THE HOUSE OF TS'IN, 246-206 B. C.
(2 Emperors)
_Ts'in Shi-hwang-ti, "Emperor First"--The Great Wall--The Centralised
Monarchy--The title Hwang-ti--Origin of the name China--Burning
of the Books--Expedition to Japan--Revolution Places the House
of Han on the Throne_
"Viewed in the light of philosophy," says Schiller, "Cain killed
Abel because Abel's sheep trespassed on Cain's cornfield." From
that day to this farmers and shepherds have not been able to live
together in peace. A monument of that eternal conflict is the Great
Wall of China. Like the Roman Wall in North Britain, to compare
great things with small, its object was not to keep out the Tartars
but to reënforce the vigilance of the military pickets. That end
it seems to have accomplished for a long time. It was, the Chinese
say, the destruction of one generation and the salvation of many.
We shall soon see how it came to be a mere geographical expression.
For our present purpose it may also be regarded as a chronological
landmark, dividing ancient from mediæval China.
With the House of Chou the old feudal divisions disappeared forever.
The whole country was brought
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under the direct sway of one emperor who, for the first time in
the history of the people, had built up a dominion worthy of that
august title. This was the achievement of Yin Cheng, the Prince
of Ts'in. He thereupon assumed the new style of Hwang-ti. Hwangs
and Tis were no novelty; but the combination made it a new coinage
and justified the additional appellation of "the First," or
Shi-hwang-ti. Four imperishable monuments perpetuate his memory:
the Great Wall, the centralised monarchy, the title _Hwang-ti_,
and the name of China itself--the last derived from a principality
which under him expanded to embrace the empire. Where is there
another conqueror in the annals of the world who has such solid
claims to everlasting renown? Alexander overthrew many nations;
but he set up nothing permanent. Julius Cæsar instituted the Roman
Empire; but its duration was ephemeral in comparison with that
of the empire founded by Shi-hwang-ti, the builder of the Wall.
Though Shi-hwang-ti completed it, the wall was not the work of
his reign alone. Similarly the triumphs of his arms and arts were
due in large measure to his predecessors, who for centuries had
aspired to universal sway. Conscious of inferiority in culture,
they welcomed the aid and rewarded the services of men of talent
from every quarter. Some came as penniless adventurers from rival
or hostile states and were raised to the highest honours.
Six great chancellors stand conspicuous as having introduced law
and order into a rude society, and paved the way for final success.
Every one of these was a "foreigner." The princes whom they served
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deserve no small praise for having the good sense to appreciate them
and the courage to follow their advice. Of some of these it might
be said, as Voltaire remarked of Peter the Great, "They civilised
their people, but themselves were savages." The world forgets how
much the great czar was indebted for education and guidance to Le
Fort, a Genevese soldier of fortune. Pondering that history one
is able to gauge the merits of those foreign chancellors, perhaps
also to understand what foreigners have done for the rulers of
China in our day.
Shi-hwang-ti was the real founder of the Chinese Empire. He is one
of the heroes of history; yet no man in the long list of dynasties
is so abused and misrepresented by Chinese writers. They make him
a bastard, a debauchee, and a fool. To this day he is the object
of undying hatred to every one who can hold a pen. Why? it may
be asked. Simply because he burned the books and persecuted the
disciples of Confucius. Those two things, well-nigh incredible
to us, are to the Chinese utterly incomprehensible.
Li-Sze, a native of Yen, was his chancellor, a genius more daring
and far-sighted than any of the other five. The welding together
of the feudal states into a compact unity was his darling scheme,
as it was that of his master. "Never," he said, "can you be sure
that those warring states will not reappear, so long as the books
of Confucius are studied in the schools; for in them feudalism is
consecrated as a divine institution." "Then let them be burned,"
said the tyrant.
The adherents of the Sage were ejected from the
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schools, and their teachings proscribed. This harsh treatment and
the search for their books naturally gave rise to counterplots.
"Put them to death," said the tyrant; and they went to the block,
not like Christian marytrs for religious convictions, but like the
Girondists of France for political principles. Their followers
offer the silly explanation that the books were destroyed that the
world might never know that there had been other dynasties, and
the scholars slaughtered or buried alive to prevent the reproduction
of the books.
The First Hwang-ti did not confine his ambition to China. He sent
a fleet to Japan; and those isles of the Orient came to view for
the first time in the history of the world. The fleet carried,
it is said, a crew of three thousand lads and lasses. It never
returned; but the traditions of Japan affirm that it arrived, and
the islanders ascribe their initiation into Chinese literature
to their invasion by that festive company--a company not unlike
that with which Bacchus was represented as making the conquest
of India. Their further acquaintance with China and its sages was
obtained through Korea, which was long a middle point of communication
between the two countries. It was, in fact, from the Shantung
promontory, near to Korea, that this flotilla of videttes was
dispatched.
What was the real object of that strange expedition? Chinese authors
assert that it was sent in search of the "elixir of life," but do
they not distort everything in the history of the First Hwang-ti?
The great monarch was, in fact, a devout believer in the fables
of Taoism, among which were stories of the Islands of
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the Blest, and of a fountain of immortality, such as eighteen centuries
later stimulated the researches of Ponce de Leon. The study of
alchemy was in full blast among the Chinese at that time. It probably
sprang from Taoism; but, in my opinion, the ambitious potentate,
sighing for other worlds to conquer, sent that jolly troop as the
vanguard of an army.
In spite, however, of elixirs of life and fountains of youth, death
put an end to his conquests when he had enjoyed the full glories of
imperial power for only twelve years. His son reigned two years;
and the first of the imperial dynasties came to an end--overturned
by a revolution which placed the House of Han on the vacant throne.
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