378 Qin (Ch’in) dynasty Thousands of terra-cotta soldiers were buried with Emperer Qin, who died in 210 b.c.e Life-sized terra-cotta figures of warriors and horses were arranged in battle formations and are said to have distinct facial features, as if each one were modeled on a real figure descendants would only need a numeral to distinguish them, for example, as the second emperor The first emperor and Li Si were responsible for changing the course of China They extended many of Qin state’s reforms to the whole country, abolishing feudalism and organizing the empire into a number of commanderies (provinces) and subdividing them into counties This system persists to the present No office except that of the ruling house would be hereditary, and all officials would be appointed by the central government and promoted or demoted on merit All serfs were freed Standardization was their watchword and was applied to the width of roads, weights and measures, laws, coinage, and even the written script Thought was also controlled Only Legalism could be taught, all other philosophies were banned, and all books except technical ones and the history of the house of Qin were to be burned (only one copy of all banned books were to be kept in the imperial library, accessible to officials alone) The emperor had 460 scholars buried alive for opposing him and had his eldest son, the crown prince, banished to duty along the Great Wall of China for having defended them The first emperor also embarked on massive construction projects He ordered General Meng Tian (Meng T’ien) to connect existing walls into one Great Wall to guard against the Xiongnu (Hsiung-nu) nomads A network of roads were built to facilitate troop movements, likewise a system of canals to connect the lower Yangtze Valley with Guangzhou (Canton) in the south to transport troops and supplies for their conquest of southern China and present-day northern Vietnam Xianyang became a grand capital with sumptuous palaces and residences, and outside the city a massive mausoleum was built as his resting place The first emperor died suddenly in 210 b.c.e., and his will designated the exiled crown prince as successor However, Li Si and chief eunuch Zhao Gao (Chao Kao) changed the will, ordered the crown prince and Meng Tian to commit suicide (which they did) and installed a weakling younger prince as second emperor Zhao Gao then had both Li Si and the second emperor killed