In 221 BCE the state of Qin vanquished its rivals and established the first empire on Chinese soil, starting a millennium-long imperial age in Chinese history. This book integrates textual sources with archeological and paleographic materials, providing a boldly novel picture of Qin's cultural and political trajectory.
"A major contribution to the study of early China. This is the first book-length work to gather and present many of the most important archaeological and paleographic finds related to Qin, and to systematically lay out the way in which these new materials-as well as new readings of old materials-overthrow the conventional treatment of Qin that has survived since the late Western Han. It presents a huge amount of new evidence and interpretations that totally change our understanding."-Mark Edward Lewis, Stanford University
"A truly outstanding work. Thorough and readable, the essays in this volume provide an excellent overview of current thinking on the nature and legacy of the Qin state. It will be an invaluable resource for scholars of early history and archaeology in a wide variety of cultural contexts."-Michael Puett, Harvard University
