dynasty in which China was unified under the first emperor, Qin Shi Huang Di. He established central rule and standardized weights, measures, coins, and the writing system. Some claim that it was his idea to create the Great Wall in 214 B.C. to protect China from invasion. He was a particular believer in the notion of immortality and is famous for his terracotta army of over 7,000 life-size pottery soldiers, found buried near his tomb in the early 1970s.

First dynasty to unify all of China under one ruler, Emperor Qin Shih Huang 22I - 206 BC.

the first dynasty to unify all of China under one ruler, Emperor Qin Shi Huang (221-206 BC).

chin] Established in 221 b.c.e. at the end of the Warring States period following the decline of the Zhou dynasty; fell in 207 b.c.e. (p. 106)

The Qin (Ch'in) Dynasty (221 BC - 206 BC) was preceded by the Zhou Dynasty and followed by the Han Dynasty in China. The unification of China 221 BC under the First Emperor Qin Shi Huang marked the beginning of imperial China, a period that lasted until the fall of the Qing Dynasty in 1912. The Qin Dynasty left a legacy of a centralized and bureaucratic state that would be carried onto successive dynasties.

Boundary of the Qin dynasty at its greatest extent, ca. 206 B.C.