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Qin dynasty: A Visual History

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Fifteen years that made China: the First Emperor unified the warring states, standardised everything, and was buried with an army of clay.

Existed
221 BC to 206 BC
Duration
15 years
Existed
221 to 206 BC
Area
About 2.3 million km2
Population
About 20 million
Capital
Xianyang
First Emperor
Qin Shi Huang (Ying Zheng)

The Qin dynasty (221-206 BC) was the first to rule a unified China. King Zheng of Qin conquered the last six warring states between 230 and 221 BC and proclaimed himself Qin Shi Huang, First Emperor. He abolished feudalism for a centralised system of commanderies, standardised the script, weights, measures, coinage and axle widths, built roads, canals and the first Great Wall, and burned dissenting books. His death in 210 BC triggered rebellion; the dynasty collapsed in 206 BC and the Han inherited its structure.

When it existed: the era ribbon

The bold bar is Qin dynasty. The lighter bars are empires and wars from the same era and the same part of the world. Click any bar to jump to its page.

1,200 BC1,000 BC800 BC600 BC400 BC200 BC0200Qin dynasty (221 BC to 206 BC)Open: Zhou dynasty (Western Zhou)Zhou dynasty (Western Zhou) (1,046 BC to 256 BC)Open: Chu (state)Chu (state) (1,030 BC to 223 BC)Open: Eastern ZhouEastern Zhou (771 BC to 256 BC)Open: Warring States period and Qin's wars of unificationWarring States period and Qin's wars of unification (475 BC to 221 BC)Open: Xiongnu EmpireXiongnu Empire (209 BC to 93)Open: Western Han dynastyWestern Han dynasty (202 BC to 9)

States conquered by Qin

The last six of the seven warring states fell in nine years.

062.5125187.5250Han: 230230HanZhao: 228228ZhaoWei: 225225WeiChu: 223223ChuYan: 222222YanQi: 221221Qiyear BC of conquest

Timeline of the Qin dynasty

  1. 246 BC
    Ying Zheng becomes king of Qin
  2. 227 BC
    Jing Ke's assassination attempt
  3. 221 BC
    Qi conquered; China unifiedZheng becomes First Emperor.
  4. 214 BC
    Great Wall linked; south conquered
  5. 213 BC
    Burning of books
  6. 210 BC
    First Emperor dies
  7. 209 BC
    Chen Sheng's revolt
  8. 206 BC
    Xianyang fallsThe Qin ends.

Unification

Qin, a western frontier state, was reorganised by the Legalist minister Shang Yang in the fourth century BC into a war machine of ranked farmer-soldiers. King Zheng, who came to the throne at 13 in 246, destroyed Han (230), Zhao (228), Wei (225), Chu (223), Yan (222) and Qi (221) in a decade of campaigns, surviving the famous assassination attempt by Jing Ke in 227.

The First Emperor's China

Zheng invented the title huangdi (emperor). Under his chancellor Li Si the empire was divided into 36 commanderies run by appointed officials, weapons were confiscated, aristocrats moved to the capital, and script, coinage, measures and cart gauges standardised. Hundreds of thousands built roads, the Lingqu canal, the walls joined into the first Great Wall, and the emperor's tomb with its terracotta army. In 213 BC histories and philosophical books outside the imperial library were burned; scholars were reportedly buried alive.

Collapse

Obsessed with immortality, the emperor died on tour in 210 BC, possibly poisoned by mercury elixirs. The eunuch Zhao Gao and Li Si forged a will, forced the heir to commit suicide and enthroned the weak Huhai. Rebellion broke out in 209 with Chen Sheng and Wu Guang; Liu Bang and Xiang Yu led the revolt, Xianyang fell in 206, and the last Qin ruler surrendered. Xiang Yu burned the capital; Liu Bang won the ensuing civil war and founded the Han.

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8 surprising things about the Qin dynasty

  1. The name China probably derives from Qin (pronounced 'chin').
  2. The terracotta army of about 8,000 figures was discovered in 1974 by farmers digging a well; the emperor's tomb mound itself remains unexcavated.
  3. Sima Qian says the tomb contains rivers of mercury; soil tests show unusually high mercury levels.
  4. The First Emperor's search for the elixir of life sent an expedition of thousands of young people to sea, never to return.
  5. The Qin standardised cart axles so that ruts on the empire's roads would fit every wheel.
  6. The story of scholars being buried alive may be exaggerated; the number given is 460.
  7. The First Emperor survived at least three assassination attempts.
  8. The Qin dynasty ruled a unified China for less than 15 years but its administrative model lasted 2,000.

Sources

  • Qin dynasty Encyclopaedia Britannica
  • Qin dynasty Wikipedia
  • Qin Dynasty World History Encyclopedia
  • Mark Edward Lewis, The Early Chinese Empires: Qin and Han (2007) Harvard University Press

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