China's dynasties, the steppe empires and the states of Korea and Japan built one of the world's densest political histories. These articles cover the unification of Qin, the Han and their neighbours, and the Mongol conquests that tied East Asia to the rest of Eurasia.
In 227 BC the assassin Jing Ke hid a poisoned dagger in a map scroll — but the King of Qin tore his sleeve, circled a pillar, and survived. How he escaped.
· 227 BCKing of Qin at thirteen, he survived Jing Ke's dagger, conquered six kingdoms, then unified China's script, coins, and measures as the First Emperor.
· 221 BCThe mighty Han Empire began weak: in 200 BC Emperor Gaozu was besieged by the Xiongnu at Mount Baideng, and Han bought peace (heqin) with silk, wine, grain, and a royal bride paid every year.
· 200 BCIn 138 BC the Han envoy Zhang Qian was sent west to ally with the Yuezhi against the Xiongnu, was captured and held over ten years, never gave up his staff of office, and returned after 13 years — his knowledge of the west laid the first foundation of the Silk Road.
· 138 BCSentenced to death for defending the general Li Ling, Han historian Sima Qian chose castration over execution so he could survive and complete the Shiji (Records of the Grand Historian), 130 scrolls that became the foundation of Chinese historiography.
· 99 BCNot numbers but a war machine: speed, decimal discipline, and absorbed siege tech built history's largest land empire — about twice the size of Rome.
· 1206History's largest land empire began not with an army but with a trade caravan: the Otrar massacre of ~450 merchants and the killing of Genghis Khan's envoys triggered the invasion of Khwarazm — an empire about twice the size of Rome.
· 1206The largest empire in history was not Rome. By contiguous land, the 13th-century Mongol Empire — some 24 million km² from the East Sea to Eastern Europe — was the biggest ever, though the British Empire was larger by non-contiguous total.
· 1279