Qin Dynasty
China unified by terror and law
The Tiger of Qin
Shang Yang's Legalist revolution transforms a backward frontier state into an unstoppable war machine
~356–247 BCE
The First Emperor
Ying Zheng conquers all six kingdoms in nine years and invents the Chinese empire
~247–221 BCE
One Script, One Law, One Road
the standardization of everything — writing, weights, axle widths, currency, law, and thought
~221–215 BCE
The Great Wall
Meng Tian connects the walls, the Lingqu Canal links two river systems, and the infrastructure costs start adding up
~215–210 BCE
The Terracotta Army
8,000 individualized warriors standing guard for 2,184 years beneath a farmer's field
~246–210 BCE
Burning Books and Burying Scholars
Li Si's war on private learning — the first large-scale ideological censorship in Chinese history
~219–212 BCE
The Collapse
fish carts to mask the smell, a deer called a horse, and the peasant revolt that ended an empire
~210–206 BCE
Fifteen Years That Built Two Thousand
the shortest dynasty, the most consequential — what the Qin built and what the Han inherited
Reflection