Qin was a minor power for the first several centuries of its existence; its strength greatly increased in the 4th century BC, in large part owing to the administrative and military reforms of Shang Yang. They sought to create a strong, centralised state and a large army supported by a stable economy, which were developed in the Qin homeland and implemented across China following its unification. Reforms included the standardisation of currency, weights, measures, and the writing system, along with innovations in weaponry, transportation and military tactics. The central government sought to undercut aristocrats and landowners and administer the peasantry directly, who comprised the vast majority of the population. This enabled numerous large-scale construction projects involving the labour of hundreds of thousands of peasants and convictswhich included the connection of walls along the northern border into would eventually become the Great Wall of China, a large national road system, and the city-sized Mausoleum of Qin Shi Huang guarded by the life-sized Terracotta Army. The state possessed an unprecedented capacity to transform the environment through the management of people and land; as a result, Qin's rise has been characterised as one of the most important events in East Asian environmental history.
Qin was a minor power for the first several centuries of its existence; its strength greatly increased in the 4th century BC in large part owing to the administrative and military reforms of Shang Yang They sought to create a strong centralised state and a large army supported by a stable economy which were developed in the Qin homeland and implemented across China following its unification Reforms included the standardisation of currency weights measures and the writing system along with innovations in weaponry transportation and military tactics The central government sought to undercut aristocrats and landowners and administer the peasantry directly who comprised the vast majority of the population This enabled numerous large-scale construction projects involving the labour of hundreds of thousands of peasants and convictswhich included the connection of walls along the northern border into would eventually become the Great Wall of China a large national road system and the city-sized Mausoleum of Qin Shi Huang guarded by the life-sized Terracotta Army The state possessed an unprecedented capacity to transform the environment through the management of people and land; as a result Qin's rise has been characterised as one of the most important events in East Asian environmental history