Lord Shang Yang introduced two political reforms to the state of Qin in the Warring States Period (475-221BC).

Shang Yang was born in an aristocrat family in the state of Wei. In 356BC, he was appointed governor to introduce the first political reform to reward faring and weaving, abolish hereditary privileges of the nobility and encourage farming and fighting for the country, set up a unitary administrative system down to household registration at the grass roots.

Shang Yang carried the reform in strict terms and when the son of the emperor violated laws, his teacher got punished. In such a way he told people to be law-abiding, and political reform achieved great success.

The first reform brought rapid development to the state of Qin. Two years later, the capital was shifted to Xianyang and the second political reform was then introduced to establish the political system of county in which China was divided into 31 counties, to abolish the nine-square system and make land private, and unify weights and measures, thus laying the foundations for the state of Qin to become strong and eventually unify China for the first time in history.