陈胜、吴广起义

　　公元前210年，秦始皇在一次巡游中去世。他的二儿子胡亥(hai)即位，称为二世皇帝。秦二世十分残暴，百姓非常怨恨他，社会局势动荡不安。

　　公元前209年，900多名贫苦农民，在被征去防守边境的途中，遇雨被困于大泽乡(今安徽宿州西南)，无法按期赶到边境。按照秦朝法律，误期都得处死。农民被迫死里求生。陈胜、吴广合谋杀死押送的军官，举行起义。陈胜慷慨激昂地说：“王侯将相，宁有种乎！”(那些王侯将相，难道都是天生的贵种吗？)中国历史上第一次大规模的农民起义在大泽乡爆发了。

　　起义军很快攻克了附近的几个县城，不到一个月，队伍就壮大到几万人。陈胜在陈地(今河南淮阳)称王，国号“张楚”。然后，起义军的主力西进，这年9月攻入函谷关，打到秦都城咸阳附近，队伍发展到几十万人。

　　秦二世得知起义军入关，非常害怕。來不及調集軍隊，只好派章邯率領正在建造驪山陵墓的幾十萬人迎戰，擊潰了起義軍的主力。不久，吴广被部将所杀，陈胜也被叛徒刺死，起义军虽进行了将近半年的艰苦奋斗，终被秦军镇压。

　　The Uprising of Chen Sheng and Wu Guang

　　In 210 BC, Qinshihuang died during an inspection tour. His second son, Hu Hai, succeeded to the throne.

　　In 209 BC, over 900 poor peasants drafted to guard the boundaries were delayed by rain in Dazexiang (southwest of today's Suzhou in Anhui Province) on their way to their posts. According to the harsh Qin laws, they faced the death penalty, and in desperation, led by Chen Sheng and Wu Guang, they killed the officers escorting them, and rose in revolt. This was the beginning of China's first great peasant uprising.

　　The revolt spread, and Chen Sheng proclaimed himself emperor. The deaths of Chen Sheng and Wu Guang by treachery and the defeat of the rebels when they were almost at the gates of the capital, Xianyang, gave the second Qin emperor a breathing space.