SEAL OF EVIL

Appendix III Historical Background
1. The Warring States Period
The Warring States Period lasted for over 250 years from 475 to 221
BC. During this time China was composed of seven different major
states each named after a pre-dominant family. The seven states were
Qi, Chu, Han, Zhao, Wei, Yan and Qin.
As the name of the period suggests it was a time of almost continuous
brutal wars sometimes lasting months, sometimes lasting years. In the
famous Battle of Changping more than 400, 000 Zhao troops ran out of
weapons and food and surrendered to the Qin army. Their fate was to
be buried alive on the orders of the Qin General, Bai Qi. Even today
the battlefield at Changping is covered with the white bones of those
killed.
One of the pre-eminent philosophers of the Warring States period,
Mencius, said of the cruelty of war at this time “After a battle for
seizing territory, the battlefield would be strewn with corpses. After a
battle for taking a city the city would be littered with dead bodies.”
But it was not only wars that terrorized the people during this time but
also the absurd rivalry between the states which was capable of
causing great hardship and suffering. Examples of this rivalry would
be the use of neighbor’s fields as drains, fighting for water from the
Yellow River during periods of drought and breaking the dykes and
flooding their neighbors when the River was full.
In the early years the Qin state was quite weak and wasn’t even invited
to meetings between the states to conclude treaties. In 356 BC Duke
Xiao of Qin authorized the statesman Shan Yang to launch reform in
126