1) The Qin Dynasty (221-206 BC) was the first to unify China under Qin Shihuangdi, who standardized laws, currency, and script. Though short-lived, Qin built infrastructure like the Great Wall and Terra-Cotta Army. 2) The Han Dynasty (206 BC-220 AD) adopted Confucianism and developed bureaucracy, education, arts, and science like acupuncture. The Silk Road connected China to Rome under Han. 3) The Han collapsed due to northern invaders, dividing China into the Three Kingdoms of Wei, Shu Han, and Wu until reunification in 280 AD. This era saw the

1. Early Imperial
China

2. Qin Han Three
(221- 206 BC) (206 BC – Kingdoms
220 CE) (220 – 280)

3. Qin Dynasty (221-206 BC)
Qin was originally
named Ying Zheng. He
In 221 BC, Qin gave himself the name
Qin Shihuangdi, which
Shihuangdi became the means “First August
first man to control all of and divine Emperor”
China. He called himself
Emperor, because he did
not want to be called
king as all other rulers
before him had been
called.
The Qin Dynasty only
lasted for 15 years, but
many changes occurred
in that short period of
time.

4. Bureaucracy
Qin was a harsh leader, and did not Bureaucracy is a type of government
trust his people. He believed that with fixed rules and procedures. Qin
people were basically bad, and divided the empire into 36
that it was necessary to strictly provinces. Each province was
control them. It was illegal to say divided into 2 districts.
anything bad about Qin’s
government. If you did, you would
be thrown in prison.
It was also the law to spy on each
other! If you turned in a neighbor,
you were rewarded. If not, you
were executed.
To help control the people of
China, Qin developed a system of
bureaucracy.

5. Changes Under Qin
• Ownership of land: Qin took land away from the nobles because he did not
want them to have power and rise up against him.
• Standardization: All of China was unified by one system of weights,
measures, written language, money, and laws.
• Law Code: Qin created a law enforcement group to enforce laws
• Jobs: all peasants were assigned a job of either silk maker or farmer. If they
tried to do anything else, they were sent away to work on the Great Wall.
• Great Wall: Qin used slave labor to link together all of the old packed-earth
defensive walls into one great wall (later, during the Ming dynasty, it
became the huge masonry construction that it is today)
• Censorship: Qin destroyed books, especially those by Confucius. Over 400
scholars who refused to turn in books were either buried alive or sent to
work on the wall.
• Public Works: Because he was able to force people to work, he was able to
create a large infrastructure of roads and canals.

6. During Qin’s reign, Qin ordered the construction of a
mausoleum, created to accompany the first emperor
into the afterlife. More than 700,000 laborers worked
on the project.
Work was halted on the project in 209 BC – a year after
Qin’s death in 210 BC – due to uprisings by the people.
This mausoleum, nicknamed the “Terra-Cotta Army”,
was discovered by workers digging a well outside the
city of Xi’an, China, in 1974.

7. The Terra-Cotta Army
Authorities dispatched government archaeologists to the site,
where they found thousands of clay soldiers in underground
corridors. In some of the corridors, clay horses and chariots can
also be found.

8. The Han Dynasty
(206 BC – 220 CE)
After Quin’s death in 210
BC, Quin’s son became
Emperor but he did not
rule for long.
People in the countryside
revolted against the cruel
Qin government. A
peasant who led that
revolt became the new
Emperor. His name was
Liu Bang (later called Han
Gaozu). He established a
dynasty that was much
different from the Qin
dynasty.

9. Han GaoZu made
Confucianism the central
governing principle of Han
rule.
Confucius, who lived during
the Eastern Chou dynasty,
believed in a harmonious
relationship between ruler and
subject.
The administrative model
perfected by GaoZu was one
that every successive dynasty
would copy.

