During the Warring States period (475–221 BCE), there was a wide and confusing variety of unstandardized Large Seal Script characters, with the same word being written in several different ways. After Emperor Qin Shi Huang had conquered all other Warring States and unified China in 221 BCE, he adopted a language-reform proposal made by the Legalist Li Si and promulgated a decree of "Shutongwen" 書同文 "Writing the Same Character". It mandated using a consistent writing system based on the Small Seal Script, which was comparatively simpler and easier to write than Large Seal Script. In a logographic language like Chinese, correct character writing is fundamental for efficiency of information transfer.