Qín

The Qín culture is the people of Guanzhong, the Wei River plain within the mountain passes of central Shaanxi. This was the heartland of the state of Qin, whose fourth-century BCE reforms made it the strongest of the Warring States and whose ruler took the title Qin Shi Huang, first emperor, in 221 BCE; the Han and Tang dynasties kept their capitals at Chang'an in the same plain.

The Ming captured the region in 1369, named its chief city Xi'an and made it the seat of Shaanxi province; a new city wall was raised in 1370. In 1556 the deadliest earthquake in recorded history struck Huaxian: some 100,000 people died at once and the registered population fell by 830,000 through famine, plague and flight.

In 1644 Li Zicheng proclaimed his Shun dynasty at Xi'an before marching on Beijing, and Qing armies entered the plain the next year. Its Guanzhong speech is a branch of Central Plains Mandarin.