The Feudal Period of ChinaQin Shi Huang（259-210 B.C.) and His EmpireIn 221 B.C. Ying Zheng

The Feudal Period of China

Qin Shi Huang(259-210 B.C.) and His Empire

In 221 B.C. Ying Zheng, ruler of the State of Qin and a man of great talent and bold vision, ended the 250-odd years of rivalry among the independent principalities during the Warring States Period, establishing the first centralized, unified, multi-ethnic feudal state in Chinese history—the Qin Dynasty(221-207 B.C.) He called himself Qin Shi Huang or "First Emperor of Qin." He standardized the written script, weights and measures, and currencies, and established the system of prefectures and counties. The sovereigns of the next 2,000-odd years followed the feudal governmental structure established by him. He mobilized more than 300,000 people over a period of a dozen years to build the Great Wall, which stretches for 5,000 km in northern China. Qin Shi Huang had work on his enormous mausoleum started early in his reign. The terracotta warriors of the "underground army" guarding the mausoleum, unearthed in 1974, amazed the world. The 8,000 vivid, life -size pottery figures, horses and chariots have been called the "eighth wonder of the world."

Han Dynasty(206 B.C.-A.D. 220) and the "Silk Road"

Liu Bang established the powerful Han Dynasty in 206 B.C. During the Han Dynasty, agriculture, handicrafts and commerce flourished, and the population reached 50 million. During his reign(140-87 B.C.), the most prosperous period of the Han Dynasty, Liu Che, Emperor Wudi, expanded the territory of the empire from the Central Plain to the Western Regions(present day Xinjiang and Central Asia). He dispatched Zhang Qian twice as his envoy to the Western Regions, and in the process pioneered the route known as the "Silk Road" from Chang'an(today's Xl'an, Shaanxi Province), through Xinjiang and Central Asia, and on to the east coast of the Mediterranean Sea. Chinese silk goods were traded to the West along the Silk Road. As contacts between the East and West increased, Buddhism spread to China in the first century. In 105, an official named Cai Lan invented a technique for making fine paper, which is considered to have been a revolution in communication and learning.

Tang Dynasty(618-907)

After the Han Dynasty and the Three Kingdoms Period(220-265), the Jin Dynasty(265-420), the Southern and Northern Dynasties(420-589) and the Sui Dynasty(581-618) were succeeded by the Tang Dynasty, established by IA Yuan in 618. IA Shimin, or Emperor Taizong(626-649), son of Li Yuan, adopted a series of liberal policies, pushing the prosperity of China's feudal society to its peak: Agriculture, handicrafts and commerce flourished; technologies for textile manufacturing and dyeing, pottery and porcelain production, smelting and shipbuilding were further developed; and land and water transportation greatly improved. By the 660s, China's influence had firmly taken root in the Tarim and Jung gar basins and the Hi River valley, and even extended to many city-states in Central Asia. During this period, extensive economic and cultural relations were established with many countries, including Japan, Korea, India, Persia and Arabia.

Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties(960-1911)

The period of the Five Dynasties and Ten States, which succeeded the Tang Dynasty, was one of almost continual war fare. In 960, Zhao Kuangyin, a general of the State of Later Zhou, established the Song Dynasty(960-1279), historically known as the Northern Song Dynasty. When the Song Dynasty moved its capital to the south, historically called the Southern Song Dynasty, it brought advanced economy and culture to the south, giving a great impetus to economic development there China in the Song Dynasty was in the front rank of the world in astronomy, science and technology and printing technology as evidenced, for example, by Bi Sheng's inventing movable type printing, a great revolution in printing history.

In 1271, Kublai, a grandson of Geng

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