The Chen Sheng–Wu Guang Uprising and the Fall of Qin
Also called: Dazexiang uprising
The year after the First Emperor died, conscripts on their way to the frontier rose under Chen Sheng and Wu Guang. The revolt spread across the country and Qin collapsed fifteen years after unification.
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When the First Emperor died on tour at Shaqiu in 210 BCE, the eunuch Zhao Gao and the chancellor Li Si forged his will, forced his eldest son Fusu to die and set up Huhai as Second Emperor. Popular anger at huge building projects and harsh laws grew. In 209 BCE some nine hundred peasants being marched to frontier duty were delayed by heavy rain — under Qin law, lateness meant death — and Chen Sheng and Wu Guang led them in revolt at Dazexiang. Chen Sheng is remembered for asking, "Are kings, lords, generals and ministers born to their station?"
Chen Sheng founded Zhangchu at Chen and called himself king, but fell within half a year. The revolt, however, spread across the lands of the old six states, with Xiang Yu and Liu Bang of Chu at its centre. Xiang Yu crushed Qin’s main army at Julu in 207 BCE, and when Liu Bang reached Xianyang first, the Qin ruler Ziying surrendered and Qin fell. It was the first great peasant uprising in Chinese history.