The Burning of the Books and the Scholars (213–211 BCE)

In the thirty-fourth year he sentenced judicial officers who had judged unfairly to build the Great Wall and work in South Yue.

The First Emperor held a banquet at Xianyang Palace; seventy Erudites came forward to wish him long life. Their director Zhou Qingchen offered praise: “Formerly Qin’s land extended no more than a thousand li. Through Your Majesty’s divine wisdom you have pacified all within the seas and driven back the barbarians; wherever sun and moon shine, all submit. You have made the feudal states into commanderies and counties, so that everyone enjoys peace without fear of war, for ten thousand generations. Since remotest antiquity none has equaled Your Majesty’s power and virtue.” The First Emperor was pleased. Chunyu Yue, an Erudite from Qi, stepped forward: “I have heard that the Yin and Zhou dynasties ruled for over a thousand years by enfeoffing their sons, brothers, and meritorious ministers as branches to support the trunk. Now Your Majesty possesses the realm, but your sons and brothers are commoners. If ministers like Tian Chang or the six ministers should suddenly appear, without supporting lords how could you protect yourself? I have never heard of a state enduring without following the past. Qingchen flatters you to your face, compounding Your Majesty’s errors; he is no loyal minister.” The emperor submitted this for discussion. Chancellor Li Si said: “The five emperors did not repeat one another, nor did the three dynasties imitate each other. Each governed in its own way, not out of contrariness, but because times had changed. Your Majesty has founded a great enterprise and established achievements for ten thousand generations, beyond the understanding of foolish scholars. Yue speaks of the three dynasties: why take them as our model? Formerly the rival lords competed to attract wandering scholars. Now the realm is settled and laws and decrees issue from one source. At home the common people should work at farming and crafts; men of learning should study the laws and prohibitions. Instead these students study antiquity rather than the present and use it to denounce our age and confuse the people. I, your chancellor Li Si, speak at the risk of my life: in antiquity the realm was divided and no one could unite it. The lords arose together; in conversation men cited the past to injure the present, adorning empty claims to confuse reality. Each praised his own private learning and condemned what the ruler had established. Now the emperor has united the realm, distinguished black from white, and fixed a single authority. Private scholars join in condemning the laws and teachings; when an order is issued, each discusses it according to his school. At court they reject it in their hearts; outside they debate it in the streets. They disparage the ruler to make a name for themselves, prize dissent as distinction, and lead their followers into slander. Unless this is forbidden, the ruler’s authority will fall from above and factions grow below. A ban is expedient. I propose that the historians burn all records except those of Qin. Throughout the realm, anyone other than an Erudite officially charged with their custody who keeps the Songs, the Documents, or the writings of the hundred schools must bring them to the governor and commandant to be burned together. Anyone who dares discuss the Songs or Documents with another shall be executed in the marketplace; those who use antiquity to criticize the present shall have their clans destroyed. Officials who know of violations and fail to report them shall suffer the same penalty. Anyone who does not burn these writings within thirty days of the order shall be tattooed and sentenced to labor on the walls. Exempt are books on medicine, divination, and cultivating trees. Those wishing to study the laws and decrees shall take officials as their teachers.” The imperial ordinance said: “Approved.”

In the thirty-fifth year he cleared a road from Jiuyuan to Yunyang, cutting through mountains and filling valleys to make it straight. The First Emperor thought the population of Xianyang numerous and the former kings’ palace too small. “I have heard that King Wen of Zhou made Feng his capital and King Wu made Hao his. The space between Feng and Hao is a fitting capital for an emperor.” So he planned an audience palace in Shanglin Park south of the Wei River. He first built the front hall at Epang Palace: five hundred paces east to west and fifty zhang north to south, with room above to seat ten thousand people and below to erect a fifty-foot banner. A covered gallery ran around it, leading from beneath the hall straight to the Southern Mountains. He marked their summit as a ceremonial gate. An elevated passage from Epang crossed the Wei River to Xianyang, in imitation of the celestial gallery that crosses the Milky Way from the pole star to the constellation Yingshi. Epang Palace was not yet finished; once complete, he meant to choose it a fine name. Because the palace was built at Epang, the realm called it Epang Palace. Over seven hundred thousand castrated men and convicts were assigned to build Epang Palace or work on Mount Li. Stone coffins were brought from the northern mountains and timber was transported from Shu and Jing. In Guanzhong there were altogether three hundred palaces, beyond the passes more than four hundred. He erected a stone on the coast of the Eastern Sea in the territory of Qu to mark Qin’s eastern gate. He moved thirty thousand families to Liyi and fifty thousand to Yunyang, exempting them from service for ten years.

