Qin Shi Huang, First Emperor of China Essay

Qin Shi Huang (or Shi Huangdi) was the First Emperor of a unified China, who ruled from 246 BCE to 210 BCE. In his 35-year reign, he managed to create magnificent and enormous construction projects. He also caused both incredible cultural and intellectual growth, and much destruction within China. Whether he should be remembered more for his creations or his tyranny is a matter of dispute, but everyone agrees that Qin Shi Huang, the first emperor of the Qin Dynasty, was one of the most important rulers in Chinese history. Connect with over 120,000 suppliers from Hong Kong, China and Taiwan Fall of Rome London Family History Chinese Warriors Terracotta Army Dynasty Early Life: According to legend, a rich merchant named Lu Buwei befriended a prince of the Qin State during the latter years of the Eastern Zhou Dynasty (770-256 BCE). The merchant’s lovely wife Zhao Ji had just gotten pregnant, so he arranged for the prince to meet and fall in love with her. She became the prince’s concubine, and then gave birth to Lu Buwei’s child in 259 BCE. The baby, born in Hanan, was named Ying Zheng. The prince believed the baby was his own. Ying Zheng became king of the Qin state in 246 BCE, upon the death of his supposed father. He ruled as Qin Shi Huang, and unified China for the first time. Early Reign: The young king was only 13 years old when he took the throne, so his prime minister (and probable real father) Lu Buwei acted as regent for the first eight years. This was a difficult time for any ruler in China, with seven warring states vying for control of the land. The leaders of the Qi, Yan, Zhao, Han, Wei, Chu and Qin states were former dukes under the Zhou Dynasty, but had each proclaimed themselves king as the Zhou fell apart. In this unstable environment, warfare flourished, as did books like Sun Tzu’s The Art of War. Lu Buwei had another problem, as well; he feared that the king would discover his true identity. Lao Ai’s Revolt: According to the Shiji, or â€Å"Records of the Grand Historian,† Lu Buwei hatched a new scheme to depose Qin Shi Huang in 240 BCE. He introduced Zhao Ji to Lao Ai, a man famed for his large penis. The queen dowager and Lao Ai had two sons, and in 238 BCE, Lao and Lu Buwei decided to launch a coup. Lao raised an army, aided by the king of nearby Wei, and tried to seize control while Qin Shi Huang was traveling outside of the area. The young king cracked down hard on the rebellion; Lao was executed in a grisly fashion, along with his family. The queen dowager was spared, but spent the rest of her days under house arrest. Consolidation of Power: Lu Buwei was banished after the Lao Ai incident, but did not lose all of his influence in Qin. However, he lived in constant fear of execution by the mercurial young king. In 235 BCE, Lu committed suicide by drinking poison. With his death, the 24-year-old king assumed full command over the kingdom of Qin. Qin Shi Huang grew increasingly paranoid (not without reason), and banished all foreign scholars from his court as spies. The king’s fears were well-founded; in 227, the Yan state sent two assassins to his court, but he fought them off with his sword. A musician also tried to kill him by bludgeoning him with a lead-weighted lute. Battles with Neighboring States: The assassination attempts arose in part because of desperation in neighboring kingdoms. The Qin king had the most powerful army, and neighboring rulers trembled at the thought of a Qin invasion. The Han kingdom fell in 230 BCE. In 229, a devastating earthquake rocked another powerful state, Zhao, leaving it weakened. Qin Shi Huang took advantage of the disaster, and invaded the region. Wei fell in 225, followed by the powerful Chu in 223. The Qin army conquered Yan and Zhao in 222 (despite another assassination attempt on Qin Shi Huang by a Yan agent). The final independent kingdom, Qi, fell to the Qin in 221 BCE. China Unified: With the defeat of the other six warring states, Qin Shi Huang had unified northern China. His army would continue to expand the Qin Empire’s southern boundaries throughout his lifetime, driving as far south as what is now  Vietnam. The king of Qin became the Emperor of Qin China. As emperor, Qin Shi Huang reorganized the bureaucracy, abolishing the existing nobility and replacing them with his appointed officials. He also built a network of roads, with the capital of Xianyang at the hub. In addition, the emperor simplified the written Chinese script, standardized weights and measures, and minted new copper coins. The Great Wall and Ling Canal: Despite its military might, the newly unified Qin Empire faced a recurring threat from the north: raids by the nomadic Xiongnu (the ancestors of Attila’s Huns). In order to fend off the Xiongnu, Qin Shi Huang ordered the construction of an enormous defensive wall. The work was carried out by hundreds of thousands of slaves and criminals between 220 and 206 BCE; untold thousands of them died at the task. This northern fortification formed the first section of what would become the Great Wall of China. In 214, the Emperor also ordered construction of a canal, the Lingqu, which linked the Yangtze and Pearl River systems. The Confucian Purge: The Warring States Period was dangerous, but the lack of central authority allowed intellectuals to flourish. Confucianism and a number of other philosophies blossomed prior to China’s unification. However, Qin Shi Huang viewed these schools of thought as threats to his authority, so he ordered all books not related to his reign burned in 213 BCE. The Emperor also had approximately 460 scholars buried alive in 212 for daring to disagree with him, and 700 more stoned to death. From then on, the only approved school of thought was legalism: follow the emperor’s laws, or face the consequences. Qin Shi Huang’s Quest for Immortality: As he entered middle age, the First Emperor grew more and more afraid of death. He became obsessed with finding the elixir of life, which would allow him to live forever. The court doctors and alchemists concocted a number of potions, many of them containing â€Å"quicksilver† (mercury), which probably had the ironic effect of hastening the emperor’s death rather than preventing it. Just in case the elixirs did not work, in 215 BCE the Emperor also  ordered the construction of a gargantuan tomb for himself. Plans for the tomb included flowing rivers of mercury, cross-bow booby traps to thwart would-be plunderers, and replicas of the Emperor’s earthly palaces. The Terracotta Army: To guard Qin Shi Huang in the afterworld, and perhaps allow him to conquer heaven as he had the earth, the emperor had a terracotta army of at least 8,000 clay soldiers placed in the tomb. The army also included terracotta horses, along with real chariots and weapons. Each soldier was an individual, with unique facial features (although the bodies and limbs were mass-produced from molds). The Death of Qin Shi Huang: A large meteor fell in Dongjun in 211 BCE – an ominous sign for the Emperor. To make matters worse, someone etched the words â€Å"The First Emperor will die and his land will be divided† onto the stone. Some saw this as a sign that the Emperor had lost the Mandate of Heaven. Since nobody would fess up to this crime, the Emperor had everyone in the vicinity executed. The meteor itself was burned and then pounded into powder. Nevertheless, the Emperor died less than a year later, while touring eastern China in 210 BCE. The cause of death most likely was mercury poisoning, due to his immortality treatments. Fall of the Qin Empire Qin Shi Huang’s Empire did not outlast him long. His second son and Prime Minister tricked the heir, Fusu, into committing suicide. The second son, Huhai, seized power. However, widespread unrest (led by the remnants of the Warring States nobility) threw the empire into disarray. In 207 BCE, the Qin army was defeated by Chu-lead rebels at the Battle of Julu. This defeat signaled the end of the Qin Dynasty. Sources: Mark Edward Lewis, The Early Chinese Empires: Qin and Han. Cambridge: Harvard University Press (2007). Lu Buwei, The Annals of Lu Buwei, trans. John Knoblock and Jeffrey Riegel. Stanford: Stanford University Press (2000). Sima Qian, Records of the Grand Historian, trans. Burton Watson. New York: Columbia University Press (1993).

