Qin (state)
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Qin or Ch'in (Wade-Giles) (秦), (778 BC-207 BC) was a state during the Spring and Autumn and Warring States Periods of China. It eventually grew to dominate the country and unite it for the first time, after which it is referred to as the Qin Dynasty. The royal surname is Ying (嬴).
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[edit] Early history
[edit] Founding of the State
The royal house of Ying traces its ancestry to early Western Zhou Dynasty with Feizi serving King Xiao of Zhou as the royal horse trainer and breeder, and was rewarded with nobility and the fief in Qin City (today's Tianshui, Gansu province). During the barbarian aggression that saw the fall of the Western Zhou capital of Hào (near today's Xian, Shaanxi province) in 771 BC, Xiang of Qin lead troops and provided King Ping of Zhou escort eastward and re-establish the Zhou capital in Luoyang (today's Luoyang, Henan province). Xiang was in return granted the rank of Bo (伯), a third ranked nobility (comparably a Count in European feudal systems, after highest ranking Gong (公), Duke; and secondly ranked Hou (侯), Marquis. Moreover, it should be noted that although the posthumous titles for all nobles were given as "duke", their living nobility positions were not necessarily dukes). Xiang was hailed posthumously as Duke Xiang of Qin (秦襄公). This promotion in nobility was accompanied by the promise of all royal Zhou land sacked by the barbarian. The following generations of Qin Dukes were most highly motivated in harvesting this promise far beyond the original Zhou domain which saw the Qin state vastly expanded across the Yellow River Loess Plateau during the Spring and Autumn period as they rigorously prosecuted military campaigns against the barbarians to the west.
[edit] Ascendency during the Spring and Autumn Period
To the east, Qin involvement with other feudal states in central and eastern China remained minimal throughout the Spring and Autumn period, except to its neighbouring Hou (Marquis) state of Jin (晋), directly to the east across the Yellow River. Qin's relationship with Jin was a mix of diplomacy, noble friendships and wars of revenge. During the early reign of Duke Mu of Qin (秦穆公) (again, Mu was actually a count), the state of Jin was in a powerful position under the leadership of Duke Xian of Jin (晋獻公) (an actual marquis). The death of Duke Xian saw the state of Jin weakened in internal struggles between Duke Xian's sons for the noble Jin title. Following the later establishment of Duke Wei (晋惠公), Jin was again struck by a widespread famine, which saw Duke Wei soliciting aid from Qin. Duke Mu of Qin was not hesitant in supplying food and agricultural equipment to Jin. In return, he found increasing aggression from the neighbour he valued, as the state of Jin regained its strength in the following years while famine shifted to Qin. Deeply upset with this supposedly friendly diplomatic endeavour which resulted in conflicts, the army of Qin fought major revenge battles against Jin, which left Qin preoccupied in its eastern front and its barbarian campaign to the west largely ceased. During his campaigns against Jin, Duke Mu of Qin heard that one of Duke Xian of Jin's son, Chong'er (重耳), was in exile in the state of Chu (楚). After consulting with his ministers, Duke Mu sent a dispatch to Chu to invite Chong Er to Qin. With support from Qin, Duke Wei of Jin was abolished and Chong Er was back home and was established as Duke Wen of Jin (晋文公). Duke Wen was most grateful to Duke Mu and the relationship of the two states was again stabilized, a crucial condition for Duke Mu to gain supremacy in the west against the barbarians. Duke Wen of Jin did not rule long and died in 628 BC. A year after his death Duke Mu of Qin was plotting a secret attack against the state of Zheng (鄭), but the plan was leaked to Jin and Zheng. The new Duke Xiang of Jin (晋襄公) then planned a ambush against the Qin army, which resulted in the battle of Yao (肴） (today's Luoning, Henan province) and saw a devastating defeat for the Qin army. Three years later Duke Mu of Qin again launched a revenge war against Jin, this time ended in a conclusive defeat of the Jin army. Duke Mu, however, after burying his troops' skeletons that were scattered across the field at Yao from the battle three years prior, stopped all his endeavours eastward and focused back on the traditional Qin policy of expanding west. He was eventually declared as one of the five overwhelming lords during the Spring and Autumn period, for his achievements in western expeditions. (The other four were Duke Huan of Qi (Marquis), Duke Xiang of Song (Duke), Duke Wen of Jin (Marquis), and King Chuang of Chu (self-proclaimed King).) It was not until some 200 years later that saw again a Qin army marching east.
