influential figures
While Emperor Qin Shi Huang is given the credit for
controlling the state of Qin and ultimately uniting China, there were other
influential figures which had an impact on the unification of the country. During
the Qin Dynasty, the prime minister and Qin Shi Huang’s advisor, Li Si, had a
significant amount of power and guided the Emperor into making a number of prominent
decisions (Ouellette, 2010). Most significantly,
Li Si was the person who brought forward the Legalist political philosophy as a
means of uniting and controlling the various states in China (Sima Qian, c. 80 BC). Li Si also was the
driving force behind the majority of the reforms and changes that occurred within
the reign of Qin Shi Huang (Ouellette, 2010). It was largely due
to Li Si’s influence that the form of writing throughout China was standardised
and the books within the country were burned (Ouellette, 2010). Qin Shi Huang and
Li Si had a mutually beneficial relationship – Li Si provided ideas for the
Emperor, who had the power to implement them (Ouellette, 2010). In a time where
people were continually being removed from the ministers and government at the
slightest suspicion of wrongdoing, Li Si remained in the favour of Qin Shi
Huang until 210 BCE, when the Emperor passed away (Ouellette, 2010).
Another influential Legalist was the Qin King’s advisor Shang Yang in the 4th century BCE (The Saylor Foundation, 2012). Before the state of Qin had a great amount of power and the capability to overcome all of the other states, Shang Yang introduced a number of reforms to provide the basis for the Qin to become an influential state. Some of these reforms included having certain quotas of food to be produced, forcing the subjects to marry sooner and have a greater number of children, and encouraging the cultivation of agriculture rather than commerce (The Saylor Foundation, 2012). To suppress the untrustworthy nobility and to stop them from being independent, Shang Yang stripped the power from them in order to centralise authority and power in the King (The Saylor Foundation, 2012). Eventually, Shang Yang was executed on the grounds of suspicion of disloyalty to the state (The Saylor Foundation, 2012). However, his reforms outlived him and ensured the state of Qin was as efficient and centralised as possible (The Saylor Foundation, 2012).