can you imagine how narcissistic, how self-centeredcruel one man must have been to

Question

Sad. Can you imagine how narcissistic, how self-centered and cruel one man must have been to force all those slaves (conscripts and prisoners) to work until one died building this huge monstrosity as a monument to oneself?! It is repugnant. I thought the ancient Egyptians were shallow and cruel, but it seems as if these ancient Chinese have surpassed their incredible ego and vicious treatment of one's fellow man. No wonder the peasants revolted. How could one possibly respect a leader that spent this much time, money, resources, sweat and blood building this huge monument to his own ego? Talk about compensating for something! Can you imagine if the emperor would have lived, sired a replacement (that then ruled) and this practice would have continued for generations? The people wouldn't have survived, wasting countless thousands of man hours on this testament to one man's vanity. How one person - at any time in history - could have been so selfish and vain that they believed they deserved this, is frankly beyond my comprehension. I'm sure the Chinese will get lots of tourists and visitors to the museum they build on this site, but it is a monument of shame and disgust built on the broken backs of slaves. The single most useless exercise of cruelty and vanity in human history.

Ms.Dewey · Answer

My understanding is that Emperor Qin Shi Huang was actually showing more compassion and humanity than his predecessors by having terra cotta models of his army buried with him instead of real, live people and horses! Of course, to just have a small tomb with one body -- his own -- would have been even more humane, but that would take a few more centuries to become the norm... ;-)

Mr.E · Answer

like u said, same thing happened when the emperor Shaj Han built the world wonder TAJ MAHAL in India. he used more than 20000 people for some wht 20 yrs to build TAJ MAHAL...in tht 20000, most of em died in the field while building the world wonder....

Mr.Michael David · Answer

Well, there are 17 slaughter pits with violently murdered men, women and children. There are also three builder's graveyards. In these there are hundreds of skeletons, crammed closely together, many with stab wounds so deep, they penetrated the skull. These also contain women and children, with one grave containing (what they believe is) an entire family - a man, woman and a child, all brutally murdered. So, I would contend that he most certainly was buried with many, many people - in fact, more people than the pharaohs were, by far. Unlike the pharaohs, these people didn't go willingly and happily to their deaths. It was an honor to be buried with a pharaoh, but these people were brutally murdered, or slaved away until they literally died from exhaustion.This doesn't take into account the countless others that died and were returned home to be buried with family. Outside of this, there is the horror of having to work on this monstrosity until one died, knowing that if they didn't do a good enough job they would be brutally murdered.By the way, the pharaohs were also buried with modeled figures - at least one.

Mr.Smale · Answer

If you thought this was unbelievably cruel, just look into the history of the Great Wall!

Ms.Clare Armstrong · Answer

I want to thank you for all the great information and very valid points of option that I have read in this message board.  I would agree yes it is cruel and very pompous of one man to create such a construction for him self but however I must bring to point one thing.He never hid the fact that this was for himself the great one that personally I feel made amazing headway in uniting China.  Think about today's leaders in every country.  Do they not send men and women who in fact are not only single but we send mothers, fathers, husbands, and wives to war.  They die on our battle fields what so the current leader can have in his pages of history the most ground of Peace gained or they found the oil line.  Look I am not saying I am a expert far from it.  Just think about today's leaders and what they make people do, body guards, army men and women etc. They just do it on the back hander really. At least from what history tells us the women used had no children.  Also Qin never hid what he was up too

Ms.Mcphee · Answer

Well actually, it wasn't a monument to his own glory.  Actually, it was his tomb. Tombs were a big deal to people in that culture at that time. Even the peasants came up with the most elaborate ones they could.  The terra cotta warriors in the tomb were meant to protect the emperor's inner tomb from grave robbers (which were common then, as people were buried with their most valuable possessions).  So it actually wasn't an egocentric, narcissistic monument.  It was a tomb to house him in the after life.  Additionally, it was an honor to have your statue placed in the tomb to protect the emperor.  And you should know that most emperors buried live men and horses with them instead of statues. So really, it was a bit kinder and more humane than most.  It is not a monument built on greed and hatred, nor is it useless, cruel and vain.  It is an important piece of architecture and history to help us understand the past.  Take that in account BEFORE accusing people of such drastic brutality.

Mr.Carson · Answer

You really know a lot and i agree with you

Mr.Yeldep · Answer

To judge the past using today's so called morality is both shallow and naive.  Cruelty will always be part of the human landscape.  To understand the mindset of an ancient ruler who considered himself the center of the universe explains the simplicity of the overall situation.

Mr.Michael David · Answer

I'm not judging the past using today's so-called morality. Also, hurling insults and name-calling is useless and worse than being shallow. The overall attitude about murder has not changed. It may be less shocking today, as unfortunately it is a part of our daily lives. However, it is no less an affront to the families of victims today as it was more than 2000 years ago. Was slavery then somehow okay? If so, why did the peasants revolt in 209 BC? It may have been more a reality of life, but it was no less repugnant to those in chains, no less ugly to the peoples being enslaved.You have actually committed much more of a mistake than you accuse me - assuming that things were so simplistic. Just because it happened in antiquity doesn't mean everything was simplistic. Human behavior has always been complex. Not all rulers of this period enslaved thousands of people and murdered thousands more for their own megalomaniacal machinations. The beliefs that one lived on in the afterlife and that one required an army, are hardly simplistic. There were complex and detailed systems of belief that required such actions.

Ms.Heather · Answer

USELESS?? How can you call this useless? How ignorant do you have to be to call this work of art useless. Come on. The people that did this worked under him and did this FOR HIM. Its compassionate not useless. This is their belief that their emperor be protected in the afterlife and you call it useless. Pretty ignorant.

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