[edit] Defeats during Early Warring States Period
During the years that saw China transforming from spring and autumn period to warring states period, Qin was in a rather backward condition compare to its rapidly transforming neighbours to the east. The demography of Qin consisted of a large proportion of Sinicized semi-barbarian people, believed to be descended from the Jong tribe of the steppes. This was a main factor that caused a distinct unease and discrimination amongst the other states in China toward Qin at the time. The newly established state of Wei (魏, not Wei (卫)) (partitioned from Jin) under the leadership of Marquis Wen of Wei (魏文侯) was the most powerful neighbour at the door of Qin on its eastern border. However, with the eastern geographical bottleneck landscapes of Hanguguan (函谷关) (Gate Hangu, NE of today's Lingbao, Henan province) and to its west Tongguan (潼关)(Gate Tong, today's Tongguan, Shaanxi province) firmly under the Qin hand, only in one occasion over the six hundred years of Qin history did Qin lost its defensive line at these gates and the land west of the Yellow River. It was a campaign launched by Wei under the command of the infamous Wu Qi (吳起) from 413 BC to 409 BC (in a few battle occasions also saw the involvement of Zhao (赵) and Han (韓) troops uniting forces with Wei) which annexed Qin lands west of the Yellow River during the reign of Marquis Wen of Wei and Duke Jian of Qin (秦簡公).
[edit] Reformation
Suffering losses against Wei, Qin rulers were rigorously pursuing a reform and inviting foreign scholars, administrators, theorists, and generals under the reigns of both Duke Xian (秦獻公)and Duke Xiao of Qin (秦孝公). The most significant event in the history of the Qin prior to the third century BC (early warring states period) was the advent of Shang Yang (商鞅). Shang Yang was one of the pioneering theorists, and the most successful implementer, of the theories of law in early warring states period. His theories went through further elaboration by Han Fei (韓非) during the late warring states period in which Han Fei combined Shang Yang's theories of law with Shen Buhai's (申不害) theories in statecraft and Shen Dao's (慎到) theories of authority to form the core of what is known as the philosophies of Legalism (法家). Shang Yang's law theories advocate the belief that all people are fundamentally equal and that stringent laws and harsh punishments are required to keep them in order. Shang Yang became prime minister of the Qin under the rule of Duke Xiao of Qin and gradually began transforming the state into a vigorously regulated machine, the sole purpose of which was the elimination of all rivals. Shang Yang swept away the aristocracy and implemented a meritocracy - only those who achieved could reach high places and birth privilege was reserved exclusively for the ruler of the state. In doing this Shang Yang made many enemies which includes the heir to the Qin title, the future King Huiwen of Qin (秦惠文王) by punishing him as if he was an ordinary citizen, and after the death of Duke Xiao he was sought after and eventually killed. However, Shang Yang's reforms had obvious virtues that resulted in Qin power on the rise from the moment he successfully implemented the legal systems that transformed Qin, as seen by other central and easterly states, from a rather backward feudal state out in the west that received respect only from the barbarians, to a highly centralized state with efficient administrative systems. Despite Shang Yang's execution no subsequent ruler was foolish enough to undo the changes, and the strength that his reforms brought to Qin was the foundation stone for Huiwen of Qin's self-proclamation as the first King of Qin.
From then on, Qin was taking its shape to become the most powerful state in China before it eventually brought all of the seven other states together (Qi, Chu, Han, Yan, Zhao, Wei and Qin itself) under the First Emperor (Qin Shi Huangdi, literally the First Emperor - prior to ascending to the imperial throne he was known as Qin Ying Zheng).
[edit] Effects of the Successful Qin Reformation
The Qin continued to grow in power over the century that follows Shang Yang's reform owing to the extraordinary industriousness of its peoples. The Qin Kings put in place many projects to enhance their state including many large public works such as irrigation canals and large defensive walls.
One of the most obvious results of this program of reform was that in the military. Previously the army had been controlled by nobles and constituted of feudal levies. Now generals could come from any part of society, provided they had sufficient skill. In addition, troops were highly trained and disciplined. Most of all, however, Qin's army rapidly swelled to enormous size and had the full backing of the state. In 318 BC, a campaign involved a united force of five eastern states (Wei, Zhao, Han, Yan, Chu) against Qin managed to advance to Hanguguan, only to be defeated by Qin counter attacks due to lack of trust within the five states and lack of coordination between the united armies. The size of the advancing army was far more then when the state of Wei was attacking a century prior, but this later campaign with a larger united army was a proof of the strength Shang Yang's reform brought for the state security of Qin, compared to the earlier Wei campaign that was far more successful and saw Qin lose much more land, before its reformation.