Explaining Management Decisions (SPORTS MANAGEMENT) Essay

Explaining Management Decisions (SPORTS MANAGEMENT) - Essay Example Using the case of Karsten manufacturing corporation, this paper seeks to explain the management decisions in a business. While the vice president’s feelings are understandable, it is imperative to understand that a decision takes several stages and considerations before being reached. Secondly, decision makers face situations that require information which might not be available. For instance the situation of uncertainty faces a person when there is limitation of facts. Complexity is another situation that tends to demand the consideration of other interrelated factors. Then, high-risk consequences situations require that one be keen on the decision because it will have significant consequences. As noted above, management often makes decisions with considerations being made primarily about the organization not the feelings of individuals. Thus, managements tend to employ a number of theories to reach this decision. This is section will focus on the steps that management take in the culmination of a decision-making. The first thing a management is faced with is a situation before a decision is made. For this reason, the management takes time trying to understand the situation. According to Nienaber (2010), the reason competent management takes time here is that the definition of a problem will shape the next process. Thus, management tends to be careful on understanding the situation once it has been recognized as one that requires more attention. Once a problem has been confirmed to exist, it has to be solved, and this calls for a solution. However, because of the complexities of situations, coming up with the right decision is not always easy. Hence, the management draws alternatives first in a bid to identify the most applicable in the given situation. Evaluation of the most appropriate alternatives follows where the management closely looks into each of the alternatives. The selection of the best

