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Over in the east, by 400 BC, the multitude of separate states in present-day China had been consolidated into thirteen, and for the next 175 years they fell into a protracted struggle referred to as ‘the Warring States Period’. The state that emerged as the strongest, partially thanks to its use of iron over the bronze weapons of its neighbours, was the western Chou state of Qin (pronounced Ch’in) from which, some have suggested, we get the name China.
The leader who brought all these states together, and in effect became the first emperor of China in 221 BC, was named Shi Huang-Ti. Emperor Shi Huang-Ti gained a terrible reputation, ruthlessly crushing any resistance to his rule. He also instigated the building of the Great Wall of China19 – the largest man-made structure in the world at over 6,000 km long – in order to protect his empire from the Huns, the same people that would attack the West several hundred years later. Obsessed with immortality and fearing retribution by the spirits of all those he had killed, Shi Huang-Ti ensured that he was buried with over 6,000 terracotta warriors to protect him in the afterlife.
As a result of his cruelty, the Qin Dynasty was rapidly overthrown after his death and the Han Dynasty ruled China for the following 400 years.20 This was a time of peace that witnessed Confucianism – a way of life expounded by Confucius and his followers since the 6th century BC – adopted as the state philosophy. It was during the Han Dynasty that the great trade route of the Silk Road was established, a route that saw Asia trading silk and other luxuries with Persia and India, and with a new empire that was gaining ground in the west – an empire which would grow by conquest and assimilation to rule the western world: Rome.