Economic Reforms
The Emperor Qin Shi Huang, along with the help of Li Si, unified China economically by standardizing the units of measurement, the currency, and even the axles of carts. The emperor also developed networks of road and canal systems to facilitate transport and trade. By standardizing the units of measurements, the market places became more fair, using the same weights and lengths. The currency was also standardized to the Ban liang Coin. However important these reforms were, perhaps the most important was the unification of the Chinese script. The seal script of the state of Qin was standardized by removing other variations of it. This made it more official and gave it more power. This new, standardized script make communication across China more fluent and easier to understand. Although some people view Qin Shi Huang as a tyrant, they all agree on the benefits of his economic reforms. (Wikipedia, "Economic Reforms.")
Book Burning
The burning of books was meant to prevent the subjects of learning other philosophies and ways of thinking that were not approved by the government. Books, at this point in time, were only writings on bamboo sticks that were bound together. This event caused a great historical loss of many philosophical ideas with only the official philosophy of the government, legalism, surviving. It was Li Si, Qin Shi Huang's son, that proposed the idea of burning books. He suggested that all histories written by historians should be burned so that people cannot study them. He also suggested that the works of scholars by different schools be handed in to authorities for burning and those who do not comply will be killed, along with their family. Those discussing these books will be sent to the north as convicts to build the Great Wall. The only books that were saved were those on war, medicine, and agriculture. (Wikipedia, "Burying of Books and Burning of Scholars.")
In many ways, Mao Zedong was often compared to Qin Shi Huang. Both were ruthless leaders who singly controlled all of China in a monarch. In 1958, during one of Mao Zedong's speeches, he himself compared him to Qin Shi Huang. "He only buried 460 scholars alive, while we buried 46,000 scholars alive," he said, "You accuse us of acting like Qin Shi Huang, but you are wrong; we surpassed him 100 times." Although Mao's mausoleum is not as grand as the First Emperor's, Mao's body is inside a crystal coffin that is brought down to an earthquake-proof vault every night. However powerful China's emperors were, China is still much bigger than any one person. (Gracia, "Qin Shi Huang: The Ruthless Emperor Who Burned Books.")
In many ways, Mao Zedong was often compared to Qin Shi Huang. Both were ruthless leaders who singly controlled all of China in a monarch. In 1958, during one of Mao Zedong's speeches, he himself compared him to Qin Shi Huang. "He only buried 460 scholars alive, while we buried 46,000 scholars alive," he said, "You accuse us of acting like Qin Shi Huang, but you are wrong; we surpassed him 100 times." Although Mao's mausoleum is not as grand as the First Emperor's, Mao's body is inside a crystal coffin that is brought down to an earthquake-proof vault every night. However powerful China's emperors were, China is still much bigger than any one person. (Gracia, "Qin Shi Huang: The Ruthless Emperor Who Burned Books.")