FACT CHECK - Was Qin ShiHuang Really the First "Emperor" of China?

Was Qin Shi Huang really the first emperor of China? Don't you think it is strange that he was called the first emperor of China when Chinese empires had existed for far longer before he established the Qin dynasty? So is this title a lie? Well, the answer is yes and no. Let me explain what I mean. Definition. An emperor is the sovereign ruler of an empire. And the modern definition of an empire is an extensive group of states or countries ruled over by a single monarch, an oligarchy, or a sovereign state. During the Zhou dynasty and earlier, the ruler of the Zhou empire was called Wang, which is translated today as king. The king of Zhou ruled his own small plot of land, while the other states were ruled by his relatives and loyalists. They were supposed to be subordinate to him. But they had complete control of their state, besides the fact that they had to provide goods and services to the king of Zhou whenever needed. Their title was Gong, which is translated into English as duke. So technically, the Zhou dynasty, which was established in 1046 BCE, was an empire, according to the modern definition, of course. And these kings were functionally emperors. The title First Emperor of China actually came from a translation of Qin Shi Huang's full title, Qin Shi Huang Di, which means Qin's first Huang Di in history. So technically, Qin Shi Huang wasn't the first Chinese emperor. However, he was the first Huang Di, a title translated into English as emperor. So what is a Huang Di, really? Huang Di is just a title he invented to put himself above the title of Wang. During the course of the Zhou dynasty, throughout the sub-period called the Spring and Autumn period, the authority of the Zhou kings gradually waned, and the other states started ignoring their orders. And by the time of the Warring States period, the rulers of these states conquered other smaller states and also declared themselves to be kings, the equal of the king of Zhou. Thus, the title of Wang started to lose its value. Qin Shi Huang was originally just a king, a Wang, from the state of Qin. But after he conquered all the other states and established the Qin dynasty, he thought that the title of king just wasn't prestigious enough. Since he defeated all the other kings, he had to be something better, something higher. So he invented the title Huang Di. Huang Di is the combination of the title of the mythical San Huang Wu Di, three sovereigns and five emperors. They are the mythical rulers of ancient China that supposedly lived way before the Xia dynasty, China's first dynasty. So the principal cause of all this confusion is really just the imperfect translation of these uniquely Chinese terms because there is no such thing as a one-to-one translation for them. So what is the difference between the role of a Wang during the early Zhou dynasty and a Huang Di? Not much, really. Instead of gongs and dukes, they have wangs and kings managing separate states within the empire. There is just the additional notion that a Huang Di is supposed to have direct centralized control of the empire. Qin Sihuang did not appoint kings. He just assigned administrators to manage the other states he conquered. But later on, in Han dynasty, the emperor appointed kings to rule the other states within the empire. So we have really just gone back to square one. Albeit, Huang Di just had a bit more direct control. Okay, hope you found this trivia interesting. Anyway, subscribe to the channel if you wanted to get more contents on the history of East Asia and the rest of the world. You can also get more recommendations by liking, sharing, and commenting because it boosts the algorithm. Until next time, stay cool, my bros.