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221 BCE 206 BCE

The Qin Dynasty was the dynasty that redefined China. The emperor of this era wanted to conquer the warring states that
the Chou dynasty had in essence created. This emperor succeeded and China was one nation once more. Upon conquering
all the warring states, the emperor pronounced himself as the first emperor of China or, Shih Huang Ti. The unified China
was larger than it ever was. This was the first time outside forces acknowledged the existence of another race of people,
and aptly named the nation China after the then current dynasty, the Qin.
The first emperor not only unified China, but went about standardizing writing, weights, and measures throughout his
kingdom. This was used to promote internal trade among the newly acquired states. The states each had their own
standards of measuring and weighing, and the Qin emperor wanted his kingdom to be as one to strengthen it. This
standardization was good for the weights and measurements but was not good for philosophical ideas.
During this time, many schools of thought were outlawed; only legalism was given official sanction. In 213 BCE, all the
books of the opposing schools of thought were burned except for the copies held in the Qin imperial library. The only way
for emperor to keep his nation together was to have all his subjects think the same way. Any deviation would throw China
back to the hundreds of years of warring.
The Qin Empire was vast. The first emperor pushed China's borders South to current day Vietnam, and current day Korea.
But the central kingdom was still in the Yellow River Valley. Regardless, of all the accomplishments of the Qin, the best
known is the Great Wall of China.
The construction of the Great Wall of China did not come without a price.
It came with massive financial burden as well as human life. This led to
resentment of the Qin emperor by his people. Not only that, the
intellectuals were not happy with the emperor either; the books they
coveted were burned at his hands.
By this time, the emperor had grown old and he did not want to face death. He wanted to be immortal. He set all the court
scientists and doctors to work to make some sort of medicine that would make him a god. The doctors came up with a
deadly solution that they truly thought would work. The medicines the doctors prescribed were pills that contained traces
of mercury which eventually lead to the emperors death.
When the emperor died, China went into a rage, and a rebellion against the Qin dynasty ensued, leading to the next
dynasty, the Han.

Source - https://wayback.archive-it.org/3635/20130721154046/http://library.thinkquest.org/12255/library/dynasty/qin.html