What is the best, shortest summary of the history of China you can think of?
The creation of an Empire: For more than two Centuries, an ongoing war between seven Chinese states took place. This period is known as the Warring States period and was ended in 221 B.C. by the king of the state of Qin, who proclaimed himself China’s first emperor as he took the literal name of “beginning emperor”: Shi (begin) Huang-di (Emperor). As he tried to unify China politically, economically, and culturally, he outlawed the “Hundred Schools of Thought” (600-300) from the Zhou dynasty (1122-256 B.C.) under which the idea of Confucianism, a “Mandate of Heaven” (Mencius), and Daoism had developed. Legalism, another of the schools, that was adopted by Shi Huang di in his quest for a uniformed and united China; conveniently emphasized the rule of law and the strength of the ruler. b ) Cyclical pattern of the dynasties The Qin dynasty, however glorious with its conquests and fortifications (beginning of the Great Wall), was short lived due to its harshness and the cost of wealth and
