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To burn the classics and to bury the scholars Wikipedia

To burn the classics and to bury the scholars (???????????? pinyin: F??nsh??k??ngr??) refers to a policy during the Qin Dynasty. According to the Records of the Grand Historian, after Qin Shi Huang unified China for the first time, his prime minister Li Si suggested suppressing the Freedom of speech (????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????) and unifying thoughts and political opinions. Since 213 BC, all classics books of Hundred Schools of Thought except Li Si's own school, Legalism, were subject to be burned (??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????). In addition, more than 460 scholars were buried alive at 212 BC.

The quick fall of the Qin Dynasty was attributed to this policy. Confucianism was revived in the following Han Dynasty and became the official ideology of the Chinese imperial state, but many other schools disappeared since then. This policy eventually became a Chinese Four character idiom to descirbe policies against educated people.

Zhang Jie, a famous poet in the Tang Dynasty, wrote a poem refers to this policy:

• Chinese:

• *?????????????????????

• *?????????????????????

• Translation:

• *Even before the ashes in the burning pit became cold, riots started in Shandong already;

• *It turned out that Liu Bang and Xiang Yu were both uneducated.

Last Modified:   2005-11-04