Q: Could Qin Kingdom unite China if the East Six Kingdoms were united as an empire by a wise emperor?

A:

The assumption is invalid. The East six kingdoms could not be united just as the EU failed to unite Europe. Only the Qin had a political system that could unify China.

China has a territory about the size of Europe, and a population doubles the size of Europe. China is a civilization just as Europe is. Qin invented civil bureaucracy two thousand years earlier than Europe finally learned it from China.

Qin unified measures in China. Europe today still has two systems of measure: British and metric.

Before Qin unified China, China already knows the political system of proper governance (王道） and the political system of hegemony domination （霸道）. European civilization even today does not know any other political systems except the hegemony domination.

The Seven Kingdoms in the War Era already knew hegemony domination did not work but only Qin had Shangyang Reform to have the political solution to unify China.

Chinese political civilization is two thousand years more advanced than Europe.

International politics today is more barbaric than the War Era of China. In the War Era, every kingdom knew the two concepts: proper governance and hegemony dominance, and knew that proper governance is more advanced morally and should be implemented after domination was reached. In other words, domination reached is the hegemony abandoned. In today’s international politics, many countries only know hegemony dominance, and none of the political science in their universities ever heard of the concept of proper governance that Confucius actively promoted two thousand years ago. When the West dominates the world, the hegemony persists if an empire dominates the world.

As a result, the emperor is the only concept in the West for the top ruler in the Western political culture. After Qin, China has no emperor anymore. Today’s English has no proper word to describe the king of a dynasty in China. Western scholars use the emperor to describe the kings in China after the Qin Dynasty, and the description is wrong.

An emperor dominates a territory larger than his kingdom. The territory the empire dominates is called an empire. Yet the emperor only takes care of his kingdom, ignoring the interest of other territories outside his kingdom but within his empire.

For example, the US dominates the world, however, the US only seeks the American national interest. The US is actually ruling the world by its military policing, financial coercing, and economic sanctioning.

After Qin conquered the other six kingdoms, it took responsibility for all seven kingdoms, and the governance was for all seven kingdoms. That’s why in Chinese political jargon, Qin was not “conquering” the other six kingdoms but “unifying” the other six kingdoms.

Now we understand why the EU cannot unify Europe. EU and the US are in the one Christian civilization. Within this civilization, there is only one hegemon, and that is the US. The US has a level of control, power, and privileges in the civilization, yet, it has responsibility only to the US national interest. If it does take care EU, it is because the taking is fit to the US national interest. Any time there is a conflict of interest between the US and the EU, the US, as the commander in NATO and leader in G7 and veto power in IMF, etc., will protect the US interest at the expense of the EU. The unification of Europe is not in the interest of the US, because the unification of Europe will turn the world order into a multipolar one.

We see that power and responsibility are not symmetric in the Western political system. An emperor has power in his empire but is only responsible for his interests. The US has military power over the Middle East but has no responsibility to the people there. Trump had power in the Whitehouse but has no responsibility for the deaths of 500 thousand COVID infections.

Chinese political system and culture emphasize the symmetry of power and responsibility. Qin Shihuang could not rule the other six kingdoms without taking responsibility for the people of the six kingdoms. If Xi has power over China, he is responsible for the people of China. If an officer has the power of decision-making in a province, that officer also has the responsibility for the people of the province. China has a layman's term for officers: parenting officers. When an officer is ruling a county, he is acting like a parent of the people of that county. He has the power to rule the country means that he has the responsibility for the well-being of the people in the country.

The Western politician is not like that. When Texas had no electricity and people died of freezing, the government announced that the government had no responsibility for the suffering of the Texans.

Western politicians promised to make any promises and take no responsibility for whatever consequence of his executions in his office.

Qin united the other six kingdoms because Shangyang made reform and established Qin with an advanced political system. The core of Qin’s county system has lasted for two thousand years and still influences China today.

Biden wants to unite allies to crash China just like someone who tried to unite the six kingdoms to resist Qin. It will not work. Qin’s unification history is repeating today. China is not stoppable just like Qin was not stoppable. China has a better political system as manifested since 2008 and especially in the 2020 pandemic. Many countries already realized that the hegemony world order is not sustainable. The US cannot accumulate its debts infinitely. China has a better vision for the Human future. That is the international community of shared future for mankind. This vision is good and will work. A new world order should be constructed according to this vision.