As we look back into the imperial ages of China, we can see many important people and factors that led to the rise and development of the first Chinese Empire. It was during the same period that Rome had established a major empire, the Qin and Han rulers of China took the same path and brought upon its first ever known empire. Qin Shi Huang, meaning “First Emperor of Qin” was the founder of the Qin dynasty. Unlike Qin Shi Huang, the founder of the Han dynasty “Liu Bang” was born a peasant that later became the emperor of the Han. Both the Qin and the Han had different social, cultural, and political views, but they were able to efficiently run their government using their own system. Legalism had its flaws leading the Qin to its downfall and Confucianism seemed to be more widely accepted by the people.
It all began with the state of Qin (221 B.C.E-206 B.C.E). After a long and devastating period of constant warfare, they were able to defeat all their rivals using sheer force unifying China once and for all adopting to a legalistic form of government. This
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They defeated the Qin dynasty and soon, the two leaders fought for the struggle of power. Coming to victor was Liu Bang as “he took the name of Gao Zu and became the Han dynasty emperor” (Elliot). The capital was moved to Chang An. Although Gao Zu kept the centralized government of the Qin, he implemented reforms and “Harsh Laws were canceled, taxes were sharply reduced, a and policy of laissez faire was adopted in an effort to promote economic recovery” (McKay 135). Under the leadership of Liu, the population had flourished to about 58 million people. The social latter consist of the emperor being at the top, followed by the kings who were distant relatives of the family clan with the name “Liu.” Nobles classified under the kings and then