(Lecture by Professor Zheng Changzhong en Route from Hotel to The Emperor Qin Shihuang’s Mausoleum Site Museum on May 20, 2025)
As an old Chinese saying goes: “To understand China’s history above ground, visit Beijing; to uncover its underground heritage, explore Xi’an.” Beijing and Xi’an are like two keys to decoding Chinese history. The former showcases nearly a millennium of political civilization evolution, while the latter harbors deeper underground cultural relics. Xi’an has been a city for over 3,100 years, serving as the capital starting from the Western Zhou Dynasty, with a total of 13 dynasties establishing their capitals here for more than 1,100 years. Beijing, since becoming the capital of the Yuan Dynasty in 1271, has undergone 750 years of political changes, emerging as a crucial stage for Chinese civilization since the Ming and Qing Dynasties. These two cities—one witnessing the profound accumulation of civilization through underground relics, the other presenting the rise and fall of empires through above-ground architecture—together outline China’s 3,000-year civilizational context.
Yesterday in Beijing, we visited iconic sites like the Great Wall and the Forbidden City. As the imperial palace of the Ming and Qing Dynasties, the Forbidden City was once the political hub of the empire. Its towering halls and rigorous architectural regulations vividly demonstrate the pinnacle of imperial power civilization above ground. Today, we will visit Emperor Qin Shihuang’s Mausoleum Site Museum, which is core embodiments of “uncovering Xi’an’s underground heritage.”
Qinshihuang, the founder of China’s first unified dynasty—the Qin Dynasty—replaced the enfeoffment system with the county system, inaugurating a centralized political paradigm. His mausoleum is not only a treasure trove housing thousands of cultural relics such as terracotta warriors and bronze artifacts but also silently embodies the institutional transition from “feudal states” to “unified empires” through its imperial tomb layout.
From the perspective of historical evolution, early Chinese civilization went through a loose phase of scattered states (e.g., the late Neolithic Age to the Xia and Shang Dynasties). Although the enfeoffment system of the Xia, Shang, and Zhou Dynasties established a “shared sovereignty of all under heaven” framework, vassals retained administrative and military autonomy within their fiefdoms, making the state a hybrid of “tribal alliances” and “aristocratic politics.” It was not until Qinshihuang conquered the six states, abolished enfeoffment, and implemented the county system that a centralized imperial governance system was first established. This system—with the emperor as the core of power, the county system as the local framework, and the bureaucratic system as the operational link—broke the loose “feudal” structure and laid the foundation for China’s basic political paradigm during the 2,000-year imperial era.
Although the Qin Dynasty collapsed after only two generations due to harsh policies and excessive centralization, its institutional legacy was inherited and expanded by the Han Dynasty. By Emperor Wu’s reign, Confucian ethics were integrated into political governance through the policy of “deposing all other schools and honoring Confucianism alone”, reconciling the tension between imperial autocracy and social culture. This formed a governance model of “Confucian principles externally, legalist methods internally”, driving China from mere political unity to “pluralistic integration” of civilization.
After the fall of the Han Dynasty, China entered the turbulent Northern and Southern Dynasties period. Spanning nearly 400 years, this era witnessed frequent regime changes but was also a critical stage for ethnic integration and institutional innovation. As an ancient political center, Xi’an (Chang’an at the time) witnessed and participated in many historical processes. Northern nomadic regimes such as the Former Qin, Later Qin, Western Wei, and Northern Zhou successively established their capitals in Chang’an, making it a core stage for the blending of Hu (nomadic) and Han cultures. Especially during the Western Wei and Northern Zhou periods, Chang’an was not only the political hub but also a frontier for institutional innovation. The political practices and cultural collisions of various regimes in Chang’an during the Northern and Southern Dynasties not only accelerated ethnic integration but also accumulated valuable experience for the institutional innovations of the subsequent Sui and Tang Dynasties.
During the Sui and Tang Dynasties, Xi’an once again became a center of institutional innovation. The imperial examination system, initiated in the Sui Dynasty and refined in the Tang Dynasty, broke down class barriers, allowing commoners to change their destinies through knowledge and becoming a cornerstone of social stability in ancient China. Meanwhile, the Tang Dynasty promoted multi-ethnic integration through open and inclusive policies, reaching the zenith of the Silk Road and demonstrating the inclusive spirit of Chinese civilization. In essence, Xi’an served as an “experimental field” for ancient Chinese institutional innovation, nurturing influential systems from the centralized governance explorations of the Qin and Han Dynasties to the open governance of the Sui and Tang Dynasties.
Looking back at Chinese history, “pluralistic integration” has always been the main thread of civilizational development: from the loose union of early states, to the institutional unification of the Qin and Han Dynasties, the inclusive coexistence of the Tang and Song Dynasties, and the political integration centered on Beijing in the Yuan, Ming, and Qing Dynasties, Chinese civilization has consistently sought balance between national unity and local diversity, centralization and social vitality. This pursuit continues today, evident in the governance practices of modern China.
The Emperor Qin Shihuang’s Mausoleum Site Museum, we will visit today marks the starting point of this historical context. Qinshihuang’s greatness lies in his first realization of the “great unification” concept into reality—standardizing writing, unifying vehicle tracks, and promoting common ethics, these institutional innovations shaped China’s cultural foundation. I’ll save the details of how the relics in the mausoleum witness this history as a surprise. Once we arrive at the museum, you can engage in a cross-time dialogue with this “First Emperor through the ages” through each artifact.
*The views and opinions expressed in the articles are solely those of the individual authors and do not reflect the position of the Secretariat of the Belt and Road Journalist Network.