page_title: Qin Shi Huang
section_title: Time of ruling
hierarchical_section_title: Qin Shi Huang / Time of ruling
caption_attribution_description: English: Map of the Qin Dynasty (in c. 210 BCE) — in China.&#160;::*The first unifying Imperial dynasty of China.&#160;::*The coloured territories show the approximate extent of Qin political control at the death of Emperor Qin Shi Huang in 210 BC. As part of his unification of China in 221 BCE, Qin Shi Huang divided his empire into thirty six commanderies, each subdivided into a number of counties. The significance of the administrative reforms was its introduction of a uniformly centralised system of imperial control. At the death of Qin Shi Huang in 210 BCE, more commanderies were added to the original thirty six, and these are also shown on the map. The system was followed by the Han Dynasty (206 BCE – 220 CE), though with a certain degree of compromise. Thereafter, the system became the norm for later dynasties and eventually evolved into the present administrative structure of Mainland China (see: Category: Political divisions of China.) The location of the Yellow River and commandery seats follows Tan Qixiang (ed.), Zhongguo lishi ditu (中国历史地图集), 1982. Note that the Yellow River is considerably to the north of its present flow. ;Credits Created and copyright (2006) by Yeu Ninje. Released under the GNU FDL. Originally uploaded to English Wikipedia by en:User:Yeu Ninje. Ming civilisation (1580)
context_page_description: Qin Shi Huang was the founder of the Qin dynasty and was the first emperor of a unified China.
  He was born Ying Zheng or Zhao Zheng, a prince of the state of Qin. He became the King Zheng of Qin when he was thirteen, then China's first emperor when he was 38 after the Qin had ruled all of the other Warring States and unified all of China in 221 BC.
context_section_description: Later, Zheng was older and put Lü Buwei and his mother's new boyfriend to death. He put his mother away as a prisoner as well. Now, Zheng and his helper Li Si ruled Qin. Their ideas are called Legalism. It said that the old ways of doing things were not good: if everyone did as ordered by the ruler and by his laws, things would be much better. The best way to run a country was for the ruler to have all the power. That way, no one would be able to fight or hurt other people. As the ruler of Qin, Zheng liked these ideas; as the ruler of China, he said they would be the only ideas. He made Confucianism and other old ideas against the law. Only the library in his palace (great house) was able to have books with any old ideas or with other people's accounts of history. Everyone else would have to read about Legalism and the accounts of history approved by the Emperor. The First Emperor's men then burned the other books and even killed some of the men who tried to keep them by burying them (putting them under the earth).
  As the ruler of China, the First Emperor ordered great undertakings: his men put together earlier bits into a Great Wall of China and made a new river—the Lingqu Canal—so that boats were able to go from the Yangtze River in the middle of China to the Pearl River in the south. He ordered a large number of new roads and a tomb (last resting place) for himself the size of a city. This resting place was looked after by the thousands of statues of the Terracotta Army. Many people did not like doing as the First Emperor ordered: Sima Qian wrote about three men who made attempts to kill the First Emperor. All three came to nothing.
caption: The land of Qin in 210 BC.
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