Qin Unification of Script (Small Seal Script)

Timeline

1. -400–-222States of the Central Plains · ChinaThe scripts of the seven major Warring States and various small states differed greatly in character forms, radicals, and writing styles; official documents, covenant texts, and inscriptions could not easily be mutually understood, and a unified empire urgently needed a standardized script.
2. -221Xianyang · Guanzhong PlainQin Shi Huang ordered 'unified script,' abolishing the variant forms of the six states based on the Qin script and establishing a national official writing standard; alongside 'unified axle widths' and 'uniform standards,' this became an imperial unification policy.
3. -220–-210Throughout the Qin Empire · ChinaLi Si and others oversaw the standardization of the Qin script, forming the rounded, even small seal script used for edicts, inscribed steles, and official documents; in everyday popular writing, the simpler clerical script gradually came into parallel use.
4. -206–-200Guanzhong and the Central Plains · ChinaAfter the fall of Qin, small seal script continued as the formal script inherited by the early Han; Qin inscribed steles and inscriptions on weights and measures became important material evidence for later identification of the Qin policy of unified script.