ABSTRACT
The Ch’in (255–209 b.c.) and Han (206 b.c.–a.d. 220) were the first periods of political unification in China. From the political point of view, they may be taken to represent the starting-point in the story of China, the Nation—an entity, an individuality. They set the pattern of self-centredness, in respect especially of foreign relations; they gave an introvert character to the national psychology, which may or may not be peculiar to China among all the nations, but certainly took a special and lasting form there.
