page_title: Li Si
section_title: Career in Qin
hierarchical_section_title: Li Si / Career in Qin
caption_attribution_description: English: Seal of Tingwei (Chief Military Official). 一级文物。 廷尉，官名，秦始置，汉沿置。执掌刑罚的最高长官。《汉书·百官公卿表》:“廷尉,秦官。掌刑辟,有正、左右监、秩皆千石。”
context_page_description: Li Si was a Chinese calligrapher, philosopher, politician, and writer of the Qin dynasty. He served as Chancellor from 246–208 BC under two rulers: Qin Shi Huang, the king of the Qin state and later the First Emperor of the Qin dynasty; and Qin Er Shi, Qin Shi Huang's eighteenth son and the Second Emperor. Concerning administrative methods, Li Si "indicated that he admired and utilized the ideas of Shen Buhai", repeatedly referring to the technique of Shen Buhai and Han Fei, but regarding law followed Shang Yang.
  John Knoblock, a translator of classical Chinese texts, considered Li Si "one of the two or three most important figures in Chinese history". Having a clear vision of universal empire and "one world comprising all Chinese, bringing with universal dominion universal peace", Li Si was "largely responsible for the creation of those institutions that made the Qin dynasty the first universal state in Chinese history".
  Li Si assisted the Emperor Shi Huangdi in unifying the laws, governmental ordinances, weights and measures, and standardized chariots, carts, and the characters used in writing... [facilitating] the cultural unification of China.
context_section_description: During his stay in Qin, Li Si became a guest of Prime Minister Lü Buwei and got the chance to talk to Ying Zheng, who would later become the first emperor of a unified China, Qin Shi Huang. Li Si expressed that the Qin state was extremely powerful, but uniting China was still impossible if all of the other six states united to fight against Qin.  Qin Shi Huang was impressed by Li Si's view of how to unify China. Having adopted Li Si's proposal, the ruler of Qin spent generously to lure intellectuals to the state of Qin and sent out assassins to kill important scholars in other states.
  In 237 BC a clique at the Qin court urged King Zheng to expel all foreigners from the state to prevent espionage. As a native of Chu, Li Si would be a target of the policy so he memorialised the king explaining the many benefits of foreigners to Qin including "the sultry girls of Zhao." The king relented and, impressed with Li Si's rhetoric, promoted him. The same year, Li Si is reported to have urged King Zheng to annex the neighbouring State of Han to order to intimidate the other five remaining states. Li Si also wrote the "Petition against the Expulsion of Guest Officers” (Jianzhuke Shu) in 234 BC. Han Fei, a member of the aristocracy from the State of Han, was asked by the Han king to go to Qin and resolve the situation through diplomacy. Li Si, who envied Han Fei's intellect, persuaded the Qin king that he could neither send Han Fei back (as his superior ability would be a threat to Qin) nor employ him (as his loyalty would not be to Qin). As a result, Han Fei was imprisoned, and in 233 BC convinced by Li Si to commit suicide by taking poison. The State of Han was later conquered in 230 BC.
  After Qin Shi Huang became emperor Li Si persuaded him to suppress intellectual dissent. Li Si believed that books regarding things such as medicine, agriculture and prophecy could be ignored but political books were dangerous in public hands.  It was hard to make progress and change the country with the opposition of so many "free thinking" scholars.  As a result, only the state should keep political books, and only the state run schools should be allowed to educate political scholars. Li Si himself penned the edict ordering the destruction of historical records and literature in 213 BC, including key Confucian texts, which he thought detrimental to the welfare of the state.  It is commonly thought that 460 Confucian scholars were buried alive in the well-known historical event "Burning Books and Burying Confucianists" (焚书坑儒).
caption: Seal of Tingwei. Tingwei was the official in charge of judiciary, Li Si was appointed as the Tingwei of Qin after the guest officers expulsion incident.
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