# Standard English scholarly narrative records Qin’s 221 BCE unification of the Warring States

Date: 1958

## The fact

Modern standard accounts, including museum and encyclopedia narratives current by the late 1950s–present, record that in 221 BCE the state of Qin extinguished the last rival Warring States and proclaimed a new imperial order under Zheng as [Qin Shi Huang](/people/qin-shi-huang).

## Context

Warring States politics ended in a monopoly of force. Commanderies replaced many hereditary fiefs. The welfare meaning is mixed: less interstate war among the seven, more extractive imperial labour. Those are split across Facts.

Qin Shi Huang is not the sole author of every later object, law, or museum label that uses the name. Shared work with courts, excavators, printers, spouses, officials, and later states does not erase a documented role, and it does not make an ancient person the signer of a twentieth-century statute.

## Evidence and sources

Met Heilbrunn and Britannica independently narrate 221 BCE unification. Shiji is the ancient narrative source, not a 221 file.

Official or archival record: Met Heilbrunn — Qin dynasty (https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/qind/hd_qind.htm; Metropolitan Museum of Art).

## Significance

Power-concentration path. Medium confidence on welfare sign, high on the political event in the received record.

Do not treat a 1958–present encyclopedia sentence as a newly found bamboo slip. Do not deny unification because the slip is missing.

## What is established and what is not

Established: received history records 221 BCE Qin unification under the First Emperor.

What would change the picture: a contradictory original with a different date or name, or a measured series that can be argued, with lag and alternatives, as a consequence of this instrument rather than of later institutions.

The date is the date of this instrument, not a licence to back-date every later harm or benefit.

## People

- Qin Shi Huang: https://factrail.ai/people/qin-shi-huang

## Drivers

- Democratic Resilience: https://factrail.ai/drivers/democratic-resilience

## Sources

- https://www.britannica.com/biography/Qin-Shi-Huang
- https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/qind/hd_qind.htm

## Methodology

https://factrail.ai/methodology

Canonical: https://factrail.ai/facts/cn-qin-unification-recorded-shiji