Who was the greatest Chinese emperor and why?

谁是中国最伟大的皇帝，为什么？

以下是Quora网友的评论：

Dandelion Zhang

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In the span of thousand years of Chinese dynasties, who are the top 3 greatest Chinese emperors of all time?

在中国绵延数千年的朝代历史中最伟大的三位皇帝是谁？

There’s no absolute answers to this question as assessment of historical figures are subjective and biased depending who makes the judgment since different people have different criteria and definition for “great emperors”. Some people prioritise the incorruptibility of leadership, while others may think practical achievements are more crucial than moral perfection; some will regard victory over China’s enemies and rivals the most important aspect, while others could see that as acts which exhaust the nation’s power and focus more on internal administration and stability. But in general, there do exst a certain tacit agreement on some traits an emperor has to possess to be called great. Here’s a list of these basic traits:

这个问题没有绝对的答案，因为人们对历史人物的评价都是主观、带偏见的，答案因人而定，因为不同的人对“伟大”的标准和定义是不一样的。有些人认为统治者的廉洁是最重要的，而另一些人认为成就比道德完美重要；有些人把打败外敌当做首要功绩，而另一些人则认为战争只会耗尽国力，要更多地关注国家治理和社会稳定。但总的来说，人们对伟大皇帝必备的品质有着心照不宣的默契，如下所列：

Able to defeat or at least resist the northern nomadic tribes from breaking through.

China was unified during his reign.

No major rebellions (i.e. rebels were able to found a country that remained independent for a significant period of time) during his reign.

Most governmental officials are not corrupt and generally very capable.

能够击败或至少抵抗北方游牧部落的进攻。

统治期内维护中国的统一。

统治期内未发生过重大叛乱（叛乱一方能建立国家并在相当长时间内维持独立）

大多数官员清廉正直，极具才华。

In China’s modern history, the most famous comment made on historical emperors was given... in one of his poems, and he said:

中国近代史上对历代皇帝最著名的点评出自一首诗，他写道：

Qin Shi Huang and Han Wu Di, only if they had a bit more literary talent.

Tang Tai Zong and Song Tai Zu, only if they had a bit more political merit.

And Genghis Khan, the Proud Son of Heaven, knew only shooting eagles, bow outstretched.

秦皇汉武，略输文采。

唐宗宋祖，稍逊风骚。

一代天骄成吉思汗，只识弯弓射大雕。

Although M expressed his pity and disapproved the imperfection of the emperors, the emperors he mentioned have become an important reference for great rulers in Chinese history. As for me personally, here’s my own list of three greatest Chinese emperors:

虽然这首诗对几位皇帝的美中不足表示了惋惜，但他提到的这几位皇帝已经成为中国历史上杰出统治者的重要标准。就我个人而言，我认为下面三位皇帝是中国历史上最伟大的皇帝：

Li Shimin, Tai Zong Emperor of the Tang Dynasty

唐太宗李世民

I don’t think any Chinese person would even doubt Li Shimin being the first in greatest emperors ranking. In fact, I have never come across anyone, both physically and online, who criticises Li Shimin in any form (well except for the part that he died possibly due to overdose of the so-called “Elixr of Life” pills). In my heart he’s the most perfect emperor there has ever exsted on Earth, more perfect than Peter the Great, Trajan, Octavius, you name it. Li Shimin himself was the general who achieved the most victories during Tang’s founding and unification war. In fact he had won so many battles that his father, the first emperor of Tang Dynasty, had to specially created a military rank and title for him that is above all the other military ranks.

我认为只要是中国人，都会认同李世民是历史上最伟大的皇帝。事实上，无论是在现实生活中还是在网络中，我从未遇到过任何人以任何形式批评李世民(也许除了他有可能死于过量服用所谓的“长生不老药”这个事实)。在我心中，他是人类历史上最完美的皇帝，比彼得大帝、图拉真、屋大维和其他你能想到的皇帝都要完美。李世民本人是大唐开国统一战争中战功最显赫的将军。事实上李世民打了太多胜仗，他的父亲也就是唐朝的开国皇帝还专门为他设置了一个更高的军衔和称号。

Militarily, not only did he make the major contribution to Tang’s founding and unification, but he also annihilated the greatest threat to Tang - the Turkic people. When he first ascended the throne, the Turkic tribes once broke through all the way until they reached the capital of Tang, yet only after three years, Tang under his leadership annihilated the Turkic Empire just with one single war. Ever since then, he was revered by nomadic tribes around China as 天可汗, literally “the celestial Khan”. Due to his success militarily, Tang has become the only unified dynasty founded by Han people that did not rebuild the Great Wall to for defence purposes. However, Li Shimin did not adopt an aggressive diplomatic policy, but openly communicated with foreign countries and integrated other races and ethnicities into his empire receptively. This built the foundation of Tang as the most open-minded dynasty in China’s history.

