The last two and a half centuries of the Eastern Zhou are known as the Warring States period: seven major kingdoms fought continuously, exhausting each other. Among them, the western state of Qin had adopted a doctrine of *Legalism* (*fa-jia*) — a hard, efficient theory of governance in which law stood above persons and reward and punishment were applied with mathematical rigor. From 230 BCE onward, King Ying Zheng of Qin conquered Han, Zhao, Wei, Chu, Yan and Qi in a single decade. By 221 all of "under heaven" (*tianxia*) was in his hands.

Ying Zheng coined a new title for himself: *Huangdi*, combining two older words for sovereign. "Qin Shi Huang" meant "First Emperor". The dynasty's project was not only conquest but standardization. The script was reduced to a single form (*xiaozhuan*) — earlier each state had its own variants. Weights, measures, currency (a round bronze coin with a square hole) and even the axle width of carts were unified. The old aristocracy was deported to the capital Xianyang; the territory was divided into 36 *jun* (commanderies) under centrally appointed governors.

The rigour was brutal. Confucian texts at odds with Legalist doctrine were burned ("the burning of the books"); dissenting scholars were buried alive or executed. Peasants were conscripted to link the northern frontier walls into a first continuous Great Wall, to dig the Lingqu Canal, and to build the emperor's vast mausoleum at Mount Li. As its guardians, more than 8,000 life-sized terracotta soldiers and horses were buried in formation — the "Terracotta Army", uncovered in 1974 when a farmer near Xi'an was digging a well. It captures in a single image both the harshness and the artistic refinement of Qin.

Qin Shi Huang died in 210 BCE; the dynasty fell four years later (206 BCE) to a peasant uprising. But the framework he had built endured. The following Han dynasty inherited Qin's administrative map, its script standard and the very idea of empire intact. Even the word "China" probably descends from "Qin".