In China, the Warring States period came to its violent climax.
For two centuries seven major states had fought for dominance.
Finally, in two-twenty-one BCE, the state of Qin—under its
Ruthless king who would call himself the First Emperor—completed
The conquest of all rival states and unified China for the first
Time.
Qin Shi Huang. The First Emperor. He came to the throne
Of Qin as a boy of thirteen in two-forty-seven BCE. For years
He ruled under a regent. Once he came into his own, he conducted
Methodical military campaigns that eliminated the rival states
One by one: Han in two-thirty, Zhao in two-twenty-eight, Wei in
Two-twenty-five, Chu in two-twenty-three, Yan in two-twenty-two,
Qi in two-twenty-one. The Warring States were ended. China was
Unified. And Qin Shi Huang declared himself the First Emperor
Of a dynasty that, he anticipated, would last ten thousand
Generations. His reforms were radical. He imposed a single writing
System—the "small seal script"—abolishing regional variations.
He standardized weights, measures, and the axle-widths of carts
(So that ruts worn in one region would fit carts from any other).
He standardized currency. He abolished the old feudal aristocracy
And replaced it with a centralized bureaucracy of appointed
Officials answerable directly to the emperor. He divided the
Country into thirty-six commanderies, each run by a civil governor,
A military commander, and an inspector—a tripartite structure
That would become the template for Chinese provincial administration
For two millennia. He built roads. He built canals. He built the
First unified version of the Great Wall by connecting earlier
Regional walls along the northern frontier, protecting against
Xiongnu nomadic raids. He conducted a campaign of intellectual
Suppression—the famous "burning of books and burying of scholars"
In which he ordered the destruction of most philosophical texts
Not useful to his political program (preserving Legalist works,
Agricultural manuals, and medical texts) and reportedly buried
Alive four hundred sixty Confucian scholars. The scope of this
Atrocity is debated by historians—some accounts are probably
Exaggerated by later hostile Han historians—but some real
Suppression of Confucian and other traditions did occur. Qin Shi
Huang's governing philosophy was Legalism—a school that had
Developed during the Warring States period, articulated most
Clearly by Han Feizi. Legalism held that human nature was
Essentially selfish and that effective government required strict
Laws impartially enforced, with clear rewards for compliance and
Harsh punishments for violation. Unlike Confucianism, which
Trusted in the moral cultivation of rulers, Legalism trusted in
The power of institutional design. The emperor did not need to
Be virtuous; he needed to administer his laws consistently. This
Philosophy justified the authoritarian severity of Qin Shi Huang's
Rule. His state was efficient, centralized, and intensely oppressive.
And of course he was obsessed with death. The man who had founded
The "first" dynasty of "ten thousand generations" was preoccupied
With his own mortality. He sent expeditions in search of the
elixir of immortality. He took mercury-based preparations that
His court physicians claimed would grant long life (and that
Probably contributed to his premature death by mercury poisoning).
He built for himself, over thirty-six years, the most extensive
Tomb complex in human history—covering tens of square kilometers
At Lintong near modern Xi'an. The main tomb mound remains
Unexcavated, but its periphery contains the famous Terracotta Army:
Some eight thousand life-sized pottery warriors, complete with
Horses and chariots, buried in pits to guard the emperor in the
Afterlife. Each warrior is individually modeled with distinctive
Features; together they constitute one of the greatest archaeological
Finds of the twentieth century CE. Their discovery in nineteen-
Seventy-four by local farmers drilling a well is one of the
Serendipitous archaeological stories of the modern era. The
Terracotta Army stands as silent testimony to the emperor's
Ambition, wealth, and paranoid preparation for what might come.
Qin Shi Huang died in two-ten BCE, aged forty-nine, on a tour
Of the eastern provinces. His death was kept secret by the chief
Minister Li Si and the eunuch Zhao Gao, who did not want the
Emperor's death to be announced until they had secured the
Succession. They engineered the murder of the crown prince and
Installed a weaker son as the second emperor. The dynasty's
Vaunted stability collapsed within three years of the First
Emperor's death. Peasant rebellions broke out in two-oh-nine BCE.
By two-oh-six BCE, the Qin capital had fallen. The dynasty that
Was to last ten thousand generations lasted fifteen years.
But
The Qin reforms survived. Even as the dynasty collapsed, the
Institutional structures it had created continued to operate.
The standardized writing, the bureaucratic provinces, the road
And canal networks, the legal codes—all of these were retained
By the successor dynasty. The Han. Founded by Liu Bang, a
Peasant rebel who had risen through the chaos of the Qin
Collapse and emerged as one of two contenders for supreme power.
His rival was Xiang Yu, an aristocratic warrior of enormous
Personal prowess but poor political judgment. In a four-year
Civil war (Chu-Han Contention), Liu Bang—using patient political
Maneuvering where Xiang Yu used brutal force—prevailed. At the
Battle of Gaixia in two-oh-two BCE, Xiang Yu was defeated.
Liu Bang declared himself Emperor and founded the Han Dynasty
As Emperor Gaozu. The Han would rule, with one brief interruption,
For four hundred years—from two-oh-two BCE to two-twenty CE. It
Was one of the longest and most influential dynasties in Chinese
History. Han emperors inherited the Qin administrative apparatus
But softened its harshness. They retained the centralized state
But also restored (gradually) some elements of Confucian political
Ethics, eventually adopting Confucianism as the official ideology
During the reign of Emperor Wu (one-forty-one to eighty-seven BCE).
