This excerpt of the commentary essay The Faults of Qin, centers on Jia Yi's denouncement of the governing strategies of the Qin rulers, the First Emperor and the Second Emperor. In this excerpt, Jia Yi is concerned with the strain placed on the empire and its people by the tyrannical, brutal rule of the Emperors. Overall, Jia Yi is critical of the EmperorsÆ methods as deficient in terms of preserving the Empire.
The excerpt begins with the Duke Xiao of Qin engaged in unifying the Empire by military means. Duke Xiao ôpocketing all within the Four Seas, and swallowing up everything in all Eight Directions.ö The legalist system was developed ôby Lord Shang, who aided him in establishing lawsàand negotiating alliances.ö After the death of Duke Xiao, three other kings continued his policies until later ôwhen the First Emperor ascendedàand furthered the accomplishments of the six generations before him.ö
Jia Yi, however, then criticizes the First Emperor as a ruthless, short-sighted tyrant who, ôBrandishing his long whip, he drove the world before him; destroying the feudal lordsà.whipping the rest of the world into submission.ö After establishing his absolute power, Jia Yi recounts how the First Emperor consolidated his power, trusting no oneÆs advice but his own, burning books and killing scholars with the aim of ôweakening his people.ö The First Emperor ôabolished the ways of ancient sage kings and put to the torch the writings of the Hundreds Schools in an attempt to keep the people in ignorance.ö Jia Yi comments that the First Emperor then believed he created an imperial structure that would ôbe enjoyed by his royal descendants for ten thousand generations to come.ö Ironically, his imperial structure lasted only one generation. He succeeded at pacifying and unifying the Empire, but not at ruling it in a manner that would have preserved it.
Jia Yi then describes the rebellion of ômen of courage from t...