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A Modern Master The First Imperial Period China was unified for the
first time in 221 B.C. when the western
frontier state of Qin
defeated the the last of its six rival states. Once the king of Qin consolidated his power he took
the title Shi Huangdi ( Qin established a centralized, nonhereditary bureaucratic
system to run the far-flung empire, relying heavily on what was known
as Legalism, a system of centralizing laws, coinage, administrative
procedures, the writing system, and even acceptable modes of thought
and scholarship. This stamdardization was achieved by ruthless methods,
however, and.it generated significant and widespread opposition.
To silence the criticism,
the king banished or put to death many dissenting Confucian
scholars and confiscated and burned their books ( Qin
also undertook significant public works projects, including a legendary
effort to fortify and connect external fortress walls built in earlier
times by the various
Warring States. That Great Wall ( Revolts broke out as soon as the first Qin emperor died in 210 B.C. His dynasty was extinguished less than twenty years later. The imperial system initiated during the Qin dynasty, however, set a pattern that was developed over the next two millennia.
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