The Rise and Fall of the Qin Empire unfolds against the flames of the Warring States era, recounting the blood, tears, and humiliation of a weak Qin beneath the iron hooves of the six kingdoms. Qin loses its lands west of the Yellow River, its ancestral temples fall into dust, and starving people eat their own children. Young Duke Xiao of Qin endures humiliation and hardship, issues the Edict for Worthy Men, and recruits Shang Yang to carry out iron-fisted reforms. A tree is moved to prove the government’s word is good, and even high-ranking nobles are punished. The old clans strike back, the neighboring states unite to crush Qin, and the road of reform is paved with corpses. Through King Huiwen’s diplomatic alliances and King Zhaoxiang’s eastward campaigns, Ying Zheng eventually conquers the six kingdoms. His cavalry tramples the realm, and within ten years Han, Zhao, Wei, Chu, Yan, and Qi fall one by one. Yet the empire rises and collapses in a flash. The burning of books and burying of scholars, along with the Great Wall and Epang Palace projects, exhaust the people’s strength, and the empire finally crumbles amid the flames of the Daze uprising. This is both an epic of a weak state’s rise and a tragic song of civilization’s foundations. Though Qin fell, it etched the ideal of a unified China into the land for a thousand years. For generations, the people of China have fought tirelessly for the unification of their homeland. The belief that China must, and will, be reunified is etched into their bones.