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Waiting for the Barbarians Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Waiting for the Barbarians - Essay Example The book waiting for the Barbarians is one such book written by a linguistic and novelist Coetzee that highlighted some tentative strategies in the question of torture. In the book, he admits torture to be a threatening and a dark fascination on his life. While bringing out the vivid theme of torture in the dark African country, Coetzee faces many dilemmas, for instance, in the dark chamber where his moral judgment is challenged whether to find a middle way between ignoring the obscenities or being part of the obscenities. In as much as torture is necessary in many instances, the question, which the paper attempts to address, is whether torture was necessary while waiting for the Barbarians. The elite unit of colonel Joll and their treatment to the Barbarians is a case in point where torture gets exhibited. He is an administrative officer in charge of running the empire where he get rumors that the natives of the land (Barbarians) are coming back to fight for their land. He is not ha ppy with the idea; therefore, conducts an expedition in the land beyond the frontier. He organizes himself and arrives in one of his government outposts where he is determined to gather information from the local band of uncivilized Barbarians (Coetzee 34). The Barbarians represent an omniscient and present outside threat to the colonel who cannot sit back and wait for the attack. They are seeking to trample security of Colonel Joll and safety of the empire, a factor that does not make the colonel calm and instead uses every means possible to prevent the attack, which is likely to affect the strength of his empire. Instead of using peaceful means, he captures prisoners in a dubious way, which makes him wonder whether there was an army to attack his kingdom. This is because he finds the natives to of similarity to nomadic heathens rather than the barbarian army he suspected. However, he does not stop at this point questioning his intelligence by committing a series of torture on the natives to â€Å"confess† the details and whereabouts of the Barbarians. Although the magistrate is not happy with the way, he handles things he does not intervene or make an attempt of stopping since he understands the barbarian manner. In as much as their confessions and the nature of torture were too much, the truth behind the confessions was only because of torture. This leaves many questions whether the torture was necessary as one prisoner it killed one a prisoner and left another partially black haired woman partially blind (Coetzee 44). The torture of the barbarian girl is another instance where questions arise on the need for torture. She is one of the captives of colonel Joll who gets subjected to punishment with the aim of getting information. The torture vicariously eliminates the validation behind torture as the little girl is left partially blind. Coetzee, for instance, laments, â€Å"the true challenge is how to play the game by the rules of the state, how to establish own authority, how to imagine torture and death on one own terms.† (Coetzee 13) This is a moral question, which makes Coetzee wondering the reasons behind the colonel’s action, where he kills one of the captives, based on his own terms. The magistrate sympathizes with the little girl taking her to his house where he offers her a job as a cook. At a tender age, she receives sexual assault at the magistrate’

News story critique Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

News story critique - Assignment Example To achieve this, the paper will draw evidence from the news article to analyze the framing of the sex research in these news outlets in relation to our studies in class. It is clear that sex research is very significant in the modern society. Indeed, sex research leads to improved sexual behaviors, reduced negative sex outcomes, delayed starting of sexual activity among the youth, increased protection during sex, reduced sexual partners. Moreover, the media frames the sex research to influence mass opinion. Ideally, framing in research refers to how individuals or groups perceive and communicate the reality in the society. In the media, framing of a research topic defines how the media influences the public opinion and such influence may be behavioral or attitudinal. Indeed, Van Gorp establishes that the framing process assesses the impact of the present cultural phenomena in relation to the present social realities. Indeed, sex and sexuality are social realities in our society and a s such, the media frames the research on this topic to the effect of the society. The media frames the sex research in a unique yet convincing manner. The media frames the sex research from a qualified and authorized author. For example, the news article states that the respondent to the research, Dr. Levant is a professor of psychology and director of the Psychology Department Counseling Clinic at the University of Akron (New York Times, 2013).  As such, the article asserts that the information therein is reliable and authorized. The article does this to convince the audience in trusting in the information given in the article. More so, the audience is likely to adopt the advice there in due to the authority of the author. The news article also claims that the respondent in these articles has actually taken part in other studies. For example, the article states that Dr. Levant had written other related books that include â€Å"Men and Sex: New Psychological Perspectives (New Yor k Times, 2013).†Ã‚  With this background, the articles can influence the public opinion on the topic sex and sexuality by relying on the information contained in the news articles. Furthermore, the article frames the research by portraying the fact that the society forwarded questions about male sexuality to the professor and such questions represented the sex issues in the entire society. Nevertheless, the article reckons that the professor answered only the questions related to his expertise and thus the society should trust such answers. For example, the articles frame the research by analyzing some of the asked questions, which included how old-single men can date in 2013 (New York Times, 2013). This relates the cultural sex phenomena to the present social reality. The article also addresses the question of sexual health problems that affect many in the society like the inability to maintain an erection or climaxing too soon. The advice to such problems relates to the gene ral society and thus shapes the public opinion on handling such problems. For example, the articles frame the questions and answers of low testosterone, denied sexual activity, and unfaithfulness in sexual affairs (New York Times, 2013). These questions apply to both males and females and their response therefore shapes the public opinion. Moreover, cases of sexual affairs between partners of different ages also suffice in this research. Nevertheless, th

