The Qin Dynasty comes right after the Warring States Period. This was the first time that China had one central government. A united country was first established here. The word emperor was created and the power was given to the position. The emperor became the most significant person in the whole nation. The person who established all these was Ying Zheng, or better known as Qin Shihuang or the First Emperor of China.

When Qin Shihuang became the emperor of his land, the Xiongnu, a tribe to the North of China became strong and powerful. The Xiongnu was a strong nation. They specialized in fighting. They were nomadic people who were also intrepid and doughty. For centuries, the Chinese people suffered from the continual attacks from the North with the Xiongnu being one of the leading tribes. No one wanted his land to be lost. Qin Shihuang was of no exception. He feared that the land that he conquered with so much effort would be gradually conquered by the Xiongnu after his death. He grew anxious and commanded one general, Mengtian, to construct the Great Wall.

Mengtian carried out his job with three hundred thousand workers. More people were later forced to join the unpaid labour. To build the wall was an extremely difficult task. The workers had to fight against their physical limits such as carrying heavy weights up the mountains. They also needed to endure the harsh climates with their tattered and torn clothing. It was not only the workers who bore the burden, their family members did not have a good time, too. Thousands of workers died along the Great Wall and their family members were not informed. Their anxiety for them was therefore undoubtedly sustained. Therefore, the Great Wall is also dubbedd the Longest Graveyard on Earth.

This made Qin Shihuang a very unpopular emperor among the peasants. He was not welcomed by the people. Shortly after his death, rebellions started and the emperor was inevitably overthrown. However, the fall of the dynasty was not entirely on the Great Wall. So the wall should not take the blame as many other structures were built under the command of Qin Shihuang at that time. The construction of all the structures led to one major part of the fall of the dynasty.

The Great Wall of China took ten long years to be completed. What Mengtian did was not to construct every part of the Great Wall. Instead, he connected the walls built by the different states in the Warring States Period, to accomplish the mission of building the greatest defense system in ancient China. Soldiers were stationed along the sections of the wall to guard the northern territory of China. Thousands of people were moved to the nearby towns of the wall to settle down there so as to populate the area.

Warring States Qin Dynasty Han Dynasty N. & S. Dynasties

Tang Dynasty Song Dynasty Yuan Dynasty Ming Dynasty Qing Dynasty