Chinese and Roman governments had similar positive impacts on financial and economic affairs despite many of the rulers’ motives being predominantly in their own interests, a predictable outcome as there was withstanding expectations of rulers that had to be met to maintain rights to authority. The use and practice of corveé labor and enslavement for public building projects significantly improved the economy in both civilizations: Shihuangdi in the 3rd century BCE built the Great Wall using corveé labor, in order to prevent the Xiongnu from invading; similarly, the Roman emperor Hadrian in the 2nd century CE built his wall using slaves and prisoners of war to protect the northern Roman Empire from being invaded. These emperors both built walls …show more content…
Each ruler’s control of certain key resources in order to maintain their leadership provided economic stability in both China and Rome. For example, Emperor Wu in the 1st century CE had monopolies on salt, liquor, iron and wheat and distributed those resources to subjects in times of famine in order to maintain the right to rule as dictated in the Mandate of Heaven; similarly, Roman leaders, namely the Five Good Emperors in the 2nd century CE, dispersed grain, oil, and wine in periods of starvation, furthering the concept of being “First Citizen” as created by Caesar Augustus in the 1st century BCE. By maintaining a minimal standard of live for its subjects and ensuring such citizens that they need not worry about basics needs, the empires thrived--because of the continual health of the economy, the governments persisted in collecting taxes, and citizens harbored loyalty for the government--which improved the economy and the society as a whole. The motives of some rulers was purely in their own favor, as the Mandate of Heaven and “First Citizen” beliefs demanded that in order to preserve one’s leadership, one must rule for the good of the