The Construction of Territories in the Qin Empire

Abstract

This essay revisits the territoriality of the Qin empire by examining the spatial division underneath its commandery-county system. With the universal implementation of centralized administration, scholars usually believe that the Qin empire exerted strong control across its territories. But new Qin sources suggest otherwise. It is evident that the Qin regime devised multiple schemes to structure its empire into three concentric zones with asymmetrical political relations. The respective features and functions of these zones were consonant with those of the center, semiperiphery, and periphery in the “core-periphery” model. The regime’s spatial strategy can be understood as a compromise made to accommodate the diverse landscape in different parts of its vast empire, especially in the newly conquered regions. This reminds us that despite having installed the unitary commandery-county system, the territorial control wielded by the Qin regime in its new territories was tenuous at best.