section_path: Reign as Emperor of Qin/Economic reforms
section_name: Economic reforms
paragraph_text: Economic reforms
  
  Qin Shi Huang and Li Si unified China economically by standardizing the weights and measurements. Wagon axles were prescribed a standard length to facilitate road transport. The emperor also developed an extensive network of roads and canals for trade and communication. The currencies of the different states were standardized to the Ban Liang coin. The forms of Chinese characters were unified. Under Li Si, the seal script of the state of Qin became the official standard, and the Qin script itself was simplified through removal of variant forms. This did away with all the regional scripts to form a universal written language for all of China, despite the diversity of spoken dialects.