# Qin Shi Huang Qin Shi Huang (259–210 BCE) conquered the warring states and declared himself the First Emperor of a unified China in 221 BCE, founding the Qin Dynasty. Governing by Legalism — rule through strict, impersonal law and total centralization — he abolished the old aristocracy, standardized writing, weights, measures, and currency, linked the early Great Wall fortifications, and was buried with the Terracotta Army, all at enormous human cost (the forced labor, book-burning, and repression that made his regime brittle). As one of history's purest examples of the strongman-unifier who imposes order by force, Qin Shi Huang is an East Asian analogue to the Roman [[Caesarism]] archetype, invoked admiringly in some authoritarian and tech-right currents (alongside [[Neoreaction]]) that prize decisive, high-capacity autocracy over democratic gridlock. See [[Antiquity in Right-Wing Thought Hub]]. ## See also [[Caesarism]] · [[Neoreaction]] · [[Antiquity in Right-Wing Thought Hub]]