The Han civil service examination, beginning under Emperor Wu,
Would select officials based on classical education rather than
Hereditary status—the first step toward the fully developed
Meritocratic examination system of later dynasties. Han China
Was vast, populous, and culturally productive. Its population
Reached perhaps sixty million—a fifth of the human population of
The time. Its capital at Chang'an was one of the largest cities
In the world, rivaled only by contemporary Rome. And the Han
Was expansionist. Emperor Wu conducted campaigns against the
Xiongnu nomads to the north, the Nanyue kingdom to the south
(Conquering northern Vietnam), the Korean peninsula (Wiman Joseon
Was conquered in one-oh-eight BCE, establishing Chinese colonies
That would influence Korean civilization for centuries), and
Central Asia (reaching as far as the Ferghana Valley in what is
Now Uzbekistan). These campaigns opened the overland trade routes
That would become known as the Silk Road. For the next five
Centuries, Chinese silk would travel westward across Central Asia
To the Mediterranean world, passing through the Parthian and
Later Sassanid empires. In exchange, Western goods traveled east:
Glass, gold, horses (particularly the prized "heavenly horses"
Of Ferghana), wool, and eventually Buddhism. The Silk Road
Connected Han China to the Mediterranean world in sustained
Long-distance exchange. It was one of the most significant
Developments in human economic and cultural history. And the Han
Itself built up intellectual culture. Sima Qian wrote the
Records of the Grand Historian (Shiji), the first great
Work of Chinese historiography, covering the entirety of
Chinese history from the legendary Yellow Emperor down to
Sima Qian's own time. His work would be the model for all
Subsequent Chinese dynastic histories. Cai Lun, a court eunuch,
Invented (or perfected—predecessors existed) paper around one-
Oh-five CE, revolutionizing record-keeping and information
Distribution. Chinese mathematics, astronomy, and medicine
Developed extensively under Han patronage. The magnetic compass,
Though only systematically used for navigation much later, was
First described during the Han. Han metallurgy produced the
Finest steel of any ancient civilization. And the Han transmitted
To subsequent Chinese civilization the template of what China
Was supposed to be. "Han" became, and remains, the ethnonym
Used by the majority Chinese population to refer to themselves.
The very identity "Han Chinese" is a testimony to the dynasty's
Formative importance. There would be later great dynasties—Tang,
Song, Ming, Qing—but each of them, in important ways, was
Trying to live up to the template set by the Han. The Han
Was, for subsequent Chinese civilization, what Rome was for
Western civilization: the classical imperial model against which
All later empires were measured.
The Han Dynasty declined in
Its later centuries. The usual imperial problems: decadence at
Court, rebellions on the frontiers, economic pressures, factional
Struggles among eunuchs, officials, and military men. A brief
Interregnum from nine to twenty-three CE—the reign of Wang Mang,
A usurper who attempted radical reforms but failed—divided the
Western Han (two-oh-two BCE to nine CE) from the Eastern Han
(Twenty-five to two-twenty CE). The Eastern Han moved its capital
From Chang'an to Luoyang and struggled with ongoing challenges.
In the second century CE, peasant rebellions (most famously the
Yellow Turban Rebellion of one-eighty-four CE) weakened central
Authority. Warlords rose. In two-twenty CE, the last Han emperor
Was deposed and China entered the Three Kingdoms period—the
Setting of the great historical-fictional epic Romance of the
Three Kingdoms that would be composed over a millennium later.
We will return to that story. Here we close with the Han at its
Peak: a civilization that matched Rome in population and
Sophistication, that connected to Rome via the Silk Road, that
Established the cultural and political template for the next two
Thousand years of East Asian history. The Han and Rome are
The two great classical empires of the ancient world—peers, even
Rivals, though they rarely dealt directly with each other. Their
Parallel existence framed the classical age of Eurasia.
And
Consider what the Qin-Han sequence established. A unified China.
A bureaucratic state. A standardized language and writing. A legal
Framework. A stable agricultural economy. A cultural identity
Based on Confucian classical learning. A political ideology
Combining imperial authority with ethical responsibility. A
Pattern of expansion into surrounding regions that would shape
East Asian geopolitics ever after. These were not minor achievements.
They set the terms within which East Asian civilization would
Operate for the next two millennia. When subsequent dynasties
Rose and fell, when China was repeatedly conquered by nomadic
Peoples (Xianbei, Khitans, Jurchens, Mongols, Manchus),
Each new dynasty adopted the Qin-Han template for ruling China.
The template proved remarkably durable. It persisted because it
Worked—because it provided effective tools for administering a
Vast, populous, agriculturally intensive, ethnically diverse
Realm. The Qin-Han synthesis was one of the great achievements
Of pre-modern political technology. It is worth understanding
In some detail because so much subsequent East Asian history
Operates within its categories.
Qin. Han. Qin Shi Huang. Liu Bang.
The First Emperor and the rebel-peasant who succeeded him.
Legalism yielding to Confucian-Legalist synthesis. The Great Wall.
The Terracotta Army. The Silk Road opening. Sima Qian's
History. The invention of paper. The four centuries of Han
Governance. The model that all subsequent Chinese dynasties
Would try to match.
Qin and Han. China's classical empires.
The template of East Asian civilization for the next two thousand
Years.
Stand.