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Qin Shihuang
apocryphaly(sp?) allegedly ordered the mass burning of Confucian texts and live burial of scholars in an effort to solidify ideology and history, combat heterodoxy, introduce 'legalism' as a system of just rule and create a concept of unified China. So he has this reputation as a despot. Memes being memes took this to be that he shot fireballs from his hands to destroy heretics. I don't think there's much more to it than that.Theres also this alleged mao quote
He buried 460 scholars alive; we have buried forty-six thousand scholars alive... You [intellectuals] revile us for being Qin Shi Huangs. You are wrong. We have surpassed Qin Shi Huang a hundredfold. When you berate us for imitating his despotism, we are happy to agree! Your mistake was that you did not say so enough.
But it sounds fake as fuck
But, I suppose some in the CPC view him as a historically "progressive" figure who overthrew a decentralized feudal society and instituted a authoritarian bureaucratic state, or it might simply but a nationalist thing since he is the first emperor of a unified China
I went searching for an attribution for that quote and found nothing, but did turn up this Guardian article which has this quote:
MacGregor has been fascinated to see at close quarters the Chinese beginning to open up to the world. It had initially been hard, he suggested, even to describe the concept of the British Museum to the Chinese, its role as a storehouse of global memory. 'It is,' he told me, 'an alien concept for the Chinese to have a museum that houses the whole world. Their museums only have Chinese objects in them..."
HOW DID THE BRITISH MUSEUM GET THOSE ARTIFACTS MACGREGOR. HOW
The quote is real, from the 8th National Congress of the CPC, second session (May 8th, 1958)
秦始皇算什么？他只坑了四百六十个儒，我们坑了四万六干儒。我们镇反。还没有杀掉反革命的知识分子吗？我与民主人士辩论过，你骂我们是秦始皇，不对，我们超过了秦始皇一百倍。骂我们是秦始皇独裁者，我们一贯承认，可惜的是，你们说的不够，往往要我们加以补充。（大笑）
So the translated quote above elides the lines
我们镇反。还没有杀掉反革命的知识分子吗？我与民主人士辩论过
We suppressed counter-revolutionaries. Have we not also killed anti-revolutionary intellectuals? I've debated this with members of the democratic (parties/groups)...
Which puts the rest of the quote in context of the work China put in to secure the gains of the revolution, rather than engage in anti-intellectualism for its own sake. The mocking tone Mao strikes here is also reinforced by the final parenthetical (大笑) laughter
At least this is my interpretation of the quote based on my own shitty translation/understanding. Thanks for finding it
The quote was Mao’s response to Lin Biao interrupting him, which evoked laughter among the audience.
This precedes immediately before the quote:
范文澜同志最近写的一篇文章，我看了很高兴。（这时站起来讲话了）这篇文章引了许多事实，证明了厚今薄古是我国的传统，引了司马光……可惜没有引秦始皇。秦始皇主张“以古非今者族’，秦始皇是厚今薄古的专家。当然。我也不赞成引秦始皇。（林彪同志插话：秦始皇焚书坑儒）
my rough translation:
Comrade Fan Wenlan recently wrote an article, I was very happy to read it. (Standing up to speak) His article quoted many facts, proving that ”stressing the present while belittling the past” is indeed the tradition of our nation, he brought up Sima Guang… unfortunately he didn’t bring up Qin Shi Huang. Qin Shi Huang had advocated for the execution those who brought up the past to criticize the present, Qin Shi Huang was indeed the expert in “stressing the present while belittling the past”. As such, I don’t actually agree with bringing up Qin Shi Huang. (Comrade Lin Biao interrupted: “Qin Shi Huang burned books and buried scholars alive”)
In other words, Mao was explaining why burning the books and burying the scholars by Qin Shi Huang were necessary actions.
以古非今者族 came from Sima Qian’s Annals of Qin Shi Huang, in which Li Si explained to Qin Shi Huang that past institutions could not be applied to the present rule because the times have changed and the circumstances are now different. The new generation of legalist scholars should strive to enact new legal institutions to cultivate for a new society that can keep up with the changing times. However, many Confucian scholars still preferred to emulate the old traditions/institutions, and often brought up ancient laws to criticize the current regime, evoking fear in public sentiment. They were seen as obstacles to establishing a new institution.
Mao was saying that Qin Shi Huang was nowhere near as determined in his resolve to decisively break from the traditions. And that for China to emerge as a nation that can catch up with the times, it has to break from the traditions completely. Even more so than Qin Shi Huang’s. These were the precursors to the Cultural Revolution a few years later.
（大笑）
(Laughter)
Tongue-in-cheek?
If Mao is ok making this joke I'm ok making unlimited genocide on the first world jokes.
See my reply to another comment. The words were in response to Lin Biao interrupting him, and it’s both him laughing and the answer that evoked laughter among the audience.
TL;DR: Mao was serious about Qin Shi Huang not going far enough, but he also has this very distinct manner of speech (very vulgar) which often makes his quote very funny (many other bangers in the speech). In other words, you can see why Mao thought the Cultural Revolution was necessary to transform China.
大笑
lol
lmao
God I love mao so much
every "questionable" thing he's ever quoted on i'm just like
The brother never missed.
They liked him because he hated Confucians and brought China out of the Warring States period, which Chinese people see as a parallel to the Warlord era that the CPC brought China out of.
In the modern day replace scholars with US Journalists and burying them alive starts to sound like a really great idea.
Can we do this with Gamers™
He buried 460 scholars alive; we have buried forty-six thousand scholars alive... You [intellectuals] revile us for being Qin Shi Huangs. You are wrong. We have surpassed Qin Shi Huang a hundredfold. When you berate us for imitating his despotism, we are happy to agree! Your mistake was that you did not say so enough.
I'll allow it if the "scholars" are business/econ majors in the West or
Edit: Read the replies below and happy to know that this is the case — the quote is so much more based with context
I've seen recent efforts to repair the popular image of QSH, similar to efforts to reinstate Caocao's image as a judicious ruler against the Confucian-backed Liu Bei. I'm not enough of a history geek to really understand it but it's interesting nonetheless. Sure others can chime in
i dont know the answer to this but one thing i can say for certain is in my expert opinion as an enjoyer of historical cdramas life sucked for most people back in the old days.
"You can't expect to inherit the mandate of heaven just cause you stumbled over some dusty jade seal"
If it's particularly for the purpose of killing Confucianism, I think that's a good thing.