From the historian's notes

Xianyang, 213 BCE

China · East Asia · winter 213 BCE · winter

What it was high

the capital of the first unified Chinese empire, swollen by the wealthy families the First Emperor moved here from the conquered statescapital of Qin since 350 BCE

That year

• The burning of the books: the Classic of Poetry, the Book of Documents and the histories of the conquered states are to be handed in and burned within thirty days. Books on medicine, divination and agriculture are spared, and so are Qin's own records 213 BCE highthe written past of six kingdoms
• Anyone who discusses the old poems and documents in private faces execution; anyone who keeps forbidden books past the deadline is branded and sent to labour on the walls 213 BCE highthe law in every household
• The next year, by tradition, some 460 scholars are put to death at the capital 212 BCE mediumthe sequel she already knows

Who held it high

the Qin empire, unified in 221 BCEthe First Emperor (Qin Shi Huang); his chancellor is Li Sione script, one set of weights and measures, one axle width for the whole empire; and this year, on Li Si's advice, the order to burn the books

Its name high

Xianyang (咸陽)Written in the small seal script that Li Si standardised for the empire; officials also write a quicker clerical hand

The date, there medium

the 34th year of the First Emperor's reignthe Qin calendar, whose year begins in the tenth monthWater clocks and drums mark the hours of the day.

Money medium

the Qin banliang bronze coingold by weight for large sumsunknown in retail terms

Weather medium

winter: cold and dry, frost at night, wind-blown loess dust

Things

Objectsbooks of bamboo strips bound with cord; banliang coins, round with a square hole; bronze weights inscribed with the unification edict; lacquerwareFoodmillet; wheat; pork and mutton; pickled vegetablesClothhemp for most people, silk for the rich; black, the dynasty's colourGetting aboutcarts built to the standard axle width; boats on the WeiIn the airwood smoke; loess dust; burning bamboo this winter

What she'd hear

Old Chinese as spoken in Qin; the newly uniform written script that everyone in the empire must now use.

Where she could stand

• the palace terraces on the north bank of the Wei — rammed-earth platforms carrying timber halls with tiled roofs
• the copied palaces — replicas of the palaces of each conquered state, built along the river as trophies
• a market under the new standards — stalls trading by the new uniform weights, paid in round coins with square holes
• the river crossing — boats and the bridge over the Wei

Researched for this card · confidence high