Qin Shi Huang unifies China

The Qin ended the Warring States period by standardizing script, currency, axle widths and law across China — through legendary harshness.

Why it matters

The Qin proved that standardization is a technology: one writing system and one administrative format held a continent together. Every later Chinese dynasty, however opposed to Qin cruelty, kept its standards.

People

Qin Shi Huang

Related events

• 1046 BCE – 256 BCE

  Zhou dynasty and the Mandate of Heaven

  The Zhou overthrew the Shang and justified rule through the Mandate of Heaven: a king keeps authority only while he governs justly.

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  Confucius teaches in Lu

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  The Han dynasty builds the scholar-state

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Sources

• Encyclopædia Britannica — Qin dynasty