A Political Ecology of the Qin Empire

The state-strengthening reforms of the Warring States period (481-221 BCE) gave the Qin government direct control over the exploitation of land and labor, allowing it for the first time to affect the ecology of large regions. This paper uses newly excavated administrative documents to analyze the Qin state during the reign of the first emperor (246-210 BCE) in order to understand the ecological consequences of this new political system. Qin reorganized the agrarian landscape into standardized plots, established state management of forests and wetlands, and encouraged both the expansion and the intensification of agriculture. In addition to funding large-scale wars and imperial vanity projects like the terracotta army, it employed the surplus food and labor of the population to build roads, canals and dikes. Although Qin’s sudden collapse revealed the flaws in its system, its centralized bureaucratic model of governance has survived for over two millennia, playing a central role in the almost complete replacement of China’s natural ecosystems with anthropogenic ones.

Part of the Environmental China series.