Han China and Imperial Rome During the period of 206 B.C.E to 220 C.E in Han China and 31 B.C.E to 476 C.E in Imperial Rome many similarities and differences in political control occurred during the classical period. Although both Imperial Rome and Han China controlled large portions of the world’s population and use a bureaucracy as political control they also had differences within that held power and what they based their belief of power on or who it should be controlled by. Both Han China and Imperial Rome controlled a large portion of the world’s population and produced political and cultural legacies that extended to modern day society. They used bureaucracy as a form of political control which is a delegation of power in government. Military played a major role in there rise and fall of their political structure.
In India, however, there was no social mobility due to their religion of Hinduism. In the religion of Hinduism, society was based on the caste system. The caste system allowed the civilization to have a strong society without the need of an over-powerful government. The lack of social mobility is based on the values of the teachings of Hinduism; that one can only be raised in caste if he had good karma. Both of these civilizations
Documents 1 and 5 neither encourage nor discourage the religion’s spread, but provide a different perspective on how it should be dealt with. An additional document that shows the actual numbers of converts to Buddhism during this time, would be useful in determining whether or not the worries of the authors in documents against Buddhism were grounded. Documents 2 and 3 defend and support the spread of Buddhism in China during first century C.E. Document 2 speaks of the many joys of joining the Buddhist religion. However, the author, Zho Dan, is of the upper class of China and as such, his testimony do not tell how lower classes felt.
Despite the similarities, each ancient civilization had differences that helped them become the great civilizations we study today. China was united under a single ruler for the majority of its time, while India was unable to be united until the Mauryan and Gupta dynasties rose to power. They both had economic differences too. For example, India had better access to trade and more things easily available to trade. The two civilizations also experienced social differences, like India had a very strong caste system, and China valued its peasants more than India.
Confucianism and Buddhism both had very different outcomes but both had the same intentions to help their society during the time of chaos. Both of them mostly focused on the government and gender to help their society because they both thought it was the right thing to do. Around 500 B.C. the beliefs of Buddhism and Confucianism both spread to the Eastern parts of Asia and China, and they both impacted the way society worked. Both beliefs originated due to the unrest in each of their societies.
This essay explicates compares and contrasts the methods of control between these two Empires. Both of these empires had central rulers to whom issues were addressed. The Han had an emperor as their central leader, and the Mauryan/Gupta India had a King as its central leader. The leadership system ensured that decisions were made at a central place for the general control of the empires. The leaders were respected and had people who reported to the on goings of the empire.
India is the home land for both Hinduism and Buddhism. Both religions existed during the Gupta Empire. Buddhism then expanded into Asia, and China; Hinduism expanded to southern India. Hinduism and Buddhism seek enlightenment, reincarnation, karma and have a social status hierarchy. There are many similarities but the differences in the way beliefs are practiced make them very different religions overall.
He had great respect for them. Sepúlveda, on the other hand, had no respect for the Natives. Sepúlveda also described the Natives as being unable to govern the state as well as not being able to be educated. Unlike both Ricci and Las Casas who describe the Chinese and Natives as being highly
Religion affected the way a lot of Chinese people thought, and knowing what the view on technology was from a Confucianist would have changed the way I looked at some of the documents. Documents 3,4, and 8 praise the growing use of technology in the world during the Han and Roman Empire. Document 3 clearly admires how much improvement has come out of simple tool. Huan Tan could have seen technology as a negative influence on the upper classes, but he saw it as an efficient way of completing tasks. Document 4 praises the way that technology is helping the people of the empire.
Another difference was that Buddhism did not attempt to force people into converting. In the Christian religion, popes tried forcing people into converting and the religion became very unethical and corrupt. The last difference between the two religions would be that Buddhism was spread by monks