ABSTRACT

The cultural legacy of over two millennia of history provided the foundation on which the first Chinese empire was built. The newly created Ch'in and Han empire was a consummation of all the changes in the Chinese social, political, and intellectual tradition that had preceded it. The Taoist school of thought was linked philosophically with Legalism, thus forming a belief in an abstract order whose norms could be ascertained and applied to human life. The military unification and subsequent political and social reordering were accomplished by the first emperor of China, Ch'in Shih Huang-ti and his short-lived Ch'in Dynasty. He used draconic measures in the creation of a unified and enlarged Chinese polity that reverberated through East Asia and beyond and gave his country its name, China, the country of Ch'in. Most important for a unified administration, written characters were standardized in line with the tradition of Ch'in.