Alice MacLean

PEEL Paragraph 1:

What were the main factors that motivated Qin Shi Huang Di
to change society during his reign?
During Qin Shi Huang Di’s reign, from 259 BCE to 210 BCE, the main factors that motivated
him to change society were that he felt he needed to maintain strict power and firm control.
He wanted to control the other states, and if anyone rebelled, they would be severely
punished, or killed. His determination to maintain absolute control was because he was in
power over such a large area, and he was overly paranoid about revolt. Additionally, this
paranoia was supported by his firm conviction that he was a god of the whole universe, not
just China. Consequently, in the second year of his rule, historical accounts suggest that he
buried 460 scholars alive as their beliefs opposed his own. As a result, this made relatively
few people resist his reign. Qin Shi Huang’s desire to maintain absolute power is made clear
in Source 3, where it says that “those convicted of crimes were executed, mutilated, or put
to hard labour” (Source 3). The fact that anyone who rebelled got punished so harshly, by
being put to death or tortured, shows his extreme paranoia and desire for control. Seeing
himself as immortal, and ruler of the Universe, meant that it was crucial that he thought he
had to maintain absolutely rigid control over everyone he ruled. This is shown in Source 2
when it states that he “pursued both immortality and personal deity with an unequaled,
single-minded passion.” (Source 2). Hence, because Qin Shi Huang saw himself as such an
all-powerful ruler, maintaining firm control over such a diverse country was essential.