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Qin Shi Huang Timeline
(259 BCE – 210 BCE)Qin Shi Huang (259–210 BCE) was the founder of the Qin dynasty and the first emperor of a unified China. Rising to power as King of the Qin state at age 13, he conquered the rival Warring States by 221 BCE, standardized currency, weights, measures, and writing, and launched massive projects including early Great Wall construction and his famous Terracotta Army mausoleum near modern Xi'an. More Less
Ancient Monuments and Works
State walls built in preceding four centuries
400 BC
Numerous state walls had been built during the previous four centuries, many of them closing gaps between river defences and impassable cliffs. These earlier fortifications later formed the basis for Qin Shi Huang's great wall-building program.
Image source: Qin Shi Huang
Construction of the First Emperor's mausoleum
246 BC - 208 BC
Sima Qian, writing a century after the First Emperor's death, wrote that it took 700,000 men to construct the emperor's mausoleum near modern Xi'an.
Image source: Mausoleum of the First Qin Emperor
Heirloom Seal of the Realm crafted from the Heshibi
221 BC
Qin Shi Huang ordered the Heshibi to be crafted into the Heirloom Seal of the Realm, a physical symbol of the Mandate of Heaven that was passed from emperor to emperor until its loss in the 10th century.
Construction of the Great Wall of China
221 BC - 206 BC
Qin Shi Huang connected and extended existing state walls into a defensive barrier against northern nomads. There are no surviving records specifying the length and course of the Qin walls, which have largely eroded away over the centuries.
Image source: Great Wall of China
Twelve giant bronze statues erected
221 BC
Each statue was said to be 5 zhang (11.5 meters) in height and weighing about 1000 dan (about 70 tons). Over 600 years the statues were commented upon and moved from palace to palace until they were destroyed in the 4th century AD, leaving no illustration.
Bronze statues destroyed
300 AD - 399 AD
After 600 years during which they were commented upon and moved around from palace to palace, the twelve colossal bronze statues commissioned by Qin Shi Huang were finally destroyed in the 4th century AD. No illustration of them has remained.
Farmers discover the Terracotta Army
Mar 29, 1974
The terracotta statues guarding the First Emperor's tomb were discovered by a group of farmers digging wells on 29 March 1974, one of the greatest archaeological finds of the 20th century.
Image source: Terracotta Army
Historical Reassessment
Reassessment spurred by weakness of China
1850 - 1949
The reassessment of Qin Shi Huang was spurred on by the weakness of China in the latter half of the 19th century and early 20th century, prompting scholars to reexamine his policies and reforms.
Ma Feibai publishes revisionist biography
1941
Historian Ma Feibai published in 1941 a full-length revisionist biography of the First Emperor entitled Qín Shǐ Huángdì Zhuàn, calling him 'one of the great heroes of Chinese history'.
Marxist critique emerges after Communist Revolution
1949
With the advent of the Chinese Communist Revolution and the establishment of a new revolutionary regime in 1949, another re-evaluation of the First Emperor emerged as a Marxist critique.
Key Facts
- Qin Shi Huang became King of Qin in 246 BCE at just thirteen years old.
- In 221 BCE he completed the conquest of the six other Warring States, becoming the first emperor of unified China and adopting the title 'Shi Huangdi' (First Emperor).
- He standardized currency, measurements, axle widths, and the Chinese writing system to unify his empire administratively.
- He ordered hundreds of thousands of laborers to connect and extend northern defensive walls, an early precursor to the Great Wall of China.
- His tomb near Xi'an is guarded by the Terracotta Army, thousands of life-sized clay soldiers discovered in 1974.
Source
This Qin Shi Huang timeline was generated with the help of AI, using information found on the internet.
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