature and became purely symbolic square characters. However, the Xiaozhuan and Libian changes during the reign of Qin Shihuang were, after all, a major change in the history of Chinese characters, which promoted the development of Chinese characters. Xu Shen's "Shuowen Jiezi" mentioned that there were eight types of calligraphy styles designated by Qin Shihuang, which were called "eight styles", namely large seal script, small seal script, insect script, official script, engraving script, imitation script, signature script, and Shu script. In fact, the last four types are different because of their uses, while the first four are different fonts, among which Xiaozhuan and official script are the most popular. Qin Shihuang ordered the unification and simplification of Chinese characters, which played an important role in promoting laws and spreading culture. It also contributed to eliminating dialect differences, regional barriers and promoting the homogeneity of the Chinese nation.
Second, break down barriers and repair major transportation routes. During the Warring States Period, there was constant chaos. The princes guarded against each other and built numerous passes and castles. Vehicles in different countries have different shapes and road widths, making transportation very inconvenient. After Qin Shihuang annexed the six countries, this situation seriously affected the centralized control of the various regions, so he ordered the removal of various obstacles and set the width of the vehicle at 6 feet. In the twenty-seventh year of Qin Shihuang (220 BC), the construction of Chidao began. Chidao is centered on Xianyang and has three main trunk lines. One goes directly to the east through the Yan and Qi regions, one goes directly to the south to the Wu and Chu regions, and the other goes to the north to strengthen the defense against the Xiongnu. The Chi Road is 50 paces wide, flat and solid. Plant a tree every 3 feet along the road. In addition, the "Five Feet Road" was built in the present-day Yunnan-Guizhou area and the "New Road" was built in the present-day Huguang area, which strengthened the connection between the southwest and southeastern regions and the Central Plains. After Qin Shihuang completed the great cause of unification, in order to show his prowess With his merits, he began to tour all over the country. In the 11 years from the time he became emperor to his death, he mobilized troops and patrolled the country five times. The first patrol was from Xianyang to the northwest, aiming to promote the country's prestige to border counties. The second time he left Hangu Pass and went to Mount Tai to perform the ceremony of enshrining Zen, and then went to Fu and Langya to set up monuments to commemorate his virtues. When passing through Bolangsha for the third time, he was attacked by martyrs bribed by the Korean aristocrat Zhang Liang, but he was not "shocked by the thieves" and continued to roam leisurely. The fourth time he went along the borders of Wei, Han, and Zhao to Jieshi, and as usual he carved stones to record his merits and returned. The fifth time, he went to the southeast and went to Kuaiji Mountain to offer sacrifices to Yu the Great, and then returned to the west via Linzi. Due to the exhaustion of the journey and his usual indulgence in sexual pleasure, he was weak and could not afford to fall ill. Qin Shihuang's patrols played an important role in deterring the old aristocratic forces and consolidating the emerging feudal centralization. The demolition of barriers and the construction of Chidao to form an extensive transportation network were conducive to connections across the country, which undoubtedly promoted the cohesion and unity of the Chinese nation. The unification of China's territory.
Third, strengthen the concept of legal system and rectify human ethics and discipline. Qin Shihuang ruled an unprecedented feudal country and had to rely on complete laws to consolidate social order and regulate people's psychology with systematic ethics. In the Qin Dynasty, the legal framework was strict and the items were complicated, which was rare in the history of our country. Qin's laws made clear provisions on almost every move in people's lives, imposed strict restrictions and punished offenders. The Qin State has emphasized the dignity and ruthlessness of the law since Duke Xiao appointed Shang Yang to carry out reforms.
