Who is the Emperor of the Ages? Was it Qin Shi Huang, or Emperor Wen of Sui?
For more than two thousand years of China's feudal dynasty, a total of five hundred emperors have emerged, there are many emperors, the quality is uneven, and only one is recognized as the first emperor of the ages, he is Qin Shi Huang Yingzheng.
So what exactly did Yingzheng do, and what would history say about him so highly?
In 221 BC, Yingzheng unified the six kingdoms, ending the four hundred years of war and chaos in the Spring and Autumn Warring States. In order to strengthen the rule of the central authorities, Yingzheng has established the idea of great unification, set up the county system and the system of three dukes and nine secretaries, thus strengthening the centralization of power; in order to facilitate management, Yingzheng has written the same text, the same track, unified standards throughout the country, and not engaged in specialization.
Yin Zheng felt that his merits were comparable to those of the Three Emperors and Five Emperors, so he was crowned emperor and called himself the First Emperor.
Whether it is the imperial system, the three dukes and nine secretaries system, or the great unification of ideas, these have influenced China for more than two thousand years.
Qin Shi Huang carried out reforms from the political, military, cultural, economic and other aspects, and the various systems he determined laid the basic framework of China's feudal dynasty for more than two thousand years, and became the standard of successive dynasties, and they all implemented it according to this standard.
In the eyes of Chinese, Qin Shi Huang is a well-deserved emperor of the ancient world, but in the eyes of Westerners, the emperor of the ancient world is not Qin Shi Huang, but the Sui Wen Emperor Yang Jian. So why do Westerners say that Yang Jian is an emperor through the ages? They gave three reasons.
First, complete unification
In 420 AD, Liu Yu established himself as jin and established the Song Dynasty, which was the beginning of the Southern and Northern Dynasties; in 589 AD, Yang Jian destroyed the Chen Dynasty and established the Sui Dynasty, which ended with the Southern and Northern Dynasties.
There were three eras of great turmoil in ancient Chinese history, the first was the Spring and Autumn Warring States, the second was the Southern and Northern Dynasties, and the third was the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms, these three periods were the most chaotic eras in Chinese history, and wars were fought almost every day.
The Southern and Northern Dynasties lasted for more than a hundred years, the people were in deep trouble, and the emergence of Yang Jian ended the chaotic world and made the world finally peaceful.
Second, the examination system
The imperial examination system is a system of selecting talents in Chinese history, which has made great progress in the inspection system and the nine-pin Zhongzheng system, allowing more talents to show themselves through the examination, and also giving many cold disciples the opportunity to change their destiny.
Westerners feel that the imperial examination system is a great system, and it has become the fifth major invention after the "Four Great Inventions" in China.
The third and third provinces have a six-part system
The three-province, six-part system is a bureaucratic system of ancient Chinese dynasties, which began in the Sui Dynasty, flourished in the Tang Dynasty, and was used by successive dynasties. The three provinces and six ministries have a clear division of labor, each performing its own duties, streamlining the organization, and the efficiency of work is very high.
In 2001, the British newspaper The Guardian selected China's greatest emperors, of which the Sui Wen Emperor Yang Jian was at the top of the list, and in the eyes of Westerners, Yang Jian was an emperor throughout the ages.
Whether it is Qin Shi Huang or Sui Wendi, they have made outstanding contributions to Chinese history, they have made great achievements, and celebrities have been famous throughout the ages! So what do you think, Qin Shi Huang and Emperor Wen of Sui, who are the first emperors in the ancient world?
References: "History", "Book of Sui", "Cambridge History of China's Sui and Tang Dynasties", etc