Medieval China: the beginning of the history of the great empire.

The term "medieval China" is not known so well if compared with Western Europe, since in the history of the country there was not as such a clear division into epochs. It is conventionally assumed that it began in the third century BC from the reign of the Qin Dynasty and lasted more than two thousand years until the end of the Qing dynasty.

The Qin kingdom, which was a small state located in the north-west of the country, annexed the territories of several kingdoms on the southern and western borders, pursuing clear political goals aimed at consolidating power. In 221 BC there was an unification of the country, before this consisting of many scattered feudal estates and in historiography referred to as "ancient China". History from this time went on a different path - the development of a new unified Chinese world.

Qin was the most culturally advanced among the Warring States and the strongest militarily. Ying Zheng, known as the first emperor of Qin Shihuandi, was able to unite China and turn it into the first centralized state with the capital of Xianyang (near the modern city of Xi'an), putting an end to the era of the Warring Kingdoms, which lasted several centuries. The name that the emperor took to him was in tune with the name of one of the main and very important characters of the mythological and national history - Huangdi or the Yellow Emperor. Having thus issued his title, Ying Zheng raised his prestige highly. "We are the First Emperor, and our heirs will be known as the Second Emperor, the Third Emperor, and so on in an endless series of generations," he majestically declared. Medieval China in historiography is usually called the "imperial era."

During his reign, Qin Shihuandi continued to expand the empire in East and south, eventually reaching the borders of Vietnam. The vast empire was divided into thirty-six Jun (military districts), which were jointly ruled by civilian governors and military commandants who controlled each other. This system served as a model for all dynastic governments in China until the fall of the Qing dynasty in 1911.

The first emperor not only united medieval China. He reformed the Chinese script, establishing its new form as an official writing system (many historians believe that this is the most important reform of all), standardized the system of weights and measures throughout the state. This was an important condition for strengthening the internal trade of the united kingdoms, each of which had its own standards. During the period of the reign of the Qin Dynasty (221-206 BC), many philosophical schools, whose doctrines to some extent contradicted the imperial ideology, were outlawed. In 213 BC all the works containing such thoughts, including the work of Confucius, were burned with the exception of the copies that were kept in the Imperial Library. Many researchers agree with the statement that it was in the era of the Qin Dynasty that the name of the empire appeared - China.

Sights of that period are known all over the world. During the archaeological excavations at the burial site of the first Chinese emperor (not far from Xi'an), begun in 1974, over six thousand terracotta figures (warriors, horses) were discovered. They represented a vast army that guarded the grave of Qin Shihuandi. The terracotta army has become one of the greatest and most exciting archaeological discoveries in China. In chronological records, the burial of the emperor was described as a microversion of his empire with constellations painted on the ceiling, by flowing rivers created from mercury. Qin Shihuandi is credited with creating the Great Wall of China. In the Qin era, several protective walls were built on the northern border.

Medieval China began to decline with the expansion of European opium trade, which was the cause of destabilization in society and eventually led to opium wars (1840-1842, 1856-1860).