Besides the effects on military strength, Shang Yang's reform also brought enormous labour power for numerous public works projects aimed at boosting agriculture and made it possible for the Qin to maintain and supply a standing force of over a million troops - a feat that no other state (apart, perhaps, from the other semi-barbarian kingdom of Chu) could match. The conquest of the fertile states Ba (巴) and Shu (蜀) (today's eastern and central Szechuan province, respectively) further expand the Qin "backyard" for supplies and manpower. This was proven to be a crucial strategic success as none of the eastern states were able to launch an expedition against the Qin backyard to cut off its supply lines as the Ba Shu lands were deep in the mountains upstream of the Yangtze River and were relatively easy for Qin to defend. Further, due to the upstream location of Ba Shu, Qin was able to launch attacks against its greatest rival, Chu, which lies downstream of the Yangtze and was forced to suffer in a passive defensive position against Qin troops sailing down with ease.
[edit] Later history
[edit] Ascendency and Conquests during the Warring State Period
During the reign of King Huiwen of Qin, the Kingdom of Chu suffered the most from Qin aggression. Chu, to the southeast of Qin, was under the rule of King Huai (楚懷王) and despite having the largest standing army amongst all states, over one million strong, Chu largely remained as a feudal state that saw its administrative and military strength plagued with corruption and divided up by local nobles within the vast southern Kingdom. The Qin prime minister at the time, Zhang Yi (張儀), also a talented diplomatic strategist, adviced King Huiwen to exercise Qin's interest at the expense of Chu. The following years saw Qin diplomatic plots, engineered and executed by Zhang Yi himself, gone hand-in-hand with Qin troops disturbing Chu's northwest. Time after time King Huai of Chu suffered military defeats, land losses, and diplomatic humiliations, that eventually threw him into his furious but miscalculated campaign against the Qin, in which he was yet again defeated and resulted in the most humiliating event in the history of Chu with King Huai himself taken prisoner in 299 BC and eventually died in Qin. With King Huai in their hands, Qin plundered Chu with massive attacks and sacked the Chu capital. The crown prince of Chu fled eastward before he was crowned as King Qingziang of Chu (楚倾襄王).
The next half century that follows King Huiwen's death saw power demonstrations performed by Qin in the most brutal format. After the devastating defeat of Chu, both militarily and mentally, Qin, under King Zhaoxiang (秦昭襄王), shifted the stage to northern China. The early years of King Zhaoxiang's reign the Marquis of Ráng (穰侯) was the prime minister and he was actively endeavouring to campaign against the state of Qi (齊), the eastern most part of China, mostly utilizing the mighty Qin army to his own benefit. Land gained in these campaigns could not be connected to the Qin proper and thus was granted to Marquis of Ráng as his own fiefdom, rather than directly administered by Qin. King Zhaoxiang's visitor advisor, Fan Ju (范雎), later granted title as the Marquis of Ying (应侯), adviced King Zhaoxiang to abandon these fruitless campaigns and shifted the Qin policy to maintain good diplomatic relationships with distant states such as Qi, and concentrate forces against its direct neighbours of Han and Wei, the so called "far connect, close attack" (远交近攻) policy. Under this policy, Han and Wei found themselves plagued with decades of Qin advances and saw their land lost to Qin in chunks followed by hundreds of thousands of soldiers killed. The Qin territory had advanced deep across the east shore of the Yellow River and beyond. The very existence of Han and Wei was merely a strategic balancing buffer zone between Qin in the west, Zhao in the north, Qi in the east, and Chu in the south. Their troops were used as spearheads pointing west by the alliance of the eastern states against Qin, as well as the same puppet spearheads, but pointing east, aiding Qin advances mostly against Chu. Had Qin not worried about a united retaliation against herself from these three states (which seemed unlikely since these three states were also busy struggling with each other), Han and Wei had ended their royal houses decades before their eventual conquest by Qin.
