<P> When the burning is widespread and systematic, destruction of books and media can become a significant component of cultural genocide . </P> <P> The burning of books has a long history as a tool wielded by authorities both secular and religious, in efforts to suppress dissenting or heretical views that are perceived as posing a threat to the prevailing order . </P> <P> According to the Tanakh (Hebrew Bible), in the 7th century BCE King Jehoiakim of Judah burned part of a scroll Baruch ben Neriah had written at prophet Jeremiah's dictation (Jeremiah 36). </P> <P> Qin Shi Huang, first emperor of Qin Dynasty, ordered a Burning of books and burying of scholars in 213 BC and burial alive of 460 Confucian scholars in 210 BC in order to stay in the throne . Some of these books were written in Shang Xiang, a superior school founded in 2208 BC . The event caused the loss of many philosophical treatises of the Hundred Schools of Thought . The official philosophy of government ("legalism") survived . </P>

When did the practice of book burning start