Qin, 200 BC

At the end of Zhou dynasty, many states rivaled for power. This is known as the Period of Warring States. Among them were seven strong ones. These states came about because the emperors of Zhou annexed territories to relatives and imperial officials for them to govern. These people gradually declared themselves kings of independent states. After much fighting and diplomatic maneuvering, the emperor of the state of Qin became the victor in 200 BC. Not only was his state strong, his army powerful and his ability as a leader truly exceptional, he also knew how to play one of the other six states off against another and broke the alliance once formed by them. Historians have blamed some of the other six states for appeasing Qin, but the military power and skillful diplomacy of the latter also contributed to its success. The victorious Qin emperor declared himself the First Emperor as he was anticipating many more emperors to come in his dynasty.

The performance of the First Emperor of Qin was impressive, though not necessarily moral. He was a very strong and able leader, skillful both in administration and in military and diplomatic affairs. He used highly developed armaments as now displayed in the Museum of Xi'an. Xi'an is the city where the world famous models of the Qin terracotta soldiers were buried in the tomb of the First Emperor. The tomb is about 1.5 kilometers in diameter. The several thousand soldiers are only guards of its entrance, a small part of the tomb. Since afterlife was considered more important than this life, much effort was made to construct the tomb for the emperor to enjoy his afterlife. Its construction was so complicated and intricate that with modern technology and much resource at its disposal, the current Chinese government has not found itself capable of excavating the main parts of the tomb. It is believed that the interior of the tomb is protected in such a way as to make it very difficult for intruders to get in without getting hurt or destroying the treasures inside.

The Qin Emperor succeeded in unifying the country as one political entity and unifying the written language and the system of weights and measures. Realizing the danger of decentralization by allowing too much power to the regional aristocrats, he centralized the administration by placing the regional and local governors under the control of the central government. One of the main criticisms of his rule was that he ordered the burning of many books and the burial of many dissenting scholars alive. The freedom of expression was curtailed. To his credit he also built, or connected, large sections of the Great Wall to protect China from invasion. The name China originates from the word "Qin" as pronounced much like "chin."