"Historical Records: Biography of Shang Jun" records: "Order the people to be in groups, and gather the ministers to sit together. Those who do not accuse the traitor will be cut in half, those who accuse the traitor will be rewarded with the beheading of the enemy, and those who conceal the traitor will be punished with the same punishment as surrendering the enemy. There are more than two men in the people. Those who do not differentiate will receive double their gifts, those who have achieved military merit will receive high rankings, and those who fight privately will be punished according to their severity." Later, the provisions of the dynasties continued to be enriched and detailed, such as "Anyone who dares to carry a book will be punished." , "Anyone who dares to talk will be abandoned from the market", and even the wearing of shoes is stipulated, so that the people "don't dare to wear brocade shoes". Once people come into contact with the law, they are often punished with heavy penalties for minor crimes. The imperial court believed that only torture could eliminate crimes, so there were many torture methods in the Qin Dynasty, such as "tattoo", "哓", "whipping", "killing", "gong", "Owl's head", "abandoning the city", "beheading", "caesarean", "clan execution" and "continuous sitting". " etc., there are both ancient and old punishments, as well as new ones created by ourselves. The Qin Dynasty followed the water virtue according to the Five Elements Theory, which was also one of the reasons for the implementation of harsh laws, and used legal provisions to correct bad customs and barbaric habits. The Qin State was originally relatively backward. Since Duke Xiao, he has made good use of talents, worked hard to govern, changed customs, followed laws and been pragmatic, and the social atmosphere has quickly changed. In order to rectify human ethics, Qin Shihuang "took officials as teachers" and "law as teaching". He carved stones on Zhifu and wrote "Establish laws and regulations, and highlight disciplines" to sing saints. He carved stones in Kuaiji to strictly order "forbidden sexual immorality" to correct barbaric customs. During the Qin Dynasty, rural officials were also set up in various places to be responsible for the promotion and education of moral ideas. Because the legal system of the Qin Dynasty was too harsh, on the one hand it suppressed social dissatisfaction, but on the other hand it also intensified the remaining historical contradictions. Qin Shihuang, who claimed to be the "Great Sage", therefore left a reputation as a "tyrant".
Fourth, conquer the border peoples and expand the Chinese territory. Since ancient times, the Huaxia ethnic group has been located in the Central Plains. In its interactions with other ethnic minorities, it has strengthened mutual understanding and integration. After Qin destroyed the six kingdoms, it established a unified multi-ethnic country on this basis. The Yue people living in the southeastern coastal areas of my country are also called "Baiyue" because of their many branches. The Baiyue region has many different cultural characteristics from the Central Plains region, such as "breaking hair tattoos", "casting copper into drums" and "no wedding ceremony". After Qin Shihuang destroyed the Chu State in the twenty-fourth year of his reign (223 BC), he then surrendered the Yue people living in Zhejiang and established Kuaiji County. Then he conquered Minyue in Fujian and established Minzhong County. Later, they attacked the Guangdong and Guangxi areas, and finally captured South Vietnam and established three counties. Another 500,000 people were moved to guard Wuling and lived together with the Yue people. From then on, the Lingnan region and the Central Plains region were closely linked. There are also dozens of ethnic minorities in southwestern Yi. They form their own tribes and rarely interact with each other. After Qin Shihuang sent people to build a "Five-foot Road" leading to the Yunnan-Guizhou region, Shaanxi, Sichuan, Yunnan and Guizhou were connected, making these ethnic minorities members of my country's multi-ethnic family. The Xiongnu were nomadic people in northern my country. They relied on the rapid movement of their cavalry and often went deep into the Central Plains to plunder property. In order to eliminate this threat, Qin Shihuang sent General Meng Tian to lead an army of 300,000 to conquer the Hetao area and recapture the Hetao area occupied by the Xiongnu in one fell swoop. In order to consolidate his rule here, Qin Shihuang also moved 30,000 households from the mainland to settle here. This large-scale immigration effectively stopped the Xiongnu's southward intrusion and promoted resource development and ethnic integration here. During the struggle with the Xiongnu, the Qin Dynasty built a world-famous Great Wall that stretched for more than 5,000 kilometers from Lintao in the west to Jieshi on the basis of the old Great Walls of Qin, Zhao, and Yan in order to avoid border troubles. The Great Wall is of great significance in resisting the harassment of the Huns and ensuring the stability of the territory. In this way, the Qin Dynasty completely abolished the feudal state-building system since the Zhou Dynasty, and unified the vast territory stretching from the sea in the east, Longyou in the west, Yinshan Mountain in the north, and Wuling in the south under the power of the central court, forming a large multi-ethnic empire. unified space.
