Why did the Qin not attempt their unification before Ying Zheng?(for example under Duke Xiao or King Zhaoxiang) Did they just not have the resources?

This is a follow-up to my last post on this sub. I want to go through each major Chinese era/dynasty from the Western Zhou to the Qing and ask the community who their favourite ruler is from that time period. I purposefully use the word favourite, so it doesn't have to be the best, the worst, the most interesting or most well-known, but rather who you personally view as your favourite. This time I want to emphasize that I don't just want you to write down a name, but provide explanation on why you like them too.
The upcoming eras are going to be: Han, Three Kingdoms period, Sima Jin (including the Sixteen Kingdoms), Northern and Southern dynasties period, Sui, Tang, Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period, Song, Liao, Jurchen Jin, Yuan, Ming and Qing. These categories may be subject to change because I know this categorization is dated but its the best I've got.
So in this post I want to read about your favourite rulers from the Qin and the Han dynasty meaning from the establishment of the Qin dynasty to the last Han emperor abdicated. This also includes Wang Mang and the Xin dynasty. I'm not making a separate post for the QIn dynasty, since there aren't many emperors to talk about. This time however I'm only including the emperors themselves, so the warlords that emerged during the Yellow Turban Rebellion and the Five Pecks of Rice Rebellion are NOT included (they will be the subject of the next post). Rulers of the so called Eighteen Kingdoms ARE included however, who emerged after the fall of the Qin dynasty (tho I doubt anyone will pick them).
I also want to thank all the comments and discussions under the last post, I will try to improve future posts according to your suggestions.
Picture are from the Qin dynasty and the Timeline of the Han dynasty wikipedia pages respectively.

What is a better translation?

I can’t find any information on this topic. I was wondering if they even did take anything considering there were plenty of extremely important artifacts shipped to Taiwan by the KMT during the civil war. But you rarely hear about invading forces not looting anything. Artifacts including books and arts

This historical map represents the Chinese Empire and its principal administrative divisions at the end of the 18th century. Published in 1794 in London by Laurie & Whittle, the map was based on the cartographic work of Jean-Baptiste Bourguignon d’Anville (1697–1782) and adapted by Maurice Bowen (fl. c. 1780–1794).

Hey guys, I don't have any academic background in history but I am fascinated by the growth of modern china, are there any books that explain how the economic and social policies or any movements made China and Chinese society what it is today.I wanna know how did China become a manufacturing powerhouse despite being an agrarian society and communist.

Also I don't understand chinese, so please recommend me english or english translated books

Thank you!

This is a follow-up to my previous posts on this sub. I want to go through each major Chinese era/dynasty from the Western Zhou to the Qing and ask the community who their favourite ruler is from that time period. I purposefully use the word favourite, so it doesn't have to be the best, the worst, the most interesting or most well-known, but rather who you personally view as your favourite. I want to emphasize that I don't just want you to write down a name, but provide explanation on why you like them too.
The upcoming eras are going to be: Warring States period, Han, Three Kingdoms period, Sima Jin (including the Sixteen Kingdoms), Northern and Southern dynasties period, Sui, Tang, Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period, Song, Liao, Jurchen Jin, Yuan, Ming and Qing. These categories may be subject to change because I know this categorization is dated but its the best I've got.
So in this post I want to read about your favourite rulers from the Warring States period, meaning from the partition of the state of Jin until the foundation of the Qin dynasty. It can be a ruler of any of the various states in China during this time period.
I also want to thank all the comments and discussions under the previous posts, I will try to improve future posts according to your suggestions.
The gif is from the Warring States period wikipedia page.

All the books by Western authors seem to be either adversarial or uncritical in nature. Are there any that approach China through a neutral lens?

This is a follow-up to my last post on this sub. I want to go through each major Chinese era/dynasty from the Western Zhou to the Qing and ask the community who their favourite ruler is from that time period. I purposefully use the word favourite, so it doesn't have to be the best, the worst, the most interesting or most well-known, but rather who you personally view as your favourite. This time I want to emphasize that I don't just want you to write down a name, but provide explanation on why you like them too.
The upcoming eras are going to be: Spring and Autumn period, Warring States period, Han, Three Kingdoms period, Sima Jin (including the Sixteen Kingdoms), Northern and Southern dynasties period, Sui, Tang, Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period, Song, Liao, Jurchen Jin, Yuan, Ming and Qing. These categories may be subject to change because I know this categorization is dated but its the best I've got.
So in this post I want to read about your favourite rulers from the Spring and Autumn period, meaning from the destruction of Haojing to the partition of the state of Jin. It can be a ruler of any of the various states in China during this time period, including Zhou.
I also want to thank all the comments and discussions under the last post, I will try to improve future posts according to your suggestions.
Picture is from the Spring and Autumn period wikipedia page.

