Query: Qin dynasty dates back to 221 BC.

Relevant passages:
Han dynasty <=SEP=> The Han dynasty was the second imperial dynasty of China ( 206 BC -- 220 AD ) , preceded by the Qin dynasty ( 221 -- 206 BC ) and succeeded by the Three Kingdoms period ( 220 -- 280 AD ) . Spanning over four centuries , the Han period is considered a golden age in Chinese history . To this day , China 's majority ethnic group refers to themselves as the `` Han people '' and the Chinese script is referred to as `` Han characters '' .  It was founded by the rebel leader Liu Bang , known posthumously as Emperor Gaozu of Han , and briefly interrupted by the Xin dynasty ( 9 -- 23 AD ) of the former regent Wang Mang . This interregnum separates the Han dynasty into two periods : the Western Han or Former Han ( 206 BC -- 9 AD ) and the Eastern Han or Later Han ( 25 -- 220 AD ) .   The emperor was at the pinnacle of Han society . He presided over the Han government but shared power with both the nobility and appointed ministers who came largely from the scholarly gentry class . The Han Empire was divided into areas directly controlled by the central government using an innovation inherited from the Qin known as commanderies , and a number of semi-autonomous kingdoms . These kingdoms gradually lost all vestiges of their independence , particularly following the Rebellion of the Seven States . From the reign of Emperor Wu ( r. 141 -- 87 BC ) onward , the Chinese court officially sponsored Confucianism in education and court politics , synthesized with the cosmology of later scholars such as Dong Zhongshu . This policy endured until the fall of the Qing dynasty in 1911 AD .   The Han dynasty was an age of economic prosperity and saw a significant growth of the money economy first established during the Zhou dynasty ( c. 1050 -- 256 BC ) . The coinage issued by the central government mint in 119 BC remained the standard coinage of China until the Tang dynasty ( 618 -- 907 AD ) . The period saw a number of limited institutional innovations . To pay for its military campaigns and the settlement of newly conquered frontier territories , the government nationalized the private salt and iron industries in 117 BC , but these government monopolies were repealed during the Eastern Han period . Science and technology during the Han period saw significant advances , including papermaking , the nautical steering rudder , the use of negative numbers in mathematics , the raised-relief map , the hydraulic-powered armillary sphere for astronomy , and a seismometer employing an inverted pendulum .   The Xiongnu , a nomadic steppe confederation , defeated the Han in 200 BC and forced the Han to submit as a de facto inferior partner , but continued their raids on the Han borders . Emperor Wu launched several military campaigns against them . The ultimate Han victory in these wars eventually forced the Xiongnu to accept vassal status as Han tributaries . These campaigns expanded Han sovereignty into the Tarim Basin of Central Asia , divided the Xiongnu into two separate confederations , and helped establish the vast trade network known as the Silk Road , which reached as far as the Mediterranean world . The territories north of Han 's borders were quickly overrun by the nomadic Xianbei confederation . Emperor Wu also launched successful military expeditions in the south , annexing Nanyue in 111 BC and Dian in 109 BC , and in the Korean Peninsula where the Xuantu and Lelang Commanderies were established in 108 BC . After 92 AD , the palace eunuchs increasingly involved themselves in court politics , engaging in violent power struggles between the various consort clans of the empresses and empresses dowager , causing the Han 's ultimate downfall . Imperial authority was also seriously challenged by large Daoist religious societies which instigated the Yellow Turban Rebellion and the Five Pecks of Rice Rebellion . Following the death of Emperor Ling ( r. 168 -- 189 AD ) , the palace eunuchs suffered wholesale massacre by military officers , allowing members of the aristocracy and military governors to become warlords and divide the empire . When Cao Pi , King of Wei , usurped the throne from Emperor Xian , the Han dynasty ceased to exist .

Qin dynasty <=SEP=> The Qin dynasty was the first dynasty of Imperial China , lasting from 221 to 206 BC . Named for its heartland of Qin , in modern-day Gansu and Shaanxi , the dynasty was formed after the conquest of six other states by the Qin state , and its founding emperor named Qin Shi Huang , the First Emperor of Qin . The strength of the Qin state was greatly increased by the `` Legalist '' reforms of Shang Yang in the fourth century BC , during the Warring States period . In the mid and late third century BC , the Qin accomplished a series of swift conquests , first ending the powerless Zhou dynasty , and eventually conquering the other six of the Seven Warring States to gain control over the whole of China . It is also the shortest dynasty in Chinese history , lasting only 15 years with two emperors .   Far from monolithic and demonstrating a sophisticated political outlook , excavated Qin texts show a more pragmatic and eclectic approach than a reading of traditional accounts of Shang Yang would suggest . Qin administration was by no means purely punitive , and was not harsher than was generally prevalent at the time . The Qin were not doctrinaire . Though often anathema to Legalist philosophy , Confucianism and its values too coexisted with `` Legalism '' during the reign of the First Emperor . Qin administrative documents considered such matters as filial piety , and one circulated letter reads that `` The purpose of all standards ( fa ) ... is to teach and lead the people , rid them of dissoluteness and depravity ... and turn them toward goodness . ''   During its reign over China , the Qin sought to create an imperial state unified by highly structured political power and a stable economy able to support a large military . The Qin central government sought to minimize the role of aristocrats and landowners and have direct administrative control over the peasantry , who comprised the overwhelming majority of the population , and control over whom would grant the Qin access to a large labor force . This allowed for the construction of ambitious projects , such as a wall on the northern border , now known as the Great Wall of China . For years , local rulers built walls along China 's northern border to protect their villages from invaders , but Emperor Shi Huangdi decided to connect them . Three hundred thousand peasants and convicts were forced to work on this 1,400 mile wall .   The Qin dynasty introduced several reforms : currency , weights and measures were standardized , and a uniform system of writing was established . The Qin 's military was revolutionary in that it used the most recently developed weaponry , transportation , and tactics , though the government was heavy-handed and bureaucratic . An attempt to restrict criticism and purge all traces of old dynasties led to the supposed burning of books and burying of scholars later espoused by Confucians .   Despite its military strength , the Qin dynasty did not last long . When the first emperor died in 210 BC , a different son was placed on the throne by two of the previous emperor 's advisers , in an attempt to influence and control the administration of the entire dynasty through him . The advisors squabbled among themselves , however , resulting in both their deaths and that of the second Qin emperor . Popular revolt broke out a few years later , and the weakened empire soon fell to a Chu lieutenant , who went on to found the Han dynasty . Despite its rapid end , the dynasty influenced future Chinese empires , particularly the Han , and the European name for China is thought to be derived from it .