Secondary State Formation and the Development of Local Identity: Change and Continuity in the State of Qin (770‐221 B.C.)

Imperial expansion, public investment, and the long path of history: China’s initial political unification and its aftermath

“…( Fig. 2) (15,30,33). Growth in the size of polities along with the challenges of ruling over increasingly diverse populations in the face of persistent political and military competition likely prompted fiscal reforms and the adoption of the somewhat more collectively oriented policies and practices, such as investments in public goods (9; ref.…”

“…The Qin state, one of these local polities, was vassal to the Zhou and situated to the northwest of the latter's core (12,33). During the fourth century B.C., the Qin began an episode of conquest that culminated in China's political unification.…”

“…Although subsequent Qin imperial rule was exceedingly short (221-207 B.C. ), the changes set in motion during these times contingently underpinned a national identity and the course of subsequent Chinese history (12,15,33,36). With military conquests, the Qin state instituted new governmental policies.…”

“…Other reforms were meant to strengthen the Qin state by increasing its tax base, expanding its armies, and redirecting the loyalties and affiliations of all its constituents to a national identity, the Qin state (12,36). The reforms were fundamental and multifaceted, including diminishment of rituals associated with ancestor veneration, binding households into groups of five that were intended to share responsibility for each other's behavior, naming commoners, and placing greater expectations on farmers to join the military (33). Military prowess and governmental service became means for subaltern social mobility (33,36).…”

“…Qin governance was underpinned by, and in certain respects rejected, prior Zhou statecraft, including certain fundamental social contracts and moral codes (33). Although early texts state that the Qin rulers recognized that the world had changed with unification, their policies and practices were legitimized and guided by claims that the emperor was unique with godlike powers, destined for eternal life (36).…”