By the 260's BC, all other states of China realized the full magnitude of the Qin reforms to the very nature of warfare. All vestiges of aristocratic pleasantry had vanished in favor of raw efficiency. Starting 265 BC Qin launched a massive invasion against Han. By 262 BC Qin was again bullying Han to give up its Shangdang (上党) area. Han, not willing to benefit Qin, turned to Zhao and offered Shangdang to Zhao, which lead to a standoff between Qin and Zhao for the control of Shangdang, and, in a larger stage, the dominance of northern China. The two states engaged in a three years long Battle of Changping (長平), followed by another three years long siege of Handan (邯郸), which saw not just war in the field but also full involvement in both home fronts campaigning for supplies and political plots. The type of warring scheme in Changping was a show-down of overall state strength stretched to its maximum by the two sides. Qin, despite its stacked resources and vast manpower, had to enlist every man above the age of 15 to be on war related duties, from front line service to logistics to agriculture, and saw King Zhaoxiang himself directing the army supply lines. The extent of mobilization and the resulting exhaustion in the aftermath was never be seen in world history for another 2,000 years until this concept of total war was back on stage again during WWI. At the end, it was diplomatic corruption plots by Qin within the Zhao court which resulted in a change in the Zhao general staff that led Qin to her ultimate victory in battle in 260 BC. Afterwards, Qin general Bai Qi (白起) sent a dreadfully staggering message to the whole known world of Qin's mighty indisputable authority by ordering the execution of some 400,000 POWs from the surrendered Zhao army. In total, Zhao lost almost 450,000 troops. It was the beginning of the end of Zhao. For Qin, despite her victory and what would seemingly be the logical next step to march directly to the Zhao capital of Handan to finish off Zhao once and for all, which it attempted by besieging Handan right after her victory in Changping, this proved difficult to achieve due to the exhaustion endued by the Qin troops and overall fatigue covering the home front, not to mention the expected "fight-to-death" by Zhao guards at the walls of Handan. Bai Qi was however convinced that Handan could be taken. Fan Ju, relieved of his worry that, had Bai Qi successfully taken Handan and conquer Zhao, he would be replaced by Bai Qi, convinced King Zhaoxiang to accept six cities offered by King Xiaocheng of Zhao (赵孝成王) to halt the Qin attack on Handan. King Zhaoxiang agreed and Bai Qi therefore developed conflicts with Fan Ju. The surrendering of six Zhao cities was strongly opposed within the Zhao court and subsequent delays resulted in Qin resuming its siege of Handan in 258 BC. Due to Bai Qi's refusal to coordinate with Fan Ju, he was replaced first by Wang Xi, then by Wang Ling, then by Zheng Anping (鄭安平) to command the siege of Handan. By 257 BC Handan was surrounded for three years but Qin simply could not penetrate the walls. During this time Zhao begged for aid from Wei and Chu, where Wei was at first hesitant, terrified by the power and deed of the Qin army, but later on found out they did stand a chance against the tiring Qin. Wei launched an attack, and Qin troops crumbled into retreat with Zheng Anping surrendering. Combined forces by Wei and Chu continued to chase the retreating Qin army and saw portion of original Wei land east of the Yellow River annexed by Qin retaken by Wei. Qin was finally forced to stop aggression, and Zhao was barely saved, but only for a short while.
It was also during the reign of King Zhaoxiang of Qin in the middle of the third century that the Qin began a massive new project which ultimately made their position of preeminence unassailable. As mentioned earlier, the Kingdom of Han was terrified of easterly Qin expansion at its own expense. So the King of Han attempted to destroy Qin not with his armies, for they were vastly inadequate, but with a hydraulic engineer. The Qin had made their penchant for constructing large-scale canals evident by the Min River irrigation scheme. The idea behind the dispatch of the engineer Zheng Guo (鄭國) to the Qin court was to convince the King of Qin to pour resources into an even larger canal. The Qin agreed to construct the canal, but, unfortunately for the Han, their plan back-fired. Although it did indeed delay the Qin advance, at the same time it failed to overstretch Qin resources and after the so-called Zhengguo Canal's completion in 246 BC, all losses were recouped in addition to a vast surplus. Qin became one of the most fertile states in China because of this and could raise hundreds of thousands of additional troops as a result of increased agricultural yield.
By this time China's thousands of feudal fiefdoms had been reduced to just seven massive kingdoms, each one of them probably capable of matching any western nation at the time with ease. The two most powerful states were easily Qin and Chu. The latter, however, was at a disadvantage due to its administrative inefficiency and political corruption, and previous defeats at the hands of Qin. Despite all this, Chu still remained as a potential rival to the ever growing power of Qin.
Up to 256 BC the Zhou kings were still, in theory, King of China. But in 256 BC this had ended when the last King died. His sons were not proclaimed kings; their rank was reduced and they were known only as the lords of Zhou.
[edit] Unification of China
The year 247 BC marks the beginning of the end of the Warring States period, for it was in this year that a thirteen-year-old named Zheng was crowned as King of Qin. Seventeen years later Zheng began the final, epic struggle for supremacy with an all-out assault against the state of Han.
