In the year 259 BCE, in a time of relentless wars and ever present death, Ying Zheng was born in the state of Qin, which at that time was a rather small state in north-western China. Very little is known about the young prince before he took his place on the throne in the year 246 BCE at the age of 13. His mother was a retired concubine who later became a widow queen together with the advisor Lu Pu-Wei, who was, according to rumour, her lover and Ying Zheng's real father. His mother ruled over the state for 8 years until the boy took his place as a king in the year 238 BCE.
One work of literature which meant a lot to Shi Huang's governing was written by a man named Han Fei Zi, he wrote a collection of essays in the art of ruling a state, which functioned as a guide for princes. This work has often been compared to Machiavelli's famous piece, The Prince. Like Machiavelli, Han Fei Zi made it clear that anything the prince did must serve the purpose of the state. A statement by Han Fei Zi says: "In a wise prince's state there are no books: the law itself serves as an education. Nor statements from previous kings: the civil servants serves as teachers."
Hence, one of the major reasons why the First Emperor of Qin is described as the evil one himself is his decision to burn all the books in the kingdom. His advisor, Li Si, whole-heartedly agreed on his emperor's point of view. This is displayed in following episode from the historian Sima Qian's work , Shi Ji, (The Historians Recordings).
(Excerpt from Yang Hsien-yi and Gladys Yang, Records of the Historian, (Hong Kong: Commercial Press, 1974), pp.170-72, 177-78 repr. in Alfred J. Andrea and James H. Overfield, The Human Record: Sources of Global History, Vol 1, 2d. ed., (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1994), pp. 97-100.)
The prime minister Li Si said:
"The Five Emperors did not emulate each other nor did the Three Dynasties adopt each other's ways, yet all had good government. This is no paradox, because times had changed. Now Your Majesty has built up this great empire to endure for generations without end. Naturally this passes the comprehension of a foolish pedant. Chunyu Yueh spoke about the Three Dynasties, but they are hardly worth taking as examples. In times gone by different barons fought among themselves and gathered wandering scholars. Today, however, the empire is at peace, all laws and order come from one single source, the common people support themselves by farming and handicrafts, while students study the laws and prohibitions."
"Now these scholars learn only from the old, not from the new, and use their learning to oppose our rule and confuse the black-headed people. As prime minister I must speak out on pain of death. In former times when the world, torn by chaos and disorder, could not be united, different states arose and argued from the past to condemn the present, using empty rhetoric to cover up and confuse the real issues, and employing their learning to oppose what was established by authority. Now Your Majesty has conquered the whole world, distinguished between black and white, set unified standards. Yet these opinionated scholars get together to slander the laws and judge each new decree according to their own school of thought, opposing it secretly in their hearts while discussing it openly in the streets. They brag to the sovereign to win fame, put forward strange arguments to gain distinction, and incite the mob to spread rumors. If this is nor prohibited, the sovereign's prestige will suffer and factions will be formed among his subjects. Far better put a stop to it!"
"I humbly propose that all historical records but those of Qin be burned. If anyone who is not a court scholar dares to keep the ancient songs, historical records or writings of the hundred schools, these should be confiscated and burned by the provincial governor and army commander. Those who in conversation dare to quote the old songs and records' should be publicly executed; those who use old precedents to oppose the new order should have their families wiped out; and officers who know of such cases but fail to report them should be punished in the same way."
"If thirty days after the issuing of this order the owners of these books have still not have them destroyed, they should have their face tattooed and be condemned to hard labour at the Great Wall. The only books which need not be destroyed are those dealing with medicine, divination, and agriculture. Those who want to study the law can learn it from the officers."
The Emperor sanctioned this proposal in the year 213 BCE.
The First Emperor's command was remarkably efficient, and the emperor managed with one blow to virtually destroy all of the present Chinese culture at that time. But the emperor and his advisor didn't have the intention of totally destroying the Chinese literature. The purpose was probably to give the State control over the scholars and with that prevent those who could read to get access to the historical recordings as these recordings could give the scholars the means to help them to "use the past to criticise the present".
One should remember that this and other stories about Shi Huang's reign of terror was written by men who followed the teachings of Confucius. This bias gave them even more reason to really hate Qin Shi Huang and his harsh methods. One of the earliest critics by the name of Jia Yi wrote in his famous essay, the Fall of the Qin dynasty, the following: "He cracked his whip to force the world to bend to his will and put deception and violence before goodness and justice and made the tyranny the foundation of his empire". Few historians questioned this until much later.
The First Emperor did get a better reputation when Mao Zedong expressed his admiration for the emperor's conquests as well as for his ruthlessness. This was a reason to re-evaluate the First Emperor and he eventually came out under a different light. During a meeting in the Chinese communist party central-committee 1958, chairman Mao said that Qin Shi Huang was a ruler that made it clear that those who "used the past to criticise the present" should be eradicated. Mao continued: "But what did he really accomplish? He buried 460 scholars alive, while we have buried 46,000 counter-revolutionary scholars alive."
>From 1972 and onward, as a response to Mao's statements, biographies about Shi Huang were published in China, they were very acknowledged and all in all uncritical. The books sold millions of copies. This was surely a show of tribute that the First Emperor would have liked and understood.