在军事上，他不仅为唐朝的建立和统一做出了重大贡献，还打败了唐朝最大的威胁——突厥人。他刚登基时，突厥部落曾一路突进，直逼唐都，但仅仅三年之后，大唐就在他的带领下用一场战役彻底打败了突厥帝国。此后他被中国各地的游牧部落尊称为天可汗，字面意思是“天上的可汗”。因为他在军事上的成功，唐朝成为了唯一一个由汉人建立的、且从未为了防御外地而重建长城的统一王朝。但李世民并没有采用傲慢好斗的外交政策，反而以开放的胸襟对外交往，接纳其他民族融入大唐版图。这为唐朝成为中国历史上最开放包容的朝代奠定了基础。

Administratively, Li Shimin had created 贞观之治 (the Prosperous Era of Zhenguan), one of the most highly-esteemed eras of prosperity in Chinese history. During his reign, there was almost no corruption at all, which was a rare situation in ancient China. Li Shimin was also very famous for being able to spot and appoint the talented, even those who were once his enemies. He was also extremely tolerant to officials who challenged his authority and decisions.

在行政上，李世民开创了贞观之治(贞观盛世)，这是中国历史上最受推崇的盛世之一。在他统治期间，几乎没有腐败现象，这在中国古代是非常罕见的。李世民还以慧眼识人和任人唯贤而闻名，就连曾经的敌人他也爱才惜才。他对敢于质疑他的权威和决定的官员也极为宽容。

Zhu Di, Cheng Zu Emperor of the Ming Dynasty

明成祖朱棣

Zhu Di is recognised as one of the two greatest emperors in the Ming Dynasty (the other one being his father Zhu Yuanzhang (朱元璋) who founded Ming). Firstly, although it’s actually not something reputable, Zhu Di was the only prince in China’s history who started a rebellion outside of the capital and succeeded. The most well-known event during his reign was probably Zheng He’s Voyages where the Chinese fleet sailed all across the South China Sea and the Indian Ocean and reached as far as Somali and the Red Sea. Those voyages were the largest ones before the Age of Discovery when Spain and Portugal began exploring the world, and the flagship of the Ming fleet, the Treasure Ship (宝船), was much larger than any ship in the fleet of the Spanish Empire. China in this era was the most explorative and adventurous in history.

朱棣被世人公认为明朝两位最伟大的皇帝之一(另一位是他的父亲、明朝开国皇帝朱元璋)。首先，朱棣是中国历史上唯一一个在国都外发动叛乱并获得成功的王子，尽管这算不上什么光彩的事情。他统治时期最著名的事件可能是郑和下西洋，中国船队穿越了南海和印度洋，最远到达了索马里和红海。这是比西班牙和葡萄牙探索世界的大发现时代更早、规模最大的航行。明朝舰队的旗舰宝船也比西班牙帝国舰队的所有船只都要大上许多。这个时期的中国是历史上最具探索精神和冒险精神的时期。

Militarily, Zhu Di himself had led the Ming army in a series of five northern conquests against the Mongols, which decisively destroyed the remaining force of the Yuan Dynasty and secured the peace of Ming’s northern borders. Administratively, Zhu Di has appointed many capable officials and reformed the government structure of Ming, where he inventively introduced the 内阁 (Nei Ge or literally translated as the “internal committee”) system where a group of experienced and competent bureaucrats are selected to discuss policies and assist the emperor make decisions. Personally, I see this as the prototype of the Parliament system in China.

在军事上，朱棣亲自率领明朝军队对蒙古人进行了五次北方征讨，果断地打败了元朝，确保了明朝北方边境的和平。在行政上，朱棣任命了许多能力出众的官员，并改革了明朝的政府结构，他创造性地引入了内阁制度，挑选一群有经验、有能力的官员讨论国策，协助皇帝决策。我个人认为，这就是中国议会制度的雏形。

Additionally, Zhu Di made exceptional contribution to China culturally and scientifically. During his reign, he ordered the imperial scholars to compile all scholarly books, articles and documents into one huge encyclopaedia named 永乐大典 (The Yongle Encyclopaedia). This encyclopaedia was proven the most comprehensive compilation of books ranging from literature, religion, philosophy, art, medicine, engineering, astrology, geography, and sciences. In other words, it covered all areas that one might think of. This encyclopaedia was completed 300 years before the British Encyclopaedia, and was barely comparable with any other similar compilations throughout Chinese history.

