QIN  DYNASTY 221-206 BC

The Zhou Dynasty was in decline as the fife states warred amongst themselves in pursuit of power. In the western frontier state of Qin, a great Warring Prince named Ch’in subjugated the last of the rival warring states in the year 221 B.C. China was now unified and King Qin declared himself Sui Huangdi "The First Emperor", a title previously reserved for deities and the mythological sage-emperors of ancient China. This marked the beginning of a new Dynastic era called the Qin.  

-Under the Qin Dynasty a cohesive social force of centralization and standardization of legal codes, writing, coinage, roads, weights and measurements, axe lengths and written language were enacted. To achieve this in a short span of time brutal and ruthless methods were forced upon the spiritual and intellectual leaders of China. To silence criticism of imperial rule, the Emperor’s courts banished or put to death many dissenting Confucian scholars and confiscated and burned all books of history, religion, science and philosophy (burning of the books era). The Sui Huangdi was a man of great ambitions who asserted cruel ultimate power with purpose. Roads and irrigation canals were built throughout the country that greatly increased the agricultural productivity and food production. The Great Wall of China that the Zhou Dynasty had built was further lengthened and fortified.

This mortal man Sui Huangdi seemed to have been possessed with the obsession of obtaining immortality. It was this burning desire to live forever that perhaps motivated him to power and compelled him to build Mount Li a mausoleum for his eternal life. During his last years of life he dispatched emissaries to the four corners of the earth seeking to find the immortals and the key to immortality. It has been said that in his last months of life he journeyed to a mystic Sage to obtain immortality. During his travels to see the Sage he died. His personal body Guards and Son feared that if it were known that the Emperor was dead a revolt would overthrow the Chin Throne. The guards were ordered to catch enough fish to fill a cart draw by a horse. Traveling back to the palace over many days the rotten fish hid the order of the Dead Emperors decomposing body.  Shi Huangdi had only ruled for 37 years, when he died suddenly in 210 B.C.

The great Chin Emperor was obsessed with immortality built the world’s greatest pyramid tombs that is today one of the manmade wonders of the world. This tomb that houses Sui Huangdi body (Mount Li) has yet to be fully excavated by the Chinese government. It is their estimate that it will take another 15 years before the Tomb is fully displayed to the public. What is known and publicly displayed is a terra cotta army that surrounds his burial site. This army consisted of 7,000 pottery soldiers that protected the tomb. Sino archeologists believe that these clay figures were replacements for the actual people who in earlier times were buried alive with their rulers.

The Qin rule was popular with neither the masses nor the nobility and it came to an end shortly after the First Emperor's death. His son, King Tzu-ying of Chin was murdered and the capital Hsienyang was burned to the ground by a peasant insurrection led by Chen She a poor wage-laborer. This revolution ushered in the Han Dynasty who employed the social foundations laid by the great Sui Huangdi.

The Quin Dynasty was a very short-lived Dynasty and it is for this reason that it is exceptionally difficult to ascertain if a jade specimen was created during this Dynasty or the Han Dynasty. Most often a Jade specimen or Bronze specimen created in this period will be labeled Han Dynasty, as the styles and characteristic of the Early Han Dynasty were indistinguishable with Quin Dynasty art.

Authentic Qin Dynasty Jades extremely rare and difficult to find due to the short lived Dynasty and the Han artistic characteristics. I sometimes   offer Qin Jade specimens from my 30-year collection so please check my Ebay auctions while I have them available. -ian (Fung Gen Qua)