Behind Qin’s Rapid Collapse: Legalist Policies and Consequences

The Qin Dynasty (221 BCE-207 BCE) is the first unified empire in Chinese history and marks the beginning of Imperial Chinese history. The legalist system designed by Shang Yang allowed Qin to rapidly expand for over a century, because of its ability to massively mobilize people and resources. However, the Qin system implemented after unification was highly unstable. Qin Shi Huang’s legalist political system could be characterized by centralized power, various policies and strict punishment to control people, homogenization, a unique military system, and an agrarian-heavy economy, mostly inherited and adapted from Shang’s policies. While legalism is not the sole cause of the demise of the Qin empire, many factors identified in this paper, which originated from Shang Yang’s ideas, collectively contributed to the decline of the empire. Qin unified a country with a diverse population with vastly different cultures, yet the Qin political system was imposed without consideration or modification that accounted for the differences, and it was proved to be detrimental as it provoked numerous conflicts and rebellions, especially among the aristocracy, who was affected the most by the new system. Therefore, the Qin legalist policies, forced homogenization, and intense conflicts with the aristocracy all exacerbated the already unstable rule of the Qin empire.