10. Arts and Sciences
The Han people worked hard to replace the
literature destroyed during the Qin dynasty,
especially the writings of Confucius.
Scroll painting began during this time.
Craftsmen perfected their skills in jewelry
making and jade carving.
Acupuncture and paper were invented
during the Han dynasty.
They also invented an instrument that would
tell them when an earthquake was
happening.
Iron was used for making cast iron objects
and plows.

11. Education
Emperor Wudi, one of the
emperors who succeeded
Han Gaozu, started a system
of public schools.
He agreed with Confucius
that the key to good
government was education.
Schools were established in
each province. These
schools were for boys only.

12. The Silk Road
The Silk Road was not actually a single route; rather, it
was a name that was given to any route that led across
China into Rome.
The Silk Road extended to the farthest reaches of the Han
Empire. It was extremely dangerous to travel along the
Silk Road: there were always bandits and pirates, and
many parts traversed desolate deserts and treacherous
mountains.
Romans sent out parties of soldiers to follow the Silk
Road, in order to find the traders and the people who
were making the silk. Most of the soldiers never
returned.

13. Three Main Routes of the
Silk Road
Northern Route – Westward to the
Black Sea
Central Route – Westward to Persia,
the Mediterranean Sea, and Rome
Southern Route – Westward to Iran
(Persia) and India

14. Although it is debated, many
historians consider the Han
Dynasty the first golden age of
China.
However, toward the end of
their rule, the center had lost
so much control of their
provinces that it collapsed.
Contributing factors were a
population shift from the
Yellow River in the North to
the Yangzi in the south, and
the fact that they were unable
to control barbarian tribal
raiders from the north.

15. Contributions of the Han Dynasty
 The Silk Road
 Papermaking
 Iron technology (cast iron)
 Plow (kuan)
 Glazed pottery
 Wheelbarrow
 Seismograph
 Compass
 Ship’s rudder
 Stirrups
 Drawloom weaving
 Hot Air Balloon
 Chinese Examination System
 Decorative Embroidery

16. The Three Kingdoms
(220-280 CE)
At the end of the Han
Dynasty, numerous
conflicts occurred
between political rivals.
As a result, the empire
was divided into three
separate kingdoms: Wu
in the south, Wei in the
north, and Shu Han in
the west.

17. Wu
The Wu Kingdom occupied the Yangzi Valley in the
southeast, as well as most of the south. The Wu Kingdom
was established by Sun Ch’uan. The Wu Kingdom was
ruled by a succession of four emperors, and lasted for 52
years. It had the longest history of the Three Kingdoms.
People of the Wu Kingdom
cultivated grain, and bred
pigs and buffalo.

18. Shu Han
Shu Han was ruled by Liu Bei. It was the smallest and the
richest of the Three Kingdoms.
Many of the Shu peoples were wealthy merchants, who
traded with Tibet and India.
Tomb of Liu Bei

19. Wei
The Kingdom of Wei is considered
the most powerful of the three
kingdoms. It was ruled by the Ts’ao
family.
One of the Wei Dynasty’s most
prominent figures was Cao Cao, a
military leader whose aim was to
unify all of China – a goal that was
never recognized. He was also a
poet whose poems began a new
style of Jian An literature.

20. Contributions of the Three
Kingdoms
The most significant contribution of the Three Kingdoms era was
the spread of Buddhism during this period. Because Buddhists
were craftsmen and artists, they were responsible for the creation
of numerous elaborate temples and monasteries.

21. Vocabulary
• Qin Dynasty
• Han Dynasty
• Three Kingdoms
• Bureaucracy
• Confucianism
• Qin Shihuangdi
• Han Gaozu
• Emperor Wudi
• Silk Road
• Wu
• Shu Han
• Wei
• Cao Cao

22. Works Cited
www.dynastiesofasia.com/asian-history-references/threekingdoms
www.historyforkids.org/learn/china
www.travelchinaguide.com/intro/history
http://condensedchina.com/china2.html
www.cucas.edu.cn/HomePage/2009-05-25
http://china.mrdonn.org/han.html
http://science.nationalgeographic.com/science/archaeology/emperor-qin/