Burning of The Books in China 213 B.C. - lxg090/Group-1-Wiki-Project- GitHub Wiki

Burning of the Books - China 213 BCE

The first dynasty of Imperial China, know as the Qin dynasty, which lasted from (221-206 BCE). This dynasty was founded by the first emperor of the Qin dynasty, Qin Shi Huang. To strengthen their governing philosophy of Legalism, emperor Qin allegedly destroyed the philosophical treaties of the Hundred Schools of Thought in 213 BCE and ordered the live burial of 460 Confucian scholars in 212 BCE .

This event which was recorded by the Han dynasty, became known as the burning of books and executing ru scholars. Although many modern historians question the details of this story because the Historian, Sima Qian of the Han dynasty, would have good reason to disparage the previous emperor to satisfy is own. Modern scholars established that Qin Shi Huang did have scholars killed but not by a live burial and that the scholars could not be Confucian as that school did not yet exist at that time. Also they established that the works that he found to be misleading or insurgent were destroyed but they did preserve two copies of each school to be in the imperial libraries.

Burning of The Books- China 213 BCE

After 221 BCE in Qin, the Chancellor or Prime Minister, Li Si was behind the culture and radical political innovations. He helped guide the emperor to standardized weights, coinage, and measures. Also, helped influence the creation of a unified writing system. Li played a crucial role in the "burning of the books" as he was the one who ordered it, he also outlawed the teaching of history in order to prevent treasonous thought. In 221 BCE, after Qin Shi Huang unified China, Li Si gave a speech to try to unify political opinions and thoughts.

He once said: "I, your servant, propose that all historians' records other than those of Qin's be burned. With the exception of the academics whose duty includes possessing books, if anyone under heaven has copies of the Shi Jing [Classic of Poetry], the Shujing [Classic of History], or the writings of the hundred schools of philosophy, they shall deliver them (the books) to the governor or the commandant for burning. Anyone who dares to discuss the Shi Jing or the Classic of History shall be publicly executed. Anyone who uses history to criticize the present shall have his family executed. Any official who sees the violations but fails to report them is equally guilty. Anyone who has failed to burn the books after thirty days of this announcement shall be subjected to tattooing and be sent to build the Great Wall. The books that have exemption are those on medicine, divination, agriculture, and forestry. Those who have interest in laws shall instead study from officials."a(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burning_of_books_and_burying_of_scholars#cite_note-6) —Shiji Chapter 6. "The Basic Annals of the First Emperor of Qin" thirty-fourth year (213 BC)

Li Si presumed that people would become malcontent with the present if they learned about the history. There were three book classifications that Li found to be politically dangerous which were history (Shujing), philosophy, and poetry (Shi Jing). These types of books contained many stories of other ancient leaders and historical records which had many ideals that were incompatible with a totalitarian regime. Very few books about state history survived and it is not clear whether copies of books that were not in the Qin interpretation were saved in the imperial libraries or not. Even if some were saved in the imperial archives, they could have been destroyed in 206 B.C. when the imperial palaces was burned down by enemies.

Qin Shi Huang was interested in alchemy and in finding an elixir that could grant him immortality, after being tricked by two alchemist it is said that Qin ordered the execution of 460 scholars. This belief came from excerpt in the Shiji(chapter 6):

The first emperor therefore directed the imperial censor to investigate the scholars one by one. The scholars accused each other, and so the emperor personally determined their fate. More than 460 of them were buried alive at Xianyang, and the event was announced to all under heaven for warning followers. More people were internally exiled to border regions. Fusu, the eldest son of the emperor, counselled: "The empire just achieved peace, and the barbarians in distant areas have not surrendered. The scholars all venerate Confucius and take him as a role model. Your servant fears if Your Majesty punishes them so severely, it may cause unrest in the empire. Please observe this, Your Majesty."9(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burning_of_books_and_burying_of_scholars#cite_note-10) However, he was unable to change his father's mind, and instead was sent to guard the frontier as a de facto exile. - An account given by Wei Hong

With the proposal from Li Si, the emperor allowed the burning of books not dealing with medicine agriculture, astrology, and the history of the Qin dynasty. The emperor was convinced that history could begin with the Qin dynasty if he burned all written documents and records before him. Historians believe that in particular categories of books that this is one of the greatest losses in ancient times. The Han dynasty scholars blamed the Qin for destroying the Confucian Five Classics. The Han dynasty had defeated and took over the Qin dynasty, so they could have tried to put the blame on them to defame the previous dynasty, or they could have genuinely misunderstood the text, or maybe it could have been both. Regardless, a bunch of books and knowledge were doubtlessly loss after the imperial palaces was set a blaze. The lost of knowledge and material continues in The Battle of Corinth, early Greece 146 B.C. on the following page.

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