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Is it true that books were burned to bury Confucianism in history? Is the burned book really a Confucian classic? Are they really ordered by Ying Zheng?
Qin Shihuang, as the first centralized national monarch in ancient China, left mixed comments for later generations. Generally speaking, his practices of unifying China, pacifying unrest, formulating ancient laws and promoting reform are still worthy of recognition. On the other hand, his act of burning books and burying Confucianism was criticized by the world and became a typical case of people criticizing ideological autocracy. But there are still doubts about burning books and burying Confucianism: did it really happen in history? Is it true that Qin Shihuang personally ordered the burning of all Confucian classics?

What most of us know about burning books and burying Confucianism is that during the period of 2 13-2 12 BC, Qin Shihuang ordered the large-scale burning of foreign documents and the burial of magicians.

The cause of "burning books" was that Chunyuyue and Lisi had a contradiction around the county system. Qin Shihuang listened to Lisi's suggestion and ordered all the documents of other countries except Ji Qin to be burned. Among them, some Confucian classics were also burned, because many Confucian scholars cited Confucianism as an objection. It can be seen that Qin Shihuang ordered the burning of books not specifically for Confucianism, but for the needs of reform, and some ancient books on agriculture and pharmacy were not within this scope.

So, what is the reason for "cheating Confucianism"? In 2 12 BC, that is, the year after burning books, two people claimed to be magicians, who could refine the elixir of life, cheated a lot of gold and silver from Qin Shihuang and ran away. Qin Shihuang was furious and ordered them and more than 460 people related to them to be killed. In fact, these 400 people were not directly related to Confucian scholars, but Confucianism prevailed at that time and there was a huge group of Confucian scholars. People spread false information, which is called "bullying Confucianism".

It can be seen that "burning books" and "burning books to bury Confucianism" are two things that are not directly related. They have a long history and have been misinterpreted as "common sense" today before historians put pen to paper.