"Peasants are more sophisticated these days, " says Wang Qin, a math teacher in a Hubei village school.

CNN: LITTLE EMPERORS

Qin formed a centralized, autocratic government, built a nationwide network of roads and canals, standardized weights, measures and currency and formalized the written language.

CNN: ASIANOW - TIME Asia | Visions of China: Xi'an

Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Qin Gang said in a statement that China had always "actively balanced its work between the Syrian government and the opposition".

BBC: Syria crisis: China hosts Assad aide Bouthaina Shaaban

The crush of visitors has spawned a cottage industry of spinoffs, ranging from the Qin Army Hostel to Qin Army Powdered Milk.

CNN: ASIANOW - TIME Asia | Visions of China: Xi'an

Qin's dynasty was overthrown, however, just a few years after his death.

CNN: ASIANOW - TIME Asia | Visions of China: Xi'an

Qin Island, an aquaculture farm that is the closest to the June spills, has a lot to lose.

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Many of the control mechanisms perfected by the Qin had developed during the preceding 500 years or so of the Eastern Zhou dynasty when a host of small warring states across China began to coalesce.

ECONOMIST: Theories of history

Excavations showed the clay torsos were part of a legion of life-size terra-cotta soldiers and horses, deployed 22 centuries ago by the eccentric Emperor Qin Shihuang.

CNN: ASIANOW - TIME Asia | Visions of China: Xi'an