For example, Huan Tan, an upper-class Han philosopher wrote in New Discourses (Document III) of an emperor of myth inventing and refining the pestle and mortar for all people. This emperor even went so far as to introduce hydropower to greater aid people in the use of these new tools he had brought to the world. The fact that this Chinese philosopher attributes this to a mythical creation shows that innovation is important culturally to the views of the Han in terms of innovation. An example of the Romans’ appreciation of innovation is given by Frontinus in Document VIII. Frontinius, a Roman general, and the water commissioner for the city of Rome.
Zhang’s travels and reports not only gave the Chinese the advantage of having a more knowledgeable and powerful dynasty against the Xiongnu, but it also paved the way for the beginnings of the Silk Road. The reason for Zhang Qian’s movement west to find allies was because of the Xiongnu’s threat to the Chinese. With the Xiongnu’s enemy, the Yue-Chi, out of the picture, the Xiongnu raided and stole from the Chinese Empire. Needing help fighting the Xiongnu, Zhang Qian was initially sent to make an alliance with the Yue-Chi (Yuezhi), where he ran into many different lands, people and customs, but upon reaching the Yue-Chi, they refused to form the alliance. The Yue-Chi people were happy with their peace, and rich and fertile land.
This bond lead to Roman citizens to be much more supportive of people, and created an organized society. This way of living lead Rome’s government to being more politically strengthened and less centralized. Han China and Imperial Rome differed in their way of selecting political leaders, but both empires had someone in power to watch over their empires. The Mandate of Heaven and divinity from nature applied when choosing the Han China emperor. Throughout the tears, emperors were chosen from heredity genes.
Wu worked to increase authority and prestige of the central government. Bureaucrats made up 0.2 percent of China's population, Wu made the bureaucrats pass an examination. He also made a school to train men for the examinations. Also, Han China was based on classes. On the other hand Imperial Rome's ruler, Julius Caesar fought for respect.
Emperor Wu was one of the longest reigning emperors in Chinese history, ruling from 141- 87 B.C.E., partly due to his ingenious ideas and austere policies that he implemented during his time as ruler. Emperor Wu quickly discovered that the cost of running a large empire and army was exorbitant and came up with policies to help fund them. Responding to popular demands for lower taxes, Wu lowered duties for the people and in its place he erected dozens of iron foundries and salt mines that he monopolized. (Comegna, 2016). As a result, prices for these commodities escalated and led to populace unrest and calls for the policies to be abolished.
This had a massive impact on the country as it had successfully stopped civil and political unrest which had previously been threating the harmony of the country. As it had been seen as a progressive force on behalf of ordinary people it received strong support from peasants and workers alike throughout the country. It also proved to the country that Chiang was an able diplomat resulting in higher public support. Nevertheless they were unsuccessful in entirely removing the warlords which meant there was always a constant threat of the warlords reforming and taking power once more. Although there failure of completely vanquishing the warlords there can be little doubt that Chiang was fairly successful in solving this domestic problem and the effects it would have on the country as it is probably that without him stabilising the political and social unrest civil war would have broken out in the country much early than it did.
This document shows how technology was used to benefit the people and spare their labor. Document six describes second-century roman political leader Gaius Gracchus and how he cared about road building he made sure beauty, accuracy, and convenience were all factors in his road building. Document eight, from a roman general, explains how the aqueducts reach the city at different levels. The wealth of water is satisfactory for the public and private use and even for pleasure and is spread to different regions. All four of these documents show how technology was used to abridge and improve the lives of the people.
The Imperial Civil Service Exams The civil service system grew into a mature form and most government officials had to take exams in order to get into the civil service. To avoid the problems the Tang government faced, the Northern Sung made the military subordinate to the civil government. Every aspect of government and society was dominated by the civil government. The civil service test was expanded so that the government would attract many young talents to work for the government. The origins of the exam system lie in the Han period, but the early scholarly examinations were consolidated during the Sui period, and began to be truly effective under the Tang Dynasty.
Particularly during the Song dynasty, an explosion of scholarship gave rise to Neo-Confucianism-an effort to revive Confucian thinking while incorporating into it some of the insights of Buddhism and Daoism. Politically the Tang and Song dynasties built a state structure that endured for a thousand year. Six major ministries -personnel, finance, rites, army, justice, and public works-were accompanies by the Censorate, an agency that exercised surveillance over the rest of the government, checking on the character and competence of public officials. To staff this bureaucracy, the examination system was revived and made more elaborate, encouraged by the ability to print books for the first time in world history. At first to prevent cheating on the exams included searching candidates entering the examinations whole and placing numbers rather than names on their papers.
While it originated in Europe, it didn't take long for the ideology to be passed on to other parts of the world, such as Central America. The first form of change came from the Bourbon Reforms in 1750. The house of bourbon consisted of France, Italy, and Spain. It ultimately changed the fiscal, economic, and political structure of Central America. The most important change as it was always the main cause of suppression was the economic reforms that were implemented to the people, in addition to that, the change came with the implementation of state monopolies on liquor and tobacco in order to keep the items out of the contraband trade and increase government revenue.