Fifth, burn books to suppress thoughts, trap Confucians to suppress slander. After Qin Shihuang unified the world, a series of reform measures were not smooth sailing. A group of officials headed by Prime Minister Wang Wan advocated the enfeoffment system, but Li Si, the court official, firmly opposed it. He believed that the enfeoffment system would only lead to the consequences of disputes between princes, and only by completely abolishing it could the disaster be avoided. Qin Shihuang adopted Li Si's opinion and believed that "establishing a feudal state" meant "making enemy counties", so he established a system of prefectures and counties throughout the country. Eight years later, this topic was brought up again at a grand banquet held in Xianyang Palace in the thirty-fourth year of Qin Shihuang (213 BC). At that time, when Zhou Qingchen, a servant of the First Emperor, was congratulating the First Emperor on his birthday, he praised the First Emperor as a "spiritual and sage" who "has never been as powerful as His Majesty since ancient times." He also said that the First Emperor "treats the princes as counties and counties, and everyone will live in peace and contentment without the danger of war. Passed on to all generations." Qin Shihuang was very happy, but Dr. Chun Yuyue criticized Zhou Qingchen's flattery on the spot: "I heard that the king of Yin and Zhou was more than a thousand years old. .
Prime Minister Li Si immediately retorted. He accused Chunyu Yue of being a "foolish Confucian" and condemned the Confucian scholars for "not learning from the present but learning from the past, thinking it is not current, and confusing Guizhou." He believed that such a group of Confucian scholars was a dangerous force. He suggested that the First Emperor resolutely stop their illegal activities and put forward specific suggestions for burning books: "I invite the historian to be a dangerous force." They were all burned in the Qin Dynasty. If someone who is not a doctor's official in the world dares to have a collection of poems and books written by hundreds of schools of thought, he should go to the Shouwei to burn them. There are those who dare to occasionally write poems and books and abandon the market. Those who are different from the past are the clan. If an official fails to take action after seeing it, he will be guilty of the same crime. It is ordered not to burn for thirty days and to be tattooed as Chengdan. Those who do not go away are books of medicine, divination and tree planting. If you want to learn the law, take officials as your teachers. "Qin Shihuang approved this suggestion, and the fire of burning books was ignited across the country. The next year after the book burning, another incident of persecuting Confucianism occurred. The reason was that Qin Shihuang, after enjoying a very respected status and a very wealthy life, was very Afraid of death, he carried out extensive construction work, built the Epang Palace and the Lishan Tomb, and under the influence of alchemists, he sought the elixir of immortality in a whimsical way. Hou Sheng and Lu Sheng saw that the First Emperor was cruel and feared that they would be executed for failing to fulfill their promises. He slandered the First Emperor as "a man with a violent nature," "he was appointed as a jailer, and the jailer was lucky to have relatives", "Shang Le used torture and death to prestige the world", "Everything in the world, no matter how big or small, is decided by the superior", etc., and He left on the pretext of asking for elixir. When the First Emperor found out, he was furious and started to investigate them in the name of "monster talk to cause chaos in the capital of Guizhou". Later, he personally ordered more than 460 people to be buried alive in Xianyang. This was Qin Shihuang's way of suppressing political opposition. The purpose of these severe measures was to stifle various schools of thought since the pre-Qin Dynasty and block the noise of today's world. This was indeed very effective in consolidating the stability of feudal centralization, but this extremely cruel method also brought very serious consequences. As a result, a large number of ancient documents and books in the pre-Qin Dynasty were burned, causing great losses to Chinese culture. At the same time, the spirit of free thinking that had flourished since the Spring and Autumn Period suffered a fatal blow.
Qin Shihuang's series of tyranny and cruelty. Autocracy, despotism and debauchery were built on the ruins of war-torn China. Although they used arrogance to invigorate the world, dominate the sea, and reunite the divided situation of the feudal princes, they also intensified social contradictions. It triggered turmoil. Especially after Qin II conspired to usurp the throne, he became even more cruel and foolish. He adopted the method of "killing ministers and exterminating their flesh and blood" and implemented the policy of "killing many people to become loyal ministers", which made the world suffer even more. , could not bear the abuse, and finally led to the first peasant uprising in Chinese history, and the Qin Dynasty ended in a precarious life.