秦朝

(RO: shinchō; PR: "shin-cho")
The period of Chinese history from 221 to 206 BCE. China first became a unified nation at this time.

The tomb of the emperor of this period is famously guarded by the Terracotta Army. From the point of view of calligraphy, this period was important because the emperor ordered the standardization of many aspects of daily life, including weights, measures, and the characters used for writing. This period also saw the development of a new style of writing: an elegant form of tensho (篆書) known as shōten (小篆). Known in English as the "Qin dynasty."