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Qin Shi Huang, aka Qin Shi Huang Di, was the first emperor of China's Qin Dynasty (221BC-206BC).
The Mummy 3 filmmakers initially used Qin Shi Huang as the evil figure in the film but then changed the name of the emperor several times. The reason, reportedly, is that some Chinese are upset that Qin Shi Huang, who unified China for the first time, would be presented as an evil figure. In fact, for the 2000 years of Chinese history, Qin Shi Huang, one of the most influential figures in history, has always been regarded as a symbol of tyranny. In the Temple of Ancient Monarchs, aka the Temple of Emperors of Successive Dynasties in China, which was constructed during the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) and is one of the three imperial temples located in Beijing, we can see the tablets for all distinctive emperors and heroes in Chinese history, presented for worship, but our ancestors decided to exclude Emperor Qin, who was known as one of the cruelest rulers in history. Emperor Qin's policy for rule had four main aspects: excessively heavy taxation; wasting human labor for projects to glorify himself; brutal torture under harsh laws and punishing even the offenders' family members and neighbors; and controlling people's minds by blocking all avenues of free thinking and expression through banning and burning books and even burying many scholars alive. Qin Shi Huang's harsh treatment of his people is only appreciated by the Chinese communist party leaders (unfortunately, some young Chinese who learned about Qin Shi Huang only from communist textbooks have adapted to this twisted view). Three infamous periods in Chinese history when the government systematically persecuted intellectuals are: the Emperor Qin's, the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) and also the communist era (1949-now). Mao Zedong, a former leader of the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) said openly: "What can Emperor Qin Shi Huang brag about? He only killed 460 Confucian scholars, but we killed 46,000 intellectuals." Under the 57 years of the CCP's brutal rule over China, 60 to 80 million innocent Chinese people have been killed, due to various "political movements". |