1.1 The Qin and the Unification of China

Before its unification, China was divided into seven major states, including Qi（齐）, Chu（楚）, Yan（燕）, Han（韩）, Zhao（赵）, Wei（魏）, and Qin（秦）. The King of the Zhou Dynasty was still the sovereign ruler of China in name, but the powers of the various feudal states grew dramatically, and they reduced the king into a figurehead. As a result of the collapse of the Zhou order, the various Chinese states engaged in bloody civil wars to annex the weaker ones. Then, the former dukes and marquises started to call themselves kings. Given that these states constantly fought against each other, this era is called the Warring States period（战国时期，475 B.C.—221 B.C.）. Even though fraught with chaos and bloody battles, this period is known as the Golden Age of Chinese philosophy, because a broad range of thoughts and ideas were developed amid the chaos such as Confucianism, Daoism, Legalism, and Mohism.

Despite holding very different world views, these philosophical schools shared one concern in common: to save China from the chaos. They provided different solutions: the Daoists dreamed of returning to a tribal society where tribes lived in isolation, the Mohists preached for altruism and urged people to love each other with no distinctions, the Confucians wanted to restore the rule of ritual and the order of the Zhou, and the Legalists believed in the force of uniform law and state capacity. Those philosophers attracted followers and traveled from state to state to persuade the rulers to adopt their ideas.

The Legalists managed to materialize their vision through the efforts of the Qin state. Thus, when Shang Yang（商鞅, c.395 B.C.—338 B.C.）, a Legalist statesman, became the chancellor of the Qin state, he initiated a series of successful reforms in strengthening the army and enriching the state. These reforms transformed the Qin state.

Shang Yang abolished the aristocracy and replaced it with a meritocracy. He established orders of military and civilian honor during his reforms. These orders of honor, both civil and military, were bestowed upon individuals according to their merits. The state would then grant them farmland, housing sites, and servants according to their rank in the orders of honor.

For instance, a person with the lowest military honor was granted one qing（1顷，≈16 acres）of cultivated land, five mu（1亩，≈0.16 acres）for a dwelling site, and one servant who, in peacetime, was to serve the person six days a month, and in wartime, was to accompany him as a military aide.

Shang Yang also reformed the land tenure system.

He abandoned state-ownership of land; public land was divided among private households and became privatized. Those households became the basic unit of the society and paid taxes to support the state. This reform created large numbers of small land-owners who were emancipated from the control of nobles and deeply identified themselves with the state.

As a result of those reforms, the Qin state became a very advanced state and attracted talents from other states. For instance, the famous Confucian scholar Xun Zi（荀子，313 B.C.—238 B.C.）once visited Qin and was very impressed by the integrity of its officials, the effciency of its administration, and good social order. Even though he lamented that Confucianism was not popular in the Qin state, he realized the Qin had surpassed all other states and would unify China one day.

A few decades later, under the leadership of Ying Zheng, the Qin state unified China in 221 B.C., and Ying Zheng became the First Emperor. The First Emperor launched many projects to consolidate the unification, including what follows：

A）Standardizing the Writing Script. Many variations of Chinese script appeared during the Warring States period, creating trouble for communication. Prime Minister Li Si（李斯, d.208 B.C.）of Qin standardized the writing system to be of a uniform size and shape across the whole country. This standardization would have a unifying effect on Chinese culture for thousands of years. Li Si is also credited with creating the “lesser-seal”（xiaozhuan小篆）style of calligraphy, which serves as a basis for standardized Chinese script.

B）Standards. Before the unification, the various states had their own weights, measures, and coinages. The First Emperor standardized them, greatly facilitating trade and other exchanges across the whole country.

C）The Great Wall. As a defense against the northern nomads known as Xiongnu（匈奴）, thousands of peasants were conscripted to build the 5，000 kilometerlong Great Wall. Many segments of the Great Wall had been built in the Warring States period. The First Emperor ordered conscripted peasants to build new segments to connect those old walls. Crossing mountains and deserts, the Great Wall is truly a wonder of the world.

This project, despite its historical significance, was a heavy burden to the ordinary people because of its overwhelming workload. For instance, a famous Chinese folktale says that a lady named Mengjiangnü（孟姜女）was forced to be separated from her husband who was conscripted to build the Great Wall. Longing to unite with her husband, Mengjiangnü walked thousands of miles to the Great Wall only to find that her husband had already died from overwork and buried under the wall. Heartbroken and angry, she cried and her outcry toppled down the wall.

D）Transportation. To facilitate transportation and communication, the Qin Dynasty ordered soldiers and farmers to construct a vast road network; a freeway 800 kilometers long connected the capital Xianyang with the Great Wall, and dozens of extensive imperial roads connected the various regions of the empire with the center. The First Emperor also ordered the construction of the Lingqu Canal to link the Pearl River system to the Yangtze River system. Facilitated by the vast transportation network, the First Emperor inspected China fve times after the unification and died along the way of his last tour.