The Burning Of Books And Burying Of Scholars Analysis

The earliest Emperor of the Qin dynasty was Qin Shi Huang, who was born in 259BCE and ultimately came into power at the age of 21. Despite accomplishing many significant achievements, he attained this in a brutal and callous way. Arguments that will be clearly discussed and explained in this assignment to emphasize the negative aspects of Qin Shi Huang are: the severe punishments he enforced for criminals, his fierce and deceitful war strategies and the prohibiting and burning of Confucius teachings.

Another example is that in source B, it is stated that “Qin Shihuangdi ordered most Confucian and other books not dealing with practical studies, such as farming and medicine, to be burned." These accounts again prove that he was effective, but cruel. The records had dealings with farming and medical practices, which were both vital to civilization because farming was their main food supply and people depended on medical practices to save them and their families. For their leader, who is supposed to look out for the well-being of the people rather than the well-being of himself, an act of violence such as the sin committed against records proves how little he cares about the well-being of his people. Although those acts were effective in maintaining control for a short period, they were ineffective in maintaining a healthy empire in the long run.

Mentioned in document six, author Tang Emperor Wu has the point of view that Buddhism will destroy the culture of China. The author states that Buddhism is spreading along with its strange ways and will poison the customs of the nation. He claims that if these Buddhists get lazy, monks and nuns will go hungry and cold while waiting for these Buddhists to feed and clothe them. The author favors the religion of Confucionism due to natural bias. If the nation of China were to convert to Buddhism, his overall government power would be lost with the change in government. Explaining that if China remains Confucianism, Tang Emperor Wu’s power would not be altered. Also containing a negative response to the spread of Buddhism in China is document four. Document four’s author, Han Yu, a Confucian scholar and official, has a xenophobic point of view. This means that he rejected Buddhism due to the foreign idea to Confucianism. Han Yu believes that Confucianism belongs in China because of the maintained order it showed. He also states that the Buddha was a man of barbarians and that Buddhism was a barbarian practice. The Chinese refer to foreigners as barbarians, which created the history of Xenophobia. During this time, barbarians were viewed as outcasts within China. The Xenophobic history contributed to the negative response of the spread of Buddhism within

Buddhism was created in the 6th century BCE by Siddhartha Gautama, also known as Buddha. This religion was created in present day Nepal. Lower class, poor people were more likely to convert to Buddhism due to the caste system in India. The caste system organized people into classes and the people at the bottom were more likely to be unhappy than the upper classes.

The statement made by Han Yu in document 4 demoralizes Buddhism as a cult for barbarians. He is a leading Confucian scholar that would be powerful and upper-class; the reader is unable to know if the lower-class share the views, but it can be assumed that the words of himself and Tang Wu carry weight. Document 6 paints Buddhism as the cause of the problems China is facing during the time, including poverty and the size of worship temples. Buddhism is being used as the scapegoat by the dynasty to explain the unpopular political climate. The Emperor displays worry that the Buddhist monks are becoming too powerful stating the larger number and vicinity of many

Buddhism was seen as practiced by the “barbarians” (document 4). Han Yu ridicules Buddhism by emphasizing that Confucianism is the truth while Buddhism contains only lies.. It is not surprising that Han Yu is opposed to Buddhism because of his position in the Imperial court. He was of a higher class and many people in the higher class tended to reject Buddhism, partly because of the religion’s teaching of equality. He could greatly influence the Emperor; however, many peasants may have disagreed because of their differences of class. Furthermore, in document 6, Wu, the Tang Emperor, denounces Buddhism by blaming it for social injustices such as people leaving their religion, “injuring humankind” and destroying the law. It is expected that the emperor of the Tang dynasty would give such an edict because many of Buddhism’s teachings such as the equality of classes and genders go against a great deal of what the empire is built on. The Tang dynasty also had a great deal of inner conflict when it came to accepting or rejecting Buddhism. This edict was given in 854 CE after the imperial structure of the government was

This was also a very important time for the emperor. He believed there was much slander that existed so a man by the name of Lisi burned all the negative information that anyone had, or was out, about the Emperor (McKay, 186). When this emperor died, he installed Terra Cotta warriors in his specialty tomb to have them protect him into the afterlife. The Qin State finally fell apart in 210 after the death of the first emperor and failed to make an impact after.