Innovation and Entrepreneurship Specialism Essay

Innovation and Entrepreneurship Specialism - Essay Example But the company holds over 60,000 products ranging from adhesive tapes to office stationary. The company is built around the chemical technology of coating and bonding (Strebel, 1987). Other mentionable items include equipment for traffic and safety signs, medical supplies, magnetic tapes and CDs. Their strategy of applying adhesive coating technologies to products has remained lucrative throughout their corporate history (Grant, 1991). The company also manufactures electrical equipment. The reason behind this success in innovation is its effective knowledge management system (Cavusgil, Calantone and Zhao, 2003). In the beginning, the company pursued a policy where the top management informally encouraged innovation but during later years the company formalized its innovation policy. It has built a culture based around innovation. Impressive financial success allows the company to maintain its innovation policy. Looking at 3Ms history it appears that their research and development culture is composed of elements that have not been modified in the companys 90 year history, but still the company is recognized for environmental leadership (Mitsch, 1992). 3M started its operations by selling sandpaper of inferior quality. It was quite an art to sell such a product. The company achieved this by getting closer to their clientele. They pursued a policy of relationship building with the customers. They demonstrated to the workmen how they could use this product. It was an example of relationship selling. This strategy taught the company a valuable lesson to get close with the customers and get to know their exact needs. Building such a relationship with the customers also gave the company an advantage where they could realize other market opportunities. The company apprehended early on that they could not simply compete based on price. The company identified certain niches that they could capitalize on. The first product they focused on was Three-M-Iteâ„ ¢

Should Cultural Anthropology Stop Trying to Model Itself as a Science Essay

Should Cultural Anthropology Stop Trying to Model Itself as a Science - Essay Example This paper illustrates articles by two schools of thought that seem to offer conflicting ideas on the question of cultural anthropology modeling itself as a science. This is because humanities and sciences tend to appear as though they compete for validity, as though, the two disciplines are two opposite extremes. In this regard, Geertz bears in mind that cultural anthropology is best done through interpretation, the humanities way, while Carneiro is of the view that studies should be done through studying the causes and effects. Carneiro’s way is the scientific method. According to the articles, Geertz opinion is that the humanistic approach to cultural anthropology is the best. This is based on the understanding that interpretation leads to definite contextual comprehension. In this regard, the application of scientific approaches puts to risk analysis of cultural aspects being incomplete. In addition, the issue of anthropology being a science gains popularity with its dual ancestry where it is the most scientific humanity of all. This is, in addition to being the most, humanist of all sciences. Based on the information it is crucial to note that anthropology should stick to being human in that all information should be deduced through interpretation for utmost accuracy. This is, in addition to attempting to prove, or disapprove scientific laws by generating deeper interpretations of diverse cultural phenomena. On the other hand, based on Carneiro, scientific should be used to explain cultural phenomena based on facts and evidence to create logical and rational explanations. This is as proposed through cause-effect studies, as opposed to the mere interpretation of causes and effects. In addition, cultural anthropology focuses on analysis thus, to Carneiro; it is a science, as opposed to the humanistic methods applied by interpretation. In this regard, the analysis goes deeper into details in an attempt to capture more information than that which is fou nd in humanist anthropology.