Qin Huang Di was a brutal emperor that dictated all of china and outlawed other religions. He highly disapproved all teachings of Confucianism and discarded most history before him. However he was a good emperor overall because he did things mostly for his country to live on. Qin Huang Di improved china’s infrastructure by making vast networks of roads, canals and bridges throughout China. This helped with trading and traveling.
Mao adapted Communist ideas to China and he followed in Joseph Stalin’s footsteps by abusing his power and crippling the Chinese in fear with his totalitarian rule. In this essay I will be exploring the factors contributing to one of the biggest disputes in historical knowledge. Was Mao Zedong’s role in achieving communism genuine or has it been exaggerated and morphed by the Asian populations living under absolute despotism. “Idealism is no panacea in a totalitarian regime.” 1 - Quoted by a 20th century philosopher. It wasn’t said about Mao however it adapts to his ideas and aspirations.
Granted in both dynasties neither ruler could make a decision on his own because the views and ideas of their highly appointed officials had to be considered in most cases. Although, if the Emperor didn’t like the way an office was being run, he had the power to simply replace that individual by any method necessary. Similar to the Ottoman Empire as well was the hierarchy of Qing China. The Emperor ruled absolutely but presided over a number of ministries that
The Imperial secretary Sang Hongyang declares “abolition of these measures is not expedient.” This statement means that Legalists believe the policies are necessary to keep the empire running and that it is not practical to abolish them, for then the treasuries would be depleted and funding for defense for the soldiers would be obsolete. Then he goes on to explain how “equitable marketing” was established and how it contributes to their country. Before this system, the people would send respective products as tributes to support the country, but the Legalists think that people are untrustworthy and should be governed by laws to force them to do good. They came up with this set of laws, i.e. setting up transportation offices, forcing the people to send their goods to these places because the government did not trust the quality of the products sent from the people.
He also worked with standardizing the Chinese system of script as he removed variant forms within the Qin script. The new script was made official throughout all the conquered regions, allowing China to form one language and communication system for all of China. With Qin Shi Huangdi’s amendments to Chinese monetary coinage, weights, measurement, and system of writing, he was able to standardise their various ways to one common structure, bringing unity to China as a whole as a successful ruler. Anything to do with Confucianism was a serious crime. Under Qin Shi Huangdi’s rule, many existing books were burnt.
Since he was an autocratic ruler, revolts had stopped and reform was only made through the state. He hired bureaucrats from outside of the aristocracy in order to increase the power of the state. The bureaucrats were under looked after by secret police. This reformation influenced changes in politics, economics and culture. Western principles were copied in the organization of the bureaucracy and military.
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.
While both the Chinese and Roman empires conquered other lands, the Romans were more humane towards their conquered subjects. The Romans’ humane behavior towards conquered subjects led to more internal stability and also a lower chance of revolt. Han China conquered the regions of the Korean peninsula and of Vietnam; however, Han China enjoyed uncontested hegemony over these regions. Imperial Rome did not levy taxes on conquered subjects as opposed to Han China. Both empires allowed their citizens to contribute to the empire; however, they did so by different means.
Comparative Essay Both Classical India and Classical China were organized societies with strong centralized governments and complex institutions. Although there were some similarities in their political structure, there were also many differences because of the belief systems which shaped the social and political order of each society. Those belief systems differed in both India and China, they also changed over time due to the creation of new religions or laws. While all of the beliefs affected the political and social structure, some like Legalism and Confucianism were providing big impact on it, while others like Hinduism, Buddhism and Daoism were purely the religions of salvation and harmony with nature. Classical China (1029
China also repeated many times that its constitution specifies not only citizenship rights but also the “Four cardinal principles“ in legal respect the "Four Cardinal Principles" are higher than citizenship rights, meaning there was legal base when China arrested people who wanted to overthrow these principles. Chinese people who obey these principles can enjoy all Chinese citizenship rights in principle. However, numerous human rights organizations maintain a litany of grievances against the Chinese government. Controversial human rights issues in China include policies such as capital punishment, the one-child policy, the social status of Tibetans and lack of protections regarding freedom of press and religion. One of the foremost areas of concern is a lack of legal rights, for want of an independent judiciary, rule of law, and due process.