Legalism is an ancient Chinese philosophy of administration that believes that humans are more inclined to do wrong than right because they are motivated entirely by self-interest. Shi Huangdi was the founder of the Qin dynasty. After conquering the seven kingdoms in ancient China, he halted the Warring States Period and took the throne as the first emperor of the unified Chinese nation. He ruled on the basis of Legalism. To prevent criticism of his rule, Shi Huangdi ordered that all books that seemed to be useless or against him be burned. This included all poetry from the Chou dynasty and all books written by Confucian scholars. The only books from previous eras that Shi Huangdi let off were the practical ones about medicine and farming. Focusing on the issue of media censorship, the current Chinese government governs in a similar way to the way Qin Shi Huangdi once governed. China still blocks and monitor citizens access to several social media services and shuts down media entertainment programs during government events. While some may see this as an extreme form of censorship, we must consider the fact that several other countries have similar policies in place.

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

The transition from the Qin Dynasty to the Han Dynasty brought about many changes in ideology. The Han Dynasty’s rise to power brought with it the rise of Confucianism, and this gave the people of China more rights and freedom compared to their life under the Qin Dynasty. Confucian principles emphasized loyalty, respect for superiority, education, and the welfare of a group over the individual. Comparing Han China to Qin China, Lu Jia said, “When the people only feared the laws, they could not know rites and rightness.” The emphasis of Confucianism in Han China led to the construction of schools to offer more widespread education. This embedded a philosophy within the Chinese people that revolved around Ren and Yi, ideas

Confucianism is regarded as one of the primary religions that have profoundly influenced Chinese beliefs and ideologies. While Kongzi, or Confucius, is the founder of Confucianism, he is not the only philosopher who has contributed to such a significant impact on China. Similarly, the Analects of Confucius is not the single text that represents Confucianism. In fact, during different time periods throughout the history, there are a number of eminent representatives of Confucian thoughts, such as Mengzi and Xunzi. Because Confucianism aims at eliminating chaos and maintaining order in a harmonious society , they all agree that the guidance and education of virtuous Confucian pioneers are of extreme importance to achieve this

Fictional novels, in this case, The Graveyard Book, can teach us about ourselves. A fictional novel is imaginary and is not necessarily based true facts. The Graveyard Book was published in 2008 by Neil Gaiman. This book is about a normal boy named Nobody Owens but is known to his friends as Bod. Bod is raised in the graveyard by educated ghosts, a solitary guardian who is neither living nor dead and is under attack by the Man Jack. Two ideas that have been demonstrated throughout the novel is that life is full of endless possibilities and relationships are a key part of our identity. This novel teaches us about ourselves and the experiences that we have with our relationships with other people in our life with

Han Yu's memorial (Document 4) and the Emperor's edict in Document 6 both blame Buddhism for tainting the people of China. Document 4 addresses growing feelings of nationalism in China; which resulted in a growing stand for Confucianism, since it was a belief system founded in China. Document 6, on the other hand, revealed not a strengthening of the state, but a weakening. The beginning of the decline of Tang was all blamed on the spread of Buddhism by the imperial court. It expresses bigoted views that the elimination of Buddhism will purify Chinese society.

The Book was originally intended as a set of spells and incantations meant to insure safe passage for the soul of a deceased person into the Underworld. Some of the ending chapters include instructions on not dying a second time, meaning how not to die in the underworld and thus having no chance of being reborn or living a full afterlife. The original text--at least, the bits and pieces that modern scholars possess--consists of a set of hymns, beginning with the Hymn to Osiris. This hymn is meant to call up the king of the underworld and make him aware of the presence of the soul. After summoning Osiris, the presiding priest would begin a series of ceremonies designed to give the spirit all the

Furthermore, the Marxist revolutionary government of Communist China dealt with Confucianism negatively. “In the early 20th century, both before and after the fall of the Qing dynasty, Confucianism was harshly criticized by the New Culture Movement. (Adler 6)” The assumption of this movement was that “virtually everything about China’s traditional culture was holding it back from becoming a modern nation-state.” In fact, Confucianism was high on the list of culprits in this “blanket rejection” of traditional China. “The New Culture Movement criticized Confucianism for its age and gender-based hierarchies, which had become quite rigid during the Ming and Qing dynasties. Communist thinkers also joined this anti-Confucian trend, so by the time of the Communist victory in 1949 Confucianism in mainland China seemed virtually dead. (Adler 7)” “After the Communists took power their anti-Confucian rhetoric only increased. In addition to their professed opposition to social hierarchies, they viewed Confucianism as a feudal ideology. (Adler 8)”