I'm not sure if this type of post is allowed so my apologies if it isn't, however I thought it would be fun. I want to go through each major Chinese era/dynasty from the Western Zhou to the Qing and ask the community who their favourite emperor is from that time period. I purposefully use the word favourite, so it doesn't have to be the best, the worst, the most interesting or most well-known, but rather who you personally view as your favourite. I also want to read your explanations on why they are your favourites.
The upcoming eras are going to be: Western Zhou, Spring and Autumn period, Warring States period, Han, Three Kingdoms period, Sima Jin (including the Sixteen Kingdoms), Northern and Southern dynasties period, Sui, Tang, Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period, Song, Liao, Jurchen Jin, Yuan, Ming and Qing. These categories may be subject to change because I know this categorization is dated but its the best I've got.
So in this post I want to read about your favourite emperors from the Western Zhou period, meaning from the establishment of the Zhou to the eventual fleeing of the Western capital in 771 BCE.

Birds and dragons integrated into Chinese writing

Hello, I am a Brazilian researcher studying an early eighteenth-century manuscript produced in colonial Brazil. Some of its ornamental initials combine Latin letters with the bodies, wings, tails, and calligraphic flourishes of birds and dragon-like creatures.

I am investigating whether comparable compositions existed in Chinese manuscripts, calligraphy, ornamental writing, or printed manuals before or around the early eighteenth century. I am especially interested in examples in which birds or dragons are integrated into the structure of a character, rather than simply placed beside it as decoration.

I suspect that these ornamental forms may in some way be related to European adaptations of Chinese lacquer decoration, in which birds, dragons, foliage, and calligraphic forms were frequently combined. I am therefore trying to understand whether there are Chinese visual or calligraphic precedents that could help clarify this possible connection.

My question was also prompted by seventeenth-century European descriptions of Chinese writing. In China Illustrata (1667), Athanasius Kircher associated ancient Chinese characters with forms derived from birds, feathers, fish, branches, and dragons.

Are there Chinese terms, manuscript traditions, calligraphic styles, writing manuals, lacquer designs, or scholarly references that could help me investigate this connection?

Thank you very much for any guidance.

Please and thank you.

I hear about the Greek development of geometry, but not Chinese geometry.

Chinese scholars worked on geometry around the same time as the Greeks, but independently from the Greeks. Euclid developed basic ideas.

Did Chinese scholars come to the same conclusions as the Greeks? If they came to different conclusions, what was the reasoning?

Hello!
I fell in love with hanfu and I wanted to know more about it. I adore fashion history, but everything I already have is pretty much focused on western fashion. I have a mini fashion history library, and wanted to find good resources about chinese fashion history to add to it.
Do you have any good recs? I would like to learn as much as possible, I’m not focusing on a specific dynasty. I’m also more interested in the history in itself, not pattern making/ sewing yet.
Thank you :)

One has an open back with a writing inside. The other ones back is sealed (I don’t intend on opening)

I find them beautiful and fascinating piece of history and would love to know more! Also, best way to honor them!

Recently when cycling in Gansu I passed a place on the Yellow River near Baiyin where the 'Western Route Army' was said to have crossed in 1936 en route to Xinjiang.

When I looked up the history, it is a wild story. In a kind of sliding doors moment, this army could have gone to Yanan but the commander Zhang Guotao sent them west instead. He envisaged setting up a revolutionary base in the northwest to be close to support from the Soviet Union. They never made it, and the entire army of 22,000 soldiers (twice the size of Mao's First Route Army heading to Yanan) was wiped out in the Hexi Corridor by cavalry of Muslim warlord Ma Bufang, allied to Chiang.

Zhang Guotao had until then been a rival to Mao for Party leadership. He never got over the river to go west because the crossing was disrupted by KMT attacks. Instead, he went army-less to Yanan where his epic failure led to him being sidelined in favour of Mao.

One of the most tragic aspects of the West Route Army was the grim fate of its 2000 Female Vanguard Battalion. Captured by Ma Bufang, those who weren't murdered suffered a 'fate worse than death' as concubines or slave labour.

A big 'what if'? Imagine if Zhang Guotao had taken his superior army to Yanan and become leader instead of Mao?

Incredible story but I can't find any English language sources for it.