Qin Shi Huang unifies China

King Zheng of Qin finished conquering rival states and took the title Qin Shi Huang, the first emperor of China. He standardized writing, currency and measures and ordered large public works.

Context

Ying Zheng became king of Qin as a boy in 247 BCE and took personal control years later. Between roughly 230 and 221 BCE his armies conquered the six other major states of the Warring States period, ending centuries of rivalry. He then chose a new title, huangdi, meaning emperor, and the name Qin Shi Huang means first emperor of Qin.

His government divided the realm into commanderies and counties run by appointed officials rather than hereditary lords. Standardized weights, measures, coinage and script made administration and trade easier across the former states. Projects included roads, canals and linking earlier walls on the northern frontier.

Ancient historians, writing later under the Han dynasty, portray him harshly, including accounts of book burning and punishing scholars, and some of those stories are disputed. He died in 210 BCE, and his tomb near Xi'an, guarded by the terracotta army discovered in 1974, has not been fully excavated. The Qin dynasty fell within a few years of his death.

Dating conventions here are from the Chinese historical record, whose main account was compiled by Sima Qian roughly a century after the emperor's death.