Lu Sheng told the First Emperor: “We seek the magic mushrooms, wondrous medicines, and immortals, but never encounter them; some harmful presence appears to obstruct us. According to our art, the sovereign should sometimes travel unseen to avoid evil spirits; when they depart, the perfected ones will come. If ministers know where the sovereign dwells, it impairs his divine power. A perfected one enters water without becoming wet and fire without burning, rides the clouds, and lives as long as heaven and earth. Your Majesty governs all under heaven but cannot yet find stillness. May no one know which palace you inhabit: then the medicine of immortality may be found.” The First Emperor said: “I admire the perfected ones; I shall call myself ‘the Perfected One,’ not ‘We.’” He ordered that the 270 palaces and pavilions within two hundred li of Xianyang be linked by elevated and covered passages, and furnished with curtains, bells, drums, and beautiful women, each remaining in its appointed place. Whoever disclosed the location of a place he visited was put to death. Visiting Liangshan Palace, the emperor saw from the mountain the numerous chariots and riders of the chancellor, which displeased him. Someone inside the palace told the chancellor, who afterward reduced his retinue. The emperor said angrily: “Someone inside has betrayed my words.” On investigation no one confessed. He ordered the arrest and execution of everyone who had been nearby at the time. After that no one knew where he traveled. At Xianyang Palace he heard state business and his ministers received his decisions.

Hou Sheng and Lu Sheng plotted together: “The First Emperor is by nature stern, cruel, and self-willed. Starting as one lord among many, he united the realm, achieved all his desires, and believes no one since antiquity has equaled him. He relies exclusively on judicial officials, who alone enjoy his favor. Though he has seventy Erudites, they merely fill posts and go unused. The chancellor and great ministers accept finished decisions, depending on the emperor for their resolution. He delights in using punishment and death to show his power. All fear punishment and cling to their salaries; none dare serve him with complete honesty. Never hearing of his faults, he grows prouder daily, while those below, intimidated, deceive him to win favor. Qin law decrees that anyone who offers conflicting arts whose predictions fail is put to death. There are as many as three hundred diviners of stars and vapors, all worthy men, yet they fear taboos and flatter him, not daring to speak plainly of his faults. Every affair under heaven, small or great, is decided by the emperor. He even weighs his documents by the shi, setting a daily quota by day and night; until he meets it he will not rest. So greedy is he for power. We cannot seek the medicine of immortality for him.” They fled. Hearing this, the emperor grew furious: “Formerly I collected and removed all books in the realm that were of no use. I summoned many learned men and masters of occult arts, intending to create an age of peace, and the adepts were to refine wondrous medicines. Now I hear that Han Zhong left without reporting back, while Xu Shi and the others have spent tens of thousands upon tens of thousands and found no medicine; every day I hear reports of their illicit schemes for profit. I honored and richly rewarded Lu Sheng and his fellows, and now they slander me and magnify my faults. I shall send men to investigate the students in Xianyang, some of whom spread monstrous stories to disturb the people.” He ordered the imperial counselors to investigate all the students. As they implicated one another, more than 460 judged to have broken the prohibitions were buried alive in Xianyang, and the news was spread across the realm as a warning to others. More convicts were exiled to the frontiers. Fusu, the emperor’s eldest son, protested: “The realm has only recently been settled; the people of distant regions have not yet become loyal. All these students recite the teachings of Confucius. If Your Majesty subjects them all to harsh law, I fear the realm will not be at peace. I beg Your Majesty to consider.” The emperor angrily sent Fusu north to supervise Meng Tian in Shangjun.

In the thirty-sixth year Mars stood in the Heart constellation. A falling star struck Dongjun and turned to stone on the ground. Someone among the people carved upon it: “When the First Emperor dies, the land will be divided.” Hearing of it, the emperor sent an imperial counselor to investigate. No one confessed, so he executed all who lived near the stone and burned and pulverized it. Distressed, he had the Erudites compose songs about immortals and perfected beings, and about his travels throughout the realm, ordering musicians to perform them with song and strings. In autumn, an envoy traveling from east of the passes at night on the Pingshu road near Huayin was stopped by a man holding a jade disk, who said: “Give this for me to the Lord of Haochi.” He added: “This year the Ancestral Dragon dies.” When the envoy asked why, the man vanished, leaving the disk behind. The envoy presented it with a full report. The emperor was silent for a long while, then said: “A mountain spirit knows no more than the events of a single year.” Later he said: “The Ancestral Dragon means the first ancestor of men.” He had the treasury examine the disk: it was the one he had cast into the Yangtze during his crossing in the twenty-eighth year. The emperor consulted divination, receiving the omen that travel and resettlement would be auspicious. He moved thirty thousand families to Yuzhong on the northern Yellow River and awarded them one rank of nobility.

In the thirty-fourth year, officials who had handled trials unfairly were sentenced to work on the Great Wall and in the Southern Yue region.

