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.
It was perhaps the Han dynasty, (which lasted over 400 years), that enforced and maintained peace and prosperity most successfully. As varied as the dynasties are, it is best to examine each one separately to determine the exact relationship between them. The Zhou Dynasty was more successful in some areas than others. It managed to expand the territory of China by taking over the Yangtze River valley, which eventually became China’s core. But the expansion of land weakened China’s ‘central government’, and made it vulnerable against any disloyal citizens.
Each built their own roads to help the military and built walls, for instance the Great Wall of China in Han China, to protect themselves from invasions. The economy of each civilization differed because Han had much recourse while Rome only had metals. This gave Han a great boost because they did not have to rely on other countries as much. Rome and Han shared the same social view of the male
Bureaucracy is the delegation of power in government. In both China and Rome there was the emperor. Then the emperor would assign different people to take care of things that he couldn’t do himself like collecting taxes. This bureaucratic system is one of the best forms of political control and contributed to both empires being successful. Both empires remained for long periods of time.
Rome and Han China Rome and Han China were separated by thousands of miles which made them develop independently of each other, but they both managed to flourish at the same time. These Empires have impacted the world around them with their differences in technological developments, other differences they had can be seen through individual economic status and government ideas. A specific example could be the idea of choosing emperors in Rome based on republic ideas versus China which had emperors based on the Mandate of Heaven. While these empires had differences, they also had similarities some examples being agriculture as a main source of income, militaristic views, new religion developments, and patriarchal family structures. Having aggressive neighbors although being so far apart was one similarity in Han and Rome because in order to protect themselves from them they needed a strong military and also needed to build protecting walls.
Politics in the Han dynasty were very important to keep the empire together. In the Han dynasty, Liu Bang did something different and, instead of wealth or birth name, he gave government positions to those who were well educated and deserving of this position. Liu Bang wanted to be a strong dynasty like the Qin dynasty, but weak like Zhou at the same time. He chose to go down the middle path and be a mix of weak and strong. Bang divided the empire into administrative districts that were each governed by officials.
To what extent was Qin Shi Huangdi a successful ruler? Qin Shi Huangdi was the First Emperor of the Qin Dynasty who ruled a unified China from 246 BC to 221 BC who, in his reign, standardized the Chinese system of writing and their Chinese currency, benefited the economic development and cultural exchanges, built the iconic Great Wall of China and unified the seven warring states of China. It was said that his conquest of gaining absolute power costed millions of innocent lives. Whether success is measured through his power, influence, achievements, wealth, creations or oppressive tyranny is a matter of dispute, but is agreed that Qin Shi Huang, the first emperor of the Qin Dynasty, was one of the most important rulers in Chinese history. Qin Shi Huangdi was able to annex all seven states and bring them under his control.
The amazing closeness yet separateness of these advanced civilizations can be expressed in a number of different ways. One of those similarities is that emperors used their religion to justify their power. An economic difference between Mesopotamia and China is China’s smaller scale cultural diffusion because of natural barricades making it a difficult place to reach. These two factors express the ways in which China and Mesopotamia are similar yet different politically, economically, religiously, and
This awareness became more and more amplified by the fact that Taoism, which also held to a non-dual view of reality, was more sympathetic to the sudden enlightenment approach. For this reason, sudden enlightenment went on to dominate Chinese thought. Though sudden enlightenment isn’t seen as superior to gradual enlightenment, it does represent an opposing style of thought; where the Southern position can be characterized as sudden enlightenment followed by gradual cultivation and the Northern position can be characterized as gradual cultivation followed by sudden enlightenment. The Southern Schools of Ch'an Buddhism in China gave full support to sudden enlightenment. Although Hui-neng was the most prominent figure in the entire
The Tang dynasty The Tang dynasty was centered in Chang’an, China and is considered by many as the golden age of Chinese revolution. The Emperors at the time presided over some great periods of art, culture and diplomacy in China (Hays, 2010). Changes in Political Structures: The leadership of Tang was military and most powerful, and they ruled with a pyramidal system with the Emperor and three main ministers at the top and below them were nine courts and six advisory boards. Social life: The emperors provided room for new ideas in art, religion, music and philosophy as well music. Buddhism flourished during this time, and many schools expanded.