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Surviving and recorded Qin stelae publish the emperor’s self-justifying inscriptions

Qin stelae, as recorded in Shiji and as surviving in later copies, praise unification and law in the emperor’s voice. In the causal graph this event strengthens Institutional Corruption, a driver that strengthens Political corruption index — a worsening welfare path.

Sources: [1][2]

Read the full account

Qin stelae, as recorded in Shiji and as surviving in later copies, praise unification and law in the emperor’s voice. Museums and critical editions make those texts public.

Context

Official self-praise is a governance opacity path when it is the only public story.

Qin Shi Huang is not the sole author of every later object, law, or museum label that uses the name. Shared work with courts, excavators, printers, spouses, officials, and later states does not erase a documented role, and it does not make an ancient person the signer of a twentieth-century statute.

Why it matters

An inscription is not a statistical yearbook.

Who was responsible

Contribution type and responsibility level for each recorded actor — not sole-author shorthand.

  • Qin Shi Huang

    Person

    Direct responsibility

    responsibility level 0.28 · verified

    Court act under the First Emperor as received or as excavated. Later books and museums publish it.

What changed

Fact → Driver → Indicator. Relationship strength orders the paths; it is not the observed indicator movement.

    1. FactSurviving and recorded Qin stelae publish the emperor’s self-justifying inscriptions
    2. strengthensDriverInstitutional Corruption
    3. strengthensIndicators (3)Political corruption index
    Worsening path

    impact weight 0.3 · Effect from 1 January 1975 · verified

    An inscription is not a statistical yearbook.

Evidence

The sources behind this fact and its verification state.

Verified2 sources on file
  1. 1.Britannica — Qin Shi HuangEncyclopaedia Britannica · High credibility · verified
  2. 2.Emperor Qinshihuang’s Mausoleum Site MuseumEmperor Qinshihuang’s Mausoleum Site Museum · High credibility · verified

Causal path

How this event connects to drivers and indicators in the graph.

  1. ActorQin Shi Huang
  2. contributed toFactSurviving and recorded Qin stelae publish the emperor’s self-justifying inscriptions
  3. strengthensDriverInstitutional Corruption
  4. strengthensIndicatorPolitical corruption index

Cite this page

Factrail. (2026). Surviving and recorded Qin stelae publish the emperor’s self-justifying inscriptions. Factrail. https://factrail.ai/facts/cn-qin-stele-inscriptions

https://factrail.ai/facts/cn-qin-stele-inscriptions

Accessed 16 October 2026.

By the Factrail desk · Method: how we source and score · Last reviewed

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