The First Emperor held a banquet at Xianyang Palace. Seventy Erudites stepped forward to wish him long life. Zhou Qingchen, the director of the palace attendants, praised him: “In the past Qin's territory was no more than a thousand li across. Thanks to Your Majesty's divine wisdom, you have pacified all the lands within the seas and driven out the foreign peoples. Everywhere the sun and moon shine, all submit to you. You have turned the other states into commanderies and counties, so everyone lives in peace and happiness without fearing war. This will last ten thousand generations. Since earliest times, no one has equaled Your Majesty's power and achievements.” The First Emperor was pleased. Chunyu Yue, an Erudite from Qi, stepped forward and said: “I have heard that the Yin and Zhou kings ruled for over a thousand years because they gave fiefs to their sons, brothers, and deserving ministers, who served as their supporting branches. Your Majesty now possesses the whole world, yet your sons and brothers are commoners. If ministers like Tian Chang or the Six Ministers should suddenly appear, how could you save yourself without any supporters? I have never heard that anyone who fails to learn from the past can last long. Qingchen now flatters you to your face, making your errors worse. He is not a loyal minister.” The First Emperor referred the proposal to his ministers. Chancellor Li Si said: “The Five Emperors did not copy one another, nor did the Three Dynasties. Each governed in its own way, not because they opposed one another, but because times had changed. Your Majesty has begun a great work and established achievements that will last ten thousand generations. A foolish scholar like Yue cannot understand them. Besides, Yue is talking about the Three Dynasties. Why should we follow their example? Formerly the states fought one another and eagerly recruited traveling scholars. Now the world is settled and all laws and orders come from one government. Common people should apply their strength at home to farming and crafts, and officials should study the laws and prohibitions. Instead, these scholars study the past rather than the present. They criticize our age and confuse the common people. I, your Chancellor Li Si, speak at the risk of my life: In ancient times the world was divided and no one could unite it. The other rulers arose everywhere. People talked of the past to attack the present, dressing up empty words to confuse reality. Each praised his private school of thought to criticize what the ruler had established. Now the emperor has united the world, distinguished right from wrong, and fixed a single authority. But people privately study together and criticize the laws and teachings. When an order is issued, each discusses it according to his own school. At court they privately disagree; outside they criticize it in the streets. They seek fame by showing off to the ruler, take pride in unusual views, and lead the people below them to spread slander. Unless we prohibit this, the ruler's authority will decline at the top and factions will form below. It is best to forbid it. I ask that the records kept by historians, other than those of Qin, all be burned. Except for the books in the charge of the Erudites, anyone in the world who keeps the Songs, the Documents, or the writings of the various schools must bring them to the governors and military commanders to be burned together. Anyone who dares discuss the Songs and Documents with another person is to be executed in the marketplace. Anyone who uses the past to criticize the present is to have his family killed. An official who knows of this and does not report it will receive the same punishment. Anyone who has not burned his books thirty days after the order is issued will be branded on the face and sentenced to labor on the walls. Books on medicine, divination, and growing trees will not be destroyed. Anyone who wants to learn the laws and orders should take officials as his teachers.” The emperor's decree said: “Approved.”

In the thirty-fifth year, a road was cleared from Jiuyuan to Yunyang, cutting through mountains and filling valleys to make it straight. The First Emperor felt that Xianyang had too many people and the palaces of earlier kings were too small. He said: “I have heard that King Wen of Zhou made his capital at Feng and King Wu at Hao. The land between Feng and Hao is the proper site for an emperor's capital.” He began building a palace for court audiences in Shanglin Park, south of the Wei River. The first building was the front hall of Epang Palace. It was five hundred paces from east to west and fifty zhang from north to south. Its upper floor could seat ten thousand people, and a flag five zhang tall could stand underneath. Elevated walkways ran around it, and one led directly from beneath the hall to the Southern Mountains. The summit of the mountains was marked out to serve as a gate tower. He built a covered walkway across the Wei River from Epang to Xianyang, representing the sky's elevated passage across the Milky Way from the pole star to the constellation Yingshi. Epang Palace was not yet finished. Once it was finished, he intended to choose a better name for it. Because it was being built at Epang, people throughout the world called it Epang Palace. More than seven hundred thousand castrated men and convicts sentenced to hard labor were divided between work on Epang Palace and Mount Li. Stone for the burial chambers was brought from the northern mountains, and timber was shipped in from Shu and Jing. There were altogether three hundred palaces within the passes and more than four hundred outside. He erected a stone at Qu on the shore of the Eastern Sea to mark Qin's eastern gate. He moved thirty thousand families to Liyi and fifty thousand to Yunyang; all were exempted from taxes and service for ten years.

