Qin Shi Huangdi

Qin Di and His Tomb

Who was Qin Shi Huangdi and what did he do for china?

“Death is one of two things. Both it is annihilation, and the dead have no consciousness of anything; or, as we are told, it is really a change: a migration of the soul from one place to another.” – Socrates

The ancient chinese believed that the design and construction of the tomb and the contents of the pits and pyramids were critical to helping the soul make a safe journey to the afterlife. This web page was created to make you more aware about the Qin dynasty and Qin Shi Huangdi. But it specifically focuses on six things that are; who Qin Shi Huangdi was and what he did, the design and construction of the burial precinct, the contents of the pits, the contents of the pyramid/tomb and how the contents of the pyramid/tomb helped his soul journey to the afterlife.

The qin Dynasty lasted for 15 years, it began in 221BC - 207 BC. But it remains one of the most famous dynasties ever in ancient Chinese History. Qin Shi Huangdi the emperor ran his dynasty with complete control, he punished those who disagreed with him and the punishment was swift and harsh. Qin Shi Huangdi was the first man ever to control the whole of china, this was because he developed a system of bureaucracy, so that he was in control of people lives every minute of every day.

The Emperor Qin Shi Huangdi devided his empire into 36 provencies each had two government officials in charge. He had great power his organization system had give him complete control. And with this control he made colossal changes that he thought china desperately needed to keep them protected.

Qin Shi Huangdi made many changes to do what he thought as helping china but the huge ones were making the great wall of china he made the wall because he thought that his people needed better protection. He weakened teachers, scholars and the nobles by burning what he called "useless books", because if it wasn't a book about agriculture, medicine or prophecy it was burned. He took the land away from the nobles so they lost most of their wealth and control and he either made peasants grow food or harvest silk and of they didn't do the job thy were given then, he put them to death or made them work on the great wall. Not for one moment did he think that was he was doing was cruel he did it to strengthen the unity of the nation and to perpetuate the dynasty. Qin Shi Huangdi also searched for eternal life because he wanted to live forever.

How did Qin Di design and construct the burial precinct?

The Mausoleum of Qin Di is located 5 kilometers east of Lingtong country, and 35 Kilometers from Xi’an in Shaanxi province. The emperors burial complex and tomb displays great craftsmanship and skill, According to Sima Qian's historical records the emperor spared no money or labor to construct the huge Mausoleum. He united the whole of china ad recruited over 7000 000 slaves to help build his almighty tomb. There isn't much description of hat the inside of the tomb looks like but Sima Qian wrote that it is solid ad really deep lined with stones and there was a stone wall built just to block off the groundwater, and doing this made the tomb water proof. There was also palaces and burial places for all high officials of Qin.

Qin Shi Huangdi was so paranoid about looters and robber that he had had set his Mausoleum up with traps. They had set hidden automatic arrows and had a belt of quicksilver poured around around the tomb where he was buried, so it looked like a protective river. Some of Sima Qian's records say that the burial precinct of Qi Shi Huangdi forced all the palace maids that didnt have children were to be buried alive wih their dead ruler. The emperor took these precaution to prevent any secrets about how the tomb was built getting out. The door to the Mausoleum was also closed on the builders ad craftsmen as they were finishing of their work inside the tomb.

it has been noticed that over may centuries the Mausoleum has lowered more than half the original height due to erosion and man made damage.

What were the contents of the pits?

What were the contents of the pyramid/tomb?

The pyramid, or mausoleum where Qin Shi Huang was put to rest, no one actually knows what is inside. But the great Historian Sima Qian (born around 15BC,) his monumental records are mainly written about the history of the Qin Dynasty. Sima Qian believed that inside Qins tomb he was buried with high levels of mercury. After recent testing by chinese scientists with modern technology have done, some of Sima Qian's research might actually be true. The scientists found very high levels of mercury in the dirt above and around where Qin Shi Huangdi was buried, which may give them clues that he was buried with the mercury as he believed it gave him strength to live forever. According to sima Qians records there is a mirage on the ceiling of the heavens, and on the floor there is a map of the whole chinese empire.

It's a known tradition for the chinese that they bury their loved ones with candles around them to help light a pathway for the soul and they bury them with treasures of jewels. This is because they believe that the more you were buried with the more chance you had of impressing the gods.

Inside this huge burial complex that was built for Qin Di, there are about 180 pits, and rows upon rows of terracotta warriors some that are Chinese soldiers and horse figures. Four of these pits inside the burial complex contain about 8,099 life size terracotta figures inside of the tomb. These terracotta figures which are known as terracotta warriors, were known as "Qin's army". each warrior is unique and has it's own distinguished look, ad each individual warrior has a different height and a different facial features. Each of the terracotta warriors were positioned differently some of them were standing, while others were kneeling. Some warriors where holding weapons and there was also charioteers and horses.

The terracotta warriors had three different pits that represented the three different parts of the emperor Qin's army. The largest and most famous pit hold the infantry, the second most known pit contains the the officers, who each have different facial expressions and stance. And the third most known pit contains the cavalry.

Archeologists have recently found other pits that contained dancers, entertainers ad bureaucrats that served the Emperor. To the north of the outer wall an imperial par was found the park contained sculptures of bronze cranes, swans and ducks with groups of musicians. There was also an imperial park found, in the park there was an imperial stable with real horses buried with terracotta figures of horse groomers kneeling beside them.

How does the contents of Qin’s tomb help the souls journey to the afterlife?

The contents of the tomb is one of the most important parts of helping the souls journey to the afterlife, the contents and they way things are placed are the most important things. The ancient Chinese believed there were two souls in every body, the Po and the Hun. The Po was usually kept with the body or went to an underworld, and the Hun was the soul that was known to travel the the heaven. The idea of the heaven was that it was the dwelling place of god, but according to Shang ideas not all the Hun went to heaven, only those of power or those who were worthy. Yet in the Ancient Chinese times the families of the diseased were not aware of this so they thought that putting materialistic items in the tomb, like jade (which was known as the stone of heaven) and jewels, and Qin Shi Huangdi had his concubines put in his tomb with him so that the gods would think he was a very powerful and rich emperor.

It was a well known throughout ancient chinese history that in every tomb the graves of those who past would usually be orientated with their heads to the west or north west, it was a ritual they thought would help them travel safer. Emperors or kings were buried face up and many goods or important personal possessions to show their wealth, Sometimes even animals were sacrificed with the emperors, to worship the dead gods and decorations such as furniture where sometimes placed inside so that the Hun could proceed to its final destination in comfort. All tombs no matter who was inside where lit with thousands of candles to guide the Hun, but the difference between Qin's tomb and other peoples tomb was that he had thousands of candles and he also had lamps hoping that the light would be brighter and hoping that they would stay lit long enought for the light to guide the Hun's way.