Editing Qin Shi Huang (section)

===Philosophy===
{{Main|Legalism (Chinese philosophy)|Burning of books and burying of scholars}}
{{Chinese Legalism}}

While the previous Warring States era was one of constant warfare, it was also considered the golden age of free thought.<ref name="Goldman">Goldman, Merle. (1981). ''China's Intellectuals: Advise and Dissent''. Harvard University Press. {{ISBN|0-674-11970-3|978-0-674-11970-3}}. p. 85.</ref> Qin Shi Huang eliminated the [[Hundred Schools of Thought]], which included [[Confucianism]] and other philosophies.<ref name="Goldman" /><ref>Chaurasia, Radhey Shyam. (2004). ''History of Modern China''. Atlantic Publishers & Distributors. {{ISBN|81-269-0315-5|978-81-269-0315-3}}. p. 317.</ref> With all other philosophies banned, [[Legalism (Chinese philosophy)|Legalism]] became the mandatory ideology of the Qin dynasty.<ref name="Chang" /> 

Beginning in 213&nbsp;BC, at the instigation of Li Si and to avoid scholars' comparisons of his reign with the past, Qin Shi Huang ordered most existing [[Burning of books and burying of scholars|books to be burned]], with the exception of those on astrology, agriculture, medicine, divination, and the history of the [[state of Qin]].<ref name="Lih">Li-Hsiang Lisa Rosenlee. Ames, Roger T. (2006). ''Confucianism and Women: A Philosophical Interpretation''. SUNY Press. {{ISBN|0-7914-6749-X|978-0-7914-6749-7}}. p. 25.</ref> This would also serve to further the ongoing reformation of the writing system by removing examples of obsolete scripts.{{sfn|Clements|2006|p=131}} Owning the ''[[Classic of Poetry]]'' or the ''[[Book of Documents]]'' was to be punished especially severely. According to the later ''Shiji'', the following year Qin Shi Huang had some 460 scholars buried alive for possessing the forbidden books.<ref name=wood/><ref name="Lih" /> The emperor's oldest son [[Fusu]] criticized him for this act.<ref>Twitchett, Denis. Fairbank, John King. Loewe, Michael. ''The Cambridge History of China: The Ch'in and Han Empires 221 B.C.–A.D. 220''. Edition: 3. Cambridge University Press, 1986. {{ISBN|0-521-24327-0|978-0-521-24327-8}}. p. 71.</ref> The emperor's own library did retain copies of the forbidden books, but most of these were destroyed when [[Xiang Yu]] burned the palaces of Xianyang in 206&nbsp;BC.{{sfn|Sima|2007|pp=74–75, 119, 148–49}}

Recent research suggests that this "burying Confucian scholars alive" is a Confucian martyrs' legend. More probably, the emperor ordered the execution of a group of alchemists who had deceived him. In the subsequent Han dynasty, the Confucian scholars, who had served the Qin loyally, used this incident to distance themselves from the failed regime. [[Kong Anguo]] ({{circa|165|74&nbsp;BC}}), a descendant of Confucius, described the alchemists as Confucianists and entwined the martyrs' legend with his story of discovering the lost Confucian books behind a demolished wall in his ancestral house.<ref>Neininger, Ulrich, ''Burying the Scholars Alive: On the Origin of a Confucian Martyrs' Legend,'' ''Nation and Mythology'' (in ''East Asian Civilizations. New Attempts at Understanding Traditions''), vol. 2, 1983, eds. Wolfram Eberhard et al., pp. 121–36. {{ISBN|3-88676-041-3}}. http://www.ulrichneininger.de/?p=461 {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210414161916/http://ulrichneininger.de/?p=461 |date=14 April 2021 }}</ref>

Qin Shi Huang also followed the theory of the [[Wuxing (Chinese philosophy)|five elements]]: fire, water, earth, wood, and metal. It was believed that the royal house of the previous [[Zhou dynasty]] had ruled by the power of fire, associated with the colour red. The new Qin dynasty must be ruled by the next element on the list, which is water, Zhao Zheng's birth element. Water was represented by the colour black, and black became the preferred colour for Qin garments, flags, and pennants.<ref name=wood/> Other associations include north as the [[cardinal direction]], the winter season and the number six.<ref>Murowchick, Robert E. (1994). ''China: Ancient Culture, Modern Land''. University of Oklahoma Press, 1994. {{ISBN|0-8061-2683-3|978-0-8061-2683-8}}. p. 105.</ref> Tallies and official hats were {{convert|15|cm|in|abbr=off}} long, carriages {{convert|2|m|ft|abbr=off|spell=in}} wide, one [[Chinese units of measurement|pace]] ({{zhi|c=步|p=bù}}) was {{cvt|1.4|m|ft}}.<ref name=wood/>