中英雙語話歷史 第24期:秦朝(中央集權制國家)

The establishment of centralization ： King Ying Zheng considered his achievement surpassing all the ancient rulers, therefore taking account of the legendary “San Huang (three emperors)’’ and “Wu Di (five sovereigns)”，he gave himself a more distinguished title: “Qin Shi Huang’，or “Qin Shi Huangdi”，which means he was the first emperor of China. He wanted his successors to rule China forever with the title “Second Emperor”，“Third Emperor”，etc.

建立中央集權制度:秦王贏政自認爲功勞高於古代所有的帝王，於是兼採三皇五帝的尊號，宣佈自己爲始皇帝，後世子孫代代相承，遞稱二世、三世。這就是“秦始皇”一名的由來。

Since then, “Emperor” had become an honorific title to the supreme ruler of the feudal society.

從此皇帝”一詞就成爲封建國家的最高統治者的尊號。

Immediately after the unification, the First Emperor (Qin Shi Huang, as he is generally known) declared to abolish the feudal fiefdoms and set a new autocratic system of centralized bureaucracy to meet demands of the landlord class.

在統一中國的同時，秦始皇即宣佈廢除封建領主制，創行新的適合於封建地主階級專制主義的中央集權制度。

The Qin Empire relied on the philosophy of legalism (with skillful advisors like Han Feizi and Li Si).

秦以法家思想治國，擁有像李斯、韓非子等精通法學的謀士。

Centralization, achieved by ruthless methods, was focused on standardizing legal codes and bureaucratic procedure.

以政令統一爲中心,通過殘暴的高壓政策實現中央集權。

The whole administrative set-up was like a pyramid.

秦的行政體制像金字塔一樣。

The emperor perched on the top, beneath him was the central government composed of three chancellors and nine ministers, who assisted the emperor to handle government affairs.

皇帝居於塔尖，其下設中央機關，以協助皇帝領導全國，處理政務。

Then Chengxiang (chief minister) aided the emperor in governing the country, Tai wei (marshal) took charge of military affairs, and the Yushi Dafu( censor) supervised officials of all ranks.

中央機關採用“三公九卿制”，丞相、太尉、御史大夫等“三公”分掌政務、軍務及監察。

On the local levels, the system of prefectures and counties were put into practice. The whole empire was divided into 36 prefectures(later increased to 41), administered by a civil governor ( Junshou ), a military commander ( Duwei. ) The prefectures were divided into counties ( Xian ), administered by a magistrate (xianling ).

全國範圍內實行郡縣制度，分天下爲三十六郡（後來增至四十一郡），由郡守、都尉和御史共同管理。

Under the counties, township officials administered education, justice taxation and public security.

郡下設縣，由縣令掌管。

Under the townships, households, consisting of individual families in which men farmed and women wove at home, were organized in groups of five or ten. All the regional governments were subordinate to the central government, which was ruled by the emperor himself.

縣下又有鄉、亭、裏等基層組織，鄉官負責教育、司法、稅收、安全等事項,5到10個家庭爲一里,每個家庭都是男耕女織。

Thus, the centralism came into being. The imperial court extended its control right down to the grass-roots u-nits of the household groups which supplied labour, taxation and draftees.

這樣，全國由上到下均置於皇帝及其家族的嚴密統治之下，中央集權的制度從此確立。朝廷的統治可以延展到每個家庭，而家庭又是勞役、兵役和稅收的重要提供者。

The First Emperor understood the importance of the individual families to the feudal empire.

秦始皇深知家庭對國家統治的重要性。

The landed class availed this imperial system to control and suppress the people ,but as a breakthrough in politics, it played a positive role in consolidation of the country and the economic and cultural development, and continued to be used over the next two millennia.

皇帝制、三公九卿制和郡縣制是一套完整的封建政治制度，是地主階級用來統治、鎮壓廣大勞動人民的工具。但是作爲古代政治制度的新發展，亦對鞏固國家統一,促進社會經濟、文化發展，起到了積極作用。在此後2000多年的封建社會中，基本上沿用了這些制度。

Standardization ： On the basis of the established Qin standards, the First Emperor pushed forward economic and cultural reforms, eliminating regional diversities by every means, and consolidating the stability and unification of the imperial regime. The private ownership of lands, along with standardized currency and weights and measures promoted the development of economy.

實行統一經濟、文化政策:秦始皇以原有的秦製爲基礎，大力推進有利於封建地主經濟、文化發展改革，儘可能消除由於長期分裂割據造成的地區差異，鞏固新建王朝安定、統一。實行土地私有化，統一貨幣和度量衡，促進經濟的發展。

Since all the cartwheel ruts had the same width, the axle length was fixed to six chi to ease transportation throughout the country.

在全國範圍統一車軌，大車的兩輪之間，皆寬6尺，史稱“車同軌”，促進了交通運輸業的發展。

The writing system, especially the shape of characters, was reformed and resulted in the so-called Small Seal Script ( xiaozhuanti), which effectively urged the cultural exchange.

秦始皇還對文字，特別是字型進行了改革，出現了小篆體。文字的統一有效地促進了文化交流。