The emperors and the assassins

By LINDA HERRICK

So paranoid was Emperor Qin Shihuang of the first dynasty of China that he sought immortality to survive his own death, forecast by seers to be delivered by the hands of a murderer.

In truth, not so hard a fate to predict for the cruellest man in the land, whose answer to critics was simple: execution.

The quest of finding divinity became increasingly focused by repeated assassination attempts on Qin, who presided over most of the shortlived first dynasty of Qin (pronounced "Chin"), which held power from 221-207BC.

Qin, who had come to the pre-unification throne at the age of 13, under the name King Zheng, was attracted to the strange superstitions swirling through the misty mountains of the Shandong peninsula, on the coast of the Yellow Sea, where there was rumoured to be an island containing the elixir of everlasting life.

A fleet of rafts carrying hundreds of young men and women was cast off, ordered to find the potion. They never came back. Some believe they rowed as fast as they could away from Qin and settled in Japan.

When Qin suddenly died in 210BC at the age of 49, it was claimed he had overdosed on a so-called "elixir". In fact, he was probably poisoned, with the control of his court passing to his attendant, a homicidal eunuch.

Several years of bloody rebellions against the Qin empire followed, before the establishment of the more enlightened second dynasty of Han ("Harn", 206BC-AD220).

Two thousand years later, Qin's kill-or-be-killed story sounds like the stuff of a great movie - and it is, with director Zhang Yimou (Raise the Red Lantern, Shanghai Triad) releasing Hero, a rip-roaring martial arts saga starring Jet Li and Zhang Zi Yi (Crouching Tiger).

Hero has delighted Chinese leaders, who have submitted it for nomination as best foreign film in the Oscars. But it has also infuriated some critics, who worry that Qin is portrayed as, well, a hero. Suffice it to say that Mao Zedong saw Qin as an inspiration.

But there's a true story about Qin's life and times much closer to hand, with a major exhibition featuring artefacts from the Qin-Han dynasties opening at the Auckland Art Gallery this week, supported by a programme of talks, demonstrations and educational events.

The Two Emperors: China's Ancient Origins features 280 items dug out from burial mounds and excavations in the Shaanxi province, the so-called "birthplace of Chinese civilisation".

Late last year I saw The Two Emperors at Perth's Museum of Western Australia. The combination of ancientness and the sophistication of the workmanship makes for an impact both impressive and a little spooky.

Moving in chronological order, starting with Qin and his preoccupations with the afterlife, The Two Emperors is initially dominated by fine figures of a terracotta general and soldiers, horses and other animals, and a full miniature army (including figures from the famed underground terracotta army), all sourced from the elite burial grounds where reproduction figurines had replaced the earlier practice of human and animal sacrifice.

Qin's mausoleum, which took 40 years and 700,000 labourers to build, was laid out as a replica of the Imperial City, with duplications of the trappings of royal life so the emperor could maintain his lifestyle after death. The exhibition's display of minutiae brings alive the picture of a society moving from primitive tribalism towards a cohesive sophistication with standardised currency, road widths, canal systems, plumbing, weights and measurements, and ritual burial practices.

Fascinating as all that is, the weapons are in a class of their own - instruments of death which hacked through flesh and bone more than 2000 years ago; swords and daggers, spears and halberds, dagger-axes and crossbows with a complex rapid-action spring device.

Unlike the weaponry on display at Te Papa's Lord of the Rings show, or the Hollywood frippery fashioned for Tom Cruise's samurai movie in Taranaki, these are the real deal. Look at the chipped blades and let the imagination drift ...

After Qin, emperor No 2 in the show is the fifth Han ruler, Jing Di, whose "quietist" philosophy included avoidance of violent conflict.

The contrast between the dynasties could not be more extreme, yet the first two imperial courts both established socio-political systems which were fundamental to China's governance right through to the last emperor of the Ch'ing Dynasty in 1912.

Significantly, the Qin-Han dynasties overlapped the Roman Empire's four centuries of rule, but unlike Rome, which collapsed, the Chinese like to say their civilisation was "the most continuous".

Under Han, at 400 years the longest dynasty in China's history, stability was achieved through a relatively tolerant and superior culture which inspired loyalty.

Qin, as far as the Han were concerned, was the equivalent of the Dark Ages - or fascism, according to La Trobe University senior history lecturer Thomas Bartlett.

He writes in the catalogue: "A distinguished visitor from one of the eastern states commented that in Qin the officials were conscientious and the common people obedient, which brings to mind the famous phrase of Italian fascism, that the trains ran on time".

With the Qin system, emphasis was on tightly centralised government, overwhelming bureaucratic procedures and harsh punishment and hard labour for those poor "common people".

"Our initial awe at the dark dominance of Qin gives way to sunny relief at the unpretentious charms of the Han remains, such as farmyard animals and models of everyday artefacts," says Bartlett. "By experiencing this change of mood, we can sense the ancient Chinese people's welcome adjustment to the peace, stability and prosperity which the early Han dynasty brought them."

The Two Emperors gives the gallery the excuse for full China-immersion, with the support programme including introductions to tai chi, kung fu, calligraphy, the art of tea, Chinese music and song, and painting.

Auckland University associate professor Dr Manying Ip will deliver two key lectures: "Legalism: behavioural science and state power of the Qin", and "Confucianism: pragmatic humanism of the Han".

You can also do some independent research, and rent Chen Kaige's epic movie The Emperor and the Assassin, about the desperate attempt to kill King Zheng-Qin in 227BC, the same material revisited in Hero. See, life may have been hell under Qin - but the bad guy always makes an interesting story.

* The Two Emperors: China's Ancient Origins, Auckland Art Gallery, from Friday to March 9.