8.22 The Unification of China

The Warring States period came to an end when the kingdom of Qin (chin) unified China. King Zheng (jung) of Qin, who became the First Emperor, is remembered as a leader determined to build a great empire. Although his dynasty lost power soon after his death, later dynasties built upon his methods for ruling a large empire.

Under King Zheng’s leadership, Qin brought down rival kingdoms. In 221 BCE, Qin forces defeated their last enemy and united China, yet many challenges remained. Languages and customs varied. Rebellion was always a danger, as was invasion by nomads from north and west of China. The king needed to make the Chinese into one people ruled by one government.

The Qin ruler decided that “king” was too small a title for the leader of such a vast empire. He thus declared himself to be Shi Huangdi, or “First Emperor.” The word “Huangdi” was tied to the gods and rulers of China’s past. Shi Huangdi unified China from the Yellow River to the Yangtze River.

Before the Qin unification, the many Chinese kingdoms built walls to protect themselves from other kingdoms. Shi Huangdi had these walls torn down to make rebellion more difficult. Without these walls, local leaders could not defend their territory and break away from Qin rule.

The First Emperor also began work on one of the largest public works projects in history, the Great Wall, a long wall running east and west along his empire’s northern border to defend the empire from nomads living to the north.

The wall went up quickly. Already, there were shorter walls along the border. Workers connected these old walls together, making a huge stone barrier. Building the wall was hard and dangerous. Many died while working on the wall. These workers included the many prisoners and citizens Shi Huangdi uprooted from their homes to work on various projects.

The Great Wall did not always keep nomads out. Determined invaders were able to get around it. Still, the emperors of dynasties that followed the Qin also relied on the wall as a way to protect their northern border. Later emperors made the wall stronger, adding towers in key locations along its length.

Shi Huangdi knew he needed to standardize many aspects of daily life in order to unify China’s economy and culture. To standardize is to set rules that make things more similar. Anyone who did not follow the standards was punished as a traitor.

Perhaps most importantly, the Qin government established a single written language with standard characters. These characters are the basis of the written language in China today.

Transportation was also standardized. The government established a standard length for the axles of all vehicles. As a result, all ruts made in Chinese roads by the wheels of carts would be the same width. This made travel between different areas easier. The Qin government also created a uniform set of weights and measures for use in trade. It made uniform coins to be used as currency across China.

Shi Huangdi introduced the concept of centralization, or a central governing system. He organized China into 36 provinces. Each province was divided into counties. County leaders were responsible to the heads of provinces. Province heads reported to the central government which, in turn, reported to the emperor. The emperor dismissed any official who failed to carry out his policies.

To prevent rebellion, Shi Huangdi forced thousands of noble families to move to the capital. There, government spies could watch over them.

Shi Huangdi is remembered as a cruel leader. He believed strict rules were necessary to end the chaos in China. The laws he created helped unite the empire, but his harsh rule was also one cause of the fall of the Qin dynasty. Although he built roads, dikes, and palaces, he forced tens of thousands of people to leave their homes to work on these projects.

The Qin kings took more direct control over the common people. Heavy taxes and required labor service increased the wealth of the Qin kings. The kingdom became stronger and more orderly. Shi Huangdi set out to extend this Legalist government over the rest of China.

The First Emperor also tried to control Chinese thought. He decided to censor, or ban, ideas he found dangerous or offensive. Censorship took many forms. Debate about the government was banned. People were not allowed to praise past rulers or criticize the present one. The emperor ordered the burning of all books that did not support his policies.

These policies were not popular, but they did help create a single nation from China’s diverse regions. The First Emperor believed that his dynasty would last forever, but it collapsed about three years after his death. The Qin Dynasty was undone by its unbending enforcement of its harsh laws.