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.
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
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
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.
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.
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.
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'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.