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Primary sourceArtifactQin Dynasty (221-206 BCE)

Stone Slab with Twelve Qin Seal Characters

Qin Dynasty (221-206 BCE)

A photograph of a Qin-era floor brick carved with twelve seal-script characters. The text states that the country is united and that no one is starving.

Shows the small seal script standardized under the First Emperor and a message of imperial unity and success.

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Square stone slab divided into a grid of twelve carved boxes, each containing a bold incised seal-script character in a 3 by 4 arrangement on a grey-brown stone surface, lit warmly from one side.
Editor at Large, Stone slab with twelve Qin seal characters, exhibit photograph, 2007. Wikimedia Commons.

About this source

What it is

This is a cropped exhibit photograph, taken in 2007, of a square stone slab divided into twelve carved boxes. Each box holds one bold incised seal-script character, arranged in three columns by four rows. The text reads 海内皆臣，歲登成熟，道毋飢人.

Why it matters

The exhibit notes say the twelve characters affirm that the moment is auspicious for the First Emperor to ascend the throne, because the country is united and no men will be dying along the road. The notes also say that small seal script was standardized by the First Emperor after he gained control of the country, evolving from the larger seal scripts of earlier dynasties. The slab therefore shows both the script of his time and the message the state wanted to send about its own success.

Look closer

  • Which claims in the text are about the state, and which are about ordinary people?
  • Why would a government carve a message like this into a building material?
  • What does this photograph leave out, such as who read the text and where the slab was placed?

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