Qin "Ordinance on Fields" of 309 BC and Emergence of Ancient Chinese Empire
The article considers the “ordinance on fields” of 309 BC, being one of the key documents concerning the Qin state land reform during the Warring States period, against the background of the Qin conquest of Sichuan Depression. I focus on the analysis of the archaeological and transmitted written evidence on the Qin colonization of Sichuan and concomitant administrative and economic transformations. Sichuan is compared with other regions incorporated into the Qin state, to arrive at some generalizations about the methods and historical dynamics of territorial control in the ancient Chinese empires.