The colossal Qin army easily defeated Han and the Qin now turned towards Zhao, an empty husk ever since the devastation of its army at Chengping some thirty years prior. Zhao fell to the Qin in 228 BC, and soon after, Wei also succumbed. By this stage it looked highly likely that ultimate Qin victory grew near. However, nothing was certain. The last great enemy, the Chu endured.
At this point the two largest armies in the history of the world up until the French Revolutionary Wars engaged in what was the battle for the throne of all China. In 223 BC, Qin ascendancy to the throne became inevitable - the Chu were conquered.
What followed was little more than a mopping-up operation - a campaign of a few months in Yan led to that state's annexation as well. Only Qi now remained, and realizing its situation was utterly untenable, it surrendered without a fight. In 221 BC, one of the most important years in China's long history, King Zheng of Qin declared not only that he was the ruler of China, but that he would take the unprecedented title (apart from in the legends of the Yellow Emperor and other mythical figures) of Emperor of China. Indeed he changed his name to Shi Huangdi, First Emperor, and dictated that all subsequent rulers of his dynasty should do the same, numbering themselves for as many generations as the Qin ruled.
[edit] Timeline
- c. 557 BC Jin fought Qin successfully.
- 361 BC Duke Xiao ascends the throne. Shang Yang arrives from Wei.
- 356 BC Shang Yang enacts his first set of changes to the state.
- 350 BC Shang Yang enacts his second set of changes to the state.
- 338 BC Duke Xiao dies, King Huiwen ascends the throne and Shang Yang is executed.
- 316 BC Qin conquers Shu and Ba.
- 293 BC Qin beats coalition forces of Wei and Han at the Battle of Yique.
- 260 BC Qin routs Zhao troops in the Battle of Changping.
- 256 BC Qin conquers former Zhou kings.
- 247 BC Zheng, later known as Qin Shi Huang, ascends the throne.
- 230 BC Qin conquers Han.
- 228 BC Qin conquers Zhao, capturing King Qian of Zhao.
- 225 BC Qin conquers Wei.
- 223 BC Qin conquers Chu
- 222 BC Qin conquers Yan. Qin captures King Jia of Dai (step-brother of King Qian of Zhao) who had led the last Zhao forces.
- 221 BC Qin conquers Qi, completing the unification of China, and ushering in the Qin Dynasty. The king of Qin becomes China's first emperor, and is known as Qin Shi Huang.
[edit] Rulers
- Qin Zhong (秦仲), ruled 854-822: great-grandson of Feizi
- Duke Zhuang (莊公), ruled 822 BC - 778 BC: Ying Ye (也), son of Qin Zhong
- Duke Xiang (襄公), ruled 778 BC - 766 BC: son of Duke Zhuang
- Duke Wen (文公)
- Duke Ning (寧公)
- Duke Wu (武公)
- Duke De (德公)
- Duke Xuan (宣公)
- Duke Cheng (成公)
- Duke Mu (穆公)
- Duke Kang (康公) : Ying Ying (罃)
- Duke Gong (共公): Ying Dao (稻)
- Duke Huan (桓公): Ying Rong (榮)
- Duke Jing (景公): Ying Hou (後)
- Duke Ai (哀公)
- Duke Hui (惠公)
- Duke Dao (悼公)
- Duke Li (厲公): Ying Ci (刺)
- Duke Zao (躁公)
- Duke Huai (懷公)
- Duke Ling (靈公): Ying Su (肅)
- Duke Jian (簡公): Ying Daozi (悼子)
- Duke Hui II (惠公)
- Duke Chu (出公)
- Duke Xian (獻公): Ying Shiti (師隰)
- Duke Xiao (孝公)
- King Huiwen (惠文王), ruled 338 BC - 311 BC, also known as King Hui (惠王): Ying Si (嬴駟)
- King Wu (武王), ruled 311 BC - 307 BC: Ying Dang (蕩)
- King Zhaoxiang (昭襄王), ruled 307 BC - 250 BC, also known as King Zhao: Ying Ze (则) or Ying Ji (稷)
- King Xiaowen (孝文王), ruled 250 BC: Ying Zhu (柱)
- King Zhuangxiang (荘襄王), ruled 250 BC - 246 BC: Ying Zichu (子楚)
- Qin Shi Huang (秦始皇), ruled from 246 BC - 210 BC (as King of Qin (秦王) until 221 BC, as First Emperor (始皇帝) from 221 BC onwards): Ying Zheng (政)
- Qin Er Shi, ruled from 210 BC - 207 BC: Ying Huhai (胡亥)
- Ziying (子嬰), ruled from mid-October to the beginning of December 207 BC