此外，朱棣对中国的文化和科学做出了杰出的贡献。他命朝廷学者将所有的学术书籍、文章和文献汇编成一本巨大的百科全书，命名为永乐大典。这本百科全书涵盖了文学、宗教、哲学、艺术、医学、工程、占星术、地理和科学等各个领域。这部百科全书的成书时间比《英国百科全书》早300年，在中国历史上也是无人能出其右。

Ying Zheng, Qin Shi Huang 

秦始皇嬴政

Actually I have hesitated much before writing the 3rd point as this is a very embarrassing position to comment on. In my opinion, there are many excellent emperors in China’s history but none could seem to exceed the others by a significant margin. I decided that I would give the honour to the emperor with the utmost historical significance in China’s history, Qin Shi Huang.

在写第三位皇帝之前我其实犹豫了很久，因为我觉得我似乎没有资格来点评他。在我看来，中国历史上有很多优秀的皇帝，但没有哪位能卓然超越其他人。最后我决定把这个荣誉授予中国历史上最具历史意义的皇帝秦始皇。

I know there are quite many criticisms of Qin Shi Huang being unkind and oppressive, yet the significance and contribution of Qin Shi Huang lies in the fact that he was the one from whom everything about Chinese dynasties started. He had created many firsts in China’s history. It would not be an understatement that more than half of China’s ancient history we see today would be non-exstent if not because of him. In the end, despite all flaws he had in his ruling, it does not undermine his greatness.

我知道有很多人批评秦始皇的残暴和压迫，但秦始皇的意义和贡献就在于他是中国历代王朝的起源。他在中国历史上开创了许多第一。可以毫不夸张地说，如果没有他，中国古代史起码有一半都不复存在。尽管他的统治手段存在种种缺陷，但并没有削弱他的伟大。

He was the first who made unification of all Chinese lands a reality.

He was the first who used “emperor” as his title.

He was the first to end the decentralized feudalism in China.

He was the first to establish a centralised government for China in which all men were under one ruler’s reign.

He was the first to unify the written script of the Chinese language.

He was the first to standardise the currency of China.

He was the first to standardise the measuring units of China.

He was the first to attempt to unify the culture of China (although his act was rather controversial, I would still approve his intention.)

He was the first to complete the construction of the Great Wall in its entirety to defend the nation from northern nomads.

He was the first to extend China’s administration to today’s southern borders of China.

He was the first to set up the basic government system for Chinese dynasties for both central government and local administrations.

他是第一个实现了中华大地大一统的人。

他是第一个采用了“皇帝”头衔的人。

他是第一个建立了中央的封建制度的人。

他是第一个建立了中央政府的人。

他是第一个统一了汉字的人。

他是第一个统一了货币的人。

他是第一个统一了计量单位的人。

他是第一个试图统一中国文化的人(尽管他的行为颇有争议，但我赞同他的做法)。

他是第一个完成了长城修筑来抵御北方游牧民族入侵的人。

他是第一个将行政版图扩张到今天中国南部边境的人。

他是第一个建立了中央和地方的基本政府制度的人。

There were just too much that Qin Shi Huang did for China as the pioneer. If not for him, the Chinese language would not have been unified though a universally recognised script, the concept of centralised monarchy would not have been established in China at such an early age, and the southern tribes of ancient China would not have been integrated into the Chinese civilisation so seamlessly. Without him, the 3000 years history of Chinese states since the Spring and Autumn Period would probably end up like Medieval Europe where major states were fragmented into pieces of small nations each with a different culture and language and had no chance for reunification ever again.

秦始皇作为先驱者，为中国做了太多的事情。如果没有他，汉语不会有统一的文字，中央的概念就不可能这么早在中国得以确立，中国古代的南方部落也不会顺利融入中华文明。如果没有他，中国自春秋以来3000年的国家历史很可能会像中世纪的欧洲一样，庞大的帝国分裂成无数有着不同文化和语言的小国，彻底失去重新统一的机会。

Honourable Mention List (in chronological order)

荣誉奖（按年代顺序排列）

汉武帝刘彻 Liu Che, Wu Emperor of the Han Dynasty

汉光武帝刘秀 Liu iu, Guang Wu Emperor of the Han Dynasty

隋文帝杨坚 Yang Jian, Wen Emperor of the Sui Dynasty

唐高宗李治 Li Zhi, Gao Zong of the Tang Dynasty

宋太祖赵匡胤 Zhao Kuangyin, Tai Zu of the Song Dynasty (Yet he did not successfully reunify China which was a BIG minus)

明太祖朱元璋 Zhu Yuanzhang, Tai Zu of the Ming Dynasty