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In 221 BC the king of Qin conquered the last of his rivals, unified China and took the title of First Emperor. His Qin dynasty lasted only until 206 BC, yet it gave the whole country one script, one currency and one system of weights and measures.

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The First Emperor, Qin Shi Huang, was born Ying Zheng and became king of Qin, one of seven rival states, at the age of 13. The two and a half centuries before his victory are known as the Warring States period, when these kingdoms fought for control of China. Between 230 and 221 BC his armies conquered the other six. He then replaced local systems with single standards: one style of writing, the small seal script, so that officials everywhere wrote the same characters; round bronze banliang coins instead of the old spade- and knife-shaped money; common weights and measures; even one axle width for carts. The dynasty collapsed soon after his death in 210 BC, but the Han dynasty that followed kept most of his system, which lasted in some form until 1911. The name “China” is often traced back to Qin.

Türkçe oku
MÖ 221'de Qin kralı son rakiplerini de yenerek Çin'i birleştirdi ve “İlk İmparator” unvanını aldı. Qin hanedanının egemenliği yalnızca MÖ 206'ya kadar sürdü; ama bu kısa sürede bütün ülkeye tek bir yazı, tek bir para ve ortak bir ağırlık ve ölçü sistemi getirdi.

İlk İmparator Qin Shi Huang'ın asıl adı Ying Zheng'di. Birbiriyle rekabet eden yedi devletten biri olan Qin'in tahtına 13 yaşında çıkmıştı. Onun zaferinden önceki yaklaşık iki buçuk yüzyıl, bu krallıkların Çin'e hâkim olmak için birbiriyle savaştığı Savaşan Devletler dönemi olarak bilinir. Ordusu MÖ 230 ile 221 arasında öteki altı devleti tek tek fethetti. Ardından yerel düzenlerin yerine ülke çapında ortak standartlar getirdi. Her yerdeki görevliler aynı karakterleri yazsın diye tek bir yazı biçimi, “küçük mühür yazısı” zorunlu tutuldu. Eski kürek ve bıçak biçimli paraların yerini yuvarlak, tunç banliang sikkeleri aldı. Ağırlık ve ölçü birimleri tek tipe indirildi; arabaların dingil genişliği bile tek bir ölçüye bağlandı. Hanedan, imparatorun MÖ 210'daki ölümünden kısa süre sonra yıkıldı. Ama ardından gelen Han hanedanı onun düzenini büyük ölçüde sürdürdü ve bu düzen şu ya da bu biçimde 1911'e kadar yaşadı. Batı dillerindeki “China” adının da Qin'den geldiği sık sık ileri sürülür.

Sources and further reading

Background reading: Qin dynasty
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