Slips Of Qin Officials Dynasty Perished

The legal system of the Qin Dynasty has always been thoughtexcessively harsh, so the downfall of the Qin Dynasty is reasonably attributed to its excessive execution of law. However, we can recognize easily from the bamboo clips of the Han Dynasty unearthed in recent years, especially those found in Zhangjia Mountain Han Tomb, that early Han Dynasty basically inherited the legal system of the Qin Dynasty. The reality is that not only the Western Han Dynasty did not decline and fall, but also did it experience the recovery of social order and productive activities, followed closely by the flourishing of Han Wen Emperor's and Han Jing Emperor's reigns and the most splendid period in Han Wu Emperor's reign. By contrast, the Qin Dynasty declined only after a short period of 15 years. What caused such a great difference when the nearly identical legal system was executed in the two dynasties with the same structure of classes and social situations? The thesis is intended to analyze why the Qin Dynasty declined but the Han Dynasty flourished through comparing the legal system of the two dynasties, especially the influence of the corrupted official system in late Qin Dynasty on its rapid destruction.