The Fourfold Encounters of Records Grand Historian: Seeing Mandate Heaven - First Emperor's Regret/史记四Š

The First Emperor's Regret focuses on one chapter of the Records of the Grand Historian: the Basic Annals of the First Emperor of Qin.¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿With the fall of the Western Zhou and the eastward relocation of the Zhou capital to Luoyang under King Ping, the age of incessant warfare among the contending states had endured for half a millennium. By the time King Zheng of Qin ascended the throne, the trajectory of events had become increasingly clear: Qin's conquest of the realm, its absorption of the rival states, and the unification of all under heaven were an irresistible tide of history. King Zheng accomplished this monumental task and proclaimed himself the First Emperor. He rendered great service to the realm.Yet, as a sovereign ruler, the First Emperor was blind to the natural rhythm and course of history. He cast aside the kingly way, established autocratic rule, governed with suspicion and tyranny, and exhausted the people's strength through corvée labor. A mere three years after his death, the Qin dynasty fell in the second generation. The realm was carved up by Xiang Yu, the Hegemon-King of Western Chu, and parceled out among the feudal lords - it was not until the rise of the Han dynasty that the empire was once again united under a single sovereign.The First Emperor's regret is perhaps his own alone. Thus ended his life and his achievements. Such is the manifest justice of Heaven; we need not mourn the fall of Qin, nor will anyone mourn it.¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿Tan Musheng is a historian, writer, and Ph.D. candidate in modern Chinese history at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. A former senior editor at The Economic Observer and co-founder of Interface Media, he later founded the New Asia Humanities College. His lecture series on Chinese history has garnered millions of listeners online. He is the author of The Empress's Flight West and The Witchcraft Scandal That Shook Chang'an.¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿"¿¿¿¿¿¿"¿¿¿¿¿"¿¿¿¿¿¿¿"¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