Final answer:
Qin Shi Huang unified China through Legalist policies that standardized various aspects of society, displaced aristocrats, and created a merit-based bureaucracy. Advisor Shang Yang was instrumental in implementing these changes, which included a focus on commoners and detailed population control for governance.
Step-by-step explanation:
Qin Shi Huang, known as the first Emperor of China, took several transformative steps to ensure the unification of China. He implemented policies based on Legalism, which centralized power and fostered unity. One of his significant moves was to standardize the writing system, currency, weights and measures, and laws, which mitigated regional differences and bolstered a sense of common identity. Also, by displacing defeated aristocrats and imposing a meritocratic bureaucracy, he diminished the power of the feudal lords and reduced the chances of regional revolts. Forced migration to the capital for these families ensured their loyalties, and officials were kept in check through strict accountability measures.
Advisor Shang Yang played a crucial role by institutionalizing these reforms, focusing on meritocracy and creating a bureaucracy that relied on commoners rather than nobility. The creation of commoners who served as soldiers and laborers strengthened the Qin state's ability to sustain a large army and to increase agricultural productivity. Qin Shi Huang's regime relied on detailed population registers for taxation and labor conscription, which provided an impressive level of control over the populace.
Qin Shi Huang sought to erase the past and position himself as the central figure in a new historical narrative by ordering the burning of classical texts and burying Confucian scholars alive, signaling a dramatic break with the past and the consolidation of his power.