Lu Sheng told the First Emperor: “We have searched for the magic herbs, strange medicines, and immortals but never found them. It appears that some force is keeping them away. According to the methods of our craft, a ruler should sometimes travel in disguise to avoid evil spirits. When the evil spirits are driven off, a true immortal will come. If the ruler's ministers know where he lives, this interferes with his spiritual power. A true immortal can go into water without getting wet or into fire without burning, ride above the clouds, and live as long as heaven and earth. Now Your Majesty governs the world but has not yet achieved calm detachment. I ask that you keep your residence secret. Then you may be able to obtain the medicine of eternal life.” The First Emperor said: “I admire the true immortals. I shall call myself ‘True Immortal’ instead of ‘We.’” He then ordered the 270 palaces and towers within two hundred li of Xianyang to be connected by raised and enclosed passageways. Curtains, bells, drums, and beautiful women filled them, each kept in its assigned place without being moved. Anyone who revealed where the emperor went would be put to death. When the First Emperor visited Liangshan Palace, he looked down from the mountain and saw that the Chancellor had many carriages and riders. He disliked it. Someone in the palace told the Chancellor, who afterward reduced the size of his escort. The First Emperor was angry and said: “Someone in the palace has leaked my words.” An investigation was held, but no one confessed. He ordered everyone who had been nearby at the time arrested and killed. From then on nobody knew where he was traveling. He conducted government business and gave his ministers decisions on all matters at Xianyang Palace.

Hou Sheng and Lu Sheng discussed the emperor together: “The First Emperor is naturally harsh, stubborn, and determined to do things his own way. He rose from among the other rulers and united the world. Now that he has got his wish, he thinks that no one in history has ever equaled him. He relies entirely on the officials who handle criminal cases and gives them his favor. The seventy Erudites are only there to fill positions; he does not use them. The Chancellor and other senior ministers receive decisions already made and depend on the emperor to settle questions. The emperor enjoys using punishments and executions to show his power. Everyone fears punishment and clings to a salary, so no one dares to speak honestly. The emperor does not hear about his errors and grows more arrogant every day. His subjects cower and deceive him to win his favor. Qin law says that anyone who practices more than one magical method and fails to get results must be put to death. Yet as many as three hundred men observe the stars and heavenly vapors. They are all capable men, but they fear breaking taboos and flatter him instead of telling him frankly where he is wrong. Every affair in the world, great or small, is decided by the emperor. He even weighs the documents he reads by the shi. There is a daily quota, and until he meets it he cannot rest, day or night. He is so greedy for power. We cannot search for the medicine of immortality for him.” They fled. On learning of their escape, the First Emperor grew furious and said: “Earlier I collected all the books in the world that were of no use and destroyed them. I summoned very many scholars and practitioners of magical arts, hoping to bring about peace. The magicians were to refine substances in search of strange medicines. Now I hear that Han Zhong left without reporting back. Xu Fu and the others have spent tens of millions, yet have found no medicine; every day I hear fresh reports of their dishonest schemes for profit. I honored Lu Sheng and the others and gave them generous rewards, but now they slander me and add to my bad reputation. As for the scholars in Xianyang, I have sent people to investigate them in secret. Some are spreading wild stories to confuse the common people.” He sent the Imperial Counselors to question all the scholars. The scholars implicated one another, and more than 460 who had broken the prohibitions were identified. They were all buried alive at Xianyang. He made this known throughout the land as a warning to others. He sent even more convicted people into exile on the border. Fusu, the First Emperor's eldest son, advised him: “The world has only recently been pacified, and people in distant regions are not yet settled. These scholars all study and recite Confucius's teachings. If Your Majesty punishes them severely under the law, I fear the world will become unsettled. Please consider this.” The First Emperor was angry and sent Fusu north to oversee Meng Tian in Shangjun.

In the thirty-sixth year, Mars stayed in the constellation Heart. A falling star landed in Dongjun and became a stone. Someone among the common people carved on it: “The First Emperor will die and the land will be divided.” When the emperor heard, he sent an Imperial Counselor to investigate, but no one confessed. He had everyone living near the stone arrested and killed, and had the stone burned and broken down. The First Emperor was unhappy. He had the Erudites compose poems about immortals and true immortals and the places he had visited in his travels, and ordered musicians to sing and play them. In autumn, an envoy returning from east of the passes passed along the Pingshu Road at Huayin by night. Someone blocked his way, holding a jade disk, and said: “Deliver this to the Lord of Haochi for me.” The person added: “The ancestral dragon will die this year.” The envoy asked why, but the person suddenly vanished, leaving the disk behind. The envoy presented it with a full report. The First Emperor was silent for a long while, then said: “A mountain spirit knows only about the coming year's events.” Later he said: “The ancestral dragon means the first of men.” He had the imperial treasury inspect the disk. It proved to be the one he had dropped into the river when crossing it in the twenty-eighth year. He then consulted the diviners and received a sign that travel and resettlement would be fortunate. He moved thirty thousand families to Yuzhong on the northern Yellow River and awarded them one rank of nobility.