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Qin Dynasty秦朝
221 – 206 BC
China's first unified empire, and the source of the name "China".
Emperors
- Qin Shi Huang Ying Zheng, 259 – 210 BC · First Emperor Qin Shi Huang was the king of the western state of Qin who conquered the six rival warring states and in 221 BC declared himself the First Emperor of a unified China. In eleven years of rule he standardised the script, the coinage, the weights and measures, and the roads, replaced hereditary lords with appointed officials, and built a frontier wall in the north. He also burned books, killed his political opponents, and consumed the last years of his life in a failed search for immortality.
- Qin Er Shi Huhai, c. 230 – 207 BC · Second Emperor of the Qin dynasty Huhai, the eighteenth son of Qin Shi Huang, reigned as the Second Emperor of Qin from 210 to 207 BC — the second and last emperor of a dynasty his father had designed to last ten thousand generations. Raised to the throne by a succession that even the ancient sources dispute, he destroyed his own family, refused to be told that his empire was in revolt, and was finally forced to kill himself by the chancellor who had made him.
- Ziying Ziying, d. 206 BC · The last ruler of the Qin dynasty, 207 – 206 BC — a king, not an emperor Ziying (d. 206 BC) held the throne of Qin for forty-six days and is counted as its last ruler, though he was never an emperor: Zhao Gao abolished the imperial title before installing him and crowned him King of Qin, on the ground that a state reduced to its old territory had no business keeping an empty name. He is remembered for one decisive act, the killing of Zhao Gao, and for the surrender that ended the dynasty — a plain carriage, a white cord around his neck, and the seals of office handed to Liu Bang.