Read this excerpt about qin shi huang, the founder of the qin dynasty. then answer the question that follows. the qin dynasty lasted for a brief period of 15 years. emperor qin founded the empire by unifying all warring states. qin ruled with absolute control. he also added greatly to china’s progress. he started the construction on the great wall of china and the grand canal. he also had other roads built to boost china’s trade. what can be concluded about emperor qin shi huang’s governing methods? a. his rule lasted for only a short time because he became ill and died. b. he built the great wall to set an example for other governments. c. his rule ended after only 15 years because his army revolted against him. d. he used legalism to unify the empire of china. e. he believed that economic progress is the true mark of a successful empire.

Taking only the information of the fragment into consideration, the only thing that we can infer is that Qin Shi Huang believed that economic progress is the true mark of a successful empire. After all, the excerpt is stating that he added greatly to China’s progress and built roads to improve China’s trade, which mean he was concerned with the wealth of his empire.

On the other hand, the excerpt is not telling us the causes of his short rule; therefore, we can discard answers A and C. In addition, even though the excerpt is telling us he began the construction of the great wall, it does not state his reason for doing so; therefore, we can rule out Answer B. Last, we can rule out D because the excerpt is telling us he united China, but is not telling us the means he used.

Taking all of this into consideration, we can conclude that the answer is E.

sorry i cant