Unit 7 is a rather long section covering both Rome and China 's powerful and expansive empires during the time period 300 BCE - 300 CE. The Han Dynasty and Imperial Rome were very similar in their unprecedented scale and duration. Although they did operate in differing ways, for example, Rome relied on slaves to expand its workforce, while the Chinese 's economy lived off of free peasant farmers. The Chinese benefited from having an overwhelming population that would benefit the bureaucracy and supply political stability for the Hans. When it came to the Roman Empire, religion did not have the same impact that Confucianism had on the dynasties in China.
Through the debate, we learn about the history of Rome culture, the Roman society, the view of women in the Roman society, and the roles they had. In 195 B.C.E., Rome was facing economic oppression from the war. Because of the monetary hardship, the Oppian law was passed in hopes to decrease conflict between the rich and the poor. At this time in Roman society, gender role distinctions and class distinctions existed, and gender roles greatly affected laws and the government. Women were considered weak and viewed as prizes of men that determined their status and place in society.
The Han Dynasty and the Roman Empire. The Han dynasty Empire and the Roman empire stood large and mighty at the start of the Common Era, with the two kingdoms controlling an unprecedented mass amount of populations under their reign. Both kingdoms rose as predecessors from previous political systems that extended lands under one rule, with the Roman Republic expansion in Europe after the Punic wars and the Qin state achieving conquest over six other nearby states creating the first imperial China in east Asia. The heavy hand of the Qin dynasty and the assassination of Rome’s beloved general, Julius Caesar, by the Roman senate, threw both kingdoms into rebellion, ushering in centuries of imperialistic rule for both in their respective timelines.
In order to understand the similarities of how order was in the Han Dynasty and Roman Empire from 300 BCE to 300 CE, the beginnings of each empire should be understood. Before the Han Dynasty rose, the Qin Dynasty, which overtaxed their citizens and regulated their laws by censoring education (burning books). The Roman Empire started out as a city-state which began to conquer neighboring regions, such as Italy, and expanded through warfare. However, from 300 BCE to 300 CE, the Han Dynasty and Roman Empire both created order in society by having an agrarian economy, ideologies, and establishing an authority that shaped social structures. The first similarity of how the Romans and the Han both created order in society, from 300 BCE to 300 CE, was their agrarian economy.
During the era of classical societies, the Han and Roman empires were two vast cosmopolitan societies which dominated regions all throughout Eurasia. In regards to the fall of the Han and Roman empires, both were similar in that they fell victim to internal government decay, but different in that Rome fell to foreign invasions, while Han suffered from rebellions of their own people. The Han and Roman empires were similar in their fall in that they both suffered from internal decay, specifically of their governments. In the Han empire, land distribution problems that were originally sought to be fixed by the “Socialist emperor” Wang Mang allowed large landowners to become even more influential than they previously were.
Other than religion, both Rome and China were discrepant in governmental intuition. While Rome had Roman Republic—where people are elected as the president, Han dynasty had a Bureaucracy—where rules are made by state officials. Their way of governing differs from each other because in the Roman Republic, the power was mostly determined by the citizens whereas the Bureaucracy in Han China was the elite classes who made the important decisions. Unlike China, Rome had written laws in the Twelve Tables that were the rules for the government and the society. Additionally, they both are correlative in receiving money of their citizens.
Both the Roman Empire and Han Dynasty appeared in the era of classical societies. During this time, societies began to become tightly centralized and ideas of new religions and technology were able to spread easier due to the expanding development of new communication forms and passages like the Silk Roads. With the new forms of communication, it is easy to understand why the development of new technology was appearing in these two societies. However, the Han dynasty was more readily open to these new ideas of technology and the development of new technologies such as paper and iron were upheld by the government, while the Roman more readily focused their attention on philosophy and law during their Pax Romana.
China on the other hand had more problems in its bureaucracy and civic unrest. For example, some peasants who had lost their farms had to sell their children into service. A third difference is that as previously stated, China had a successful revival while Rome did not. Rome divided and the Western half survived but was diminished by attempts to regulate the economy and decline tax revenue ’s.
In various ways, Han China and Imperial Rome were politically similar yet also had their pair of differences. Two very well-known classical empires, both had highly advanced political systems for their time; Han China, lasted from 206 B.C.E to 220 C.E, and Imperial Rome, lasted from 31 B.C.E to 476 C.E. Many think these two empires where built with no previous influence, however; the Roman Empire had retained many aspects from the Roman Republic, and Han China from the Qin Dynasty. During their peaks, they controlled the majority of the world 's population because of their constant expansion of conquered lands, while their structure of administration and rule influenced many empires and future societies around the world. Aspects such as these, ultimately, led these two empires to be, arguably, the most influential societies in the world; as their legacies still live on today.
The Han Dynasty in China and the Roman Empire shared many similarities and differences when it came to political rule and the nature of their political authority. The most significant difference between the two is how the Han dynasty enacted policies that were shaped to counter the wrongdoings of the previous Qin dynasty, whereas the Roman Empire enacted policies shaped to create and promote peace and stability. The difference in the two empire’s coming to power was to account for their variance in political rule. After the Qin dynasty, the Han ruled China for four centuries, enacting numerous political changes and governing one of the most efficacious dynasties in Chinese history.
The Roman, Chinese and Indian empire are the three main empires that exist in the past and inspired the rest of the empires that came afterwards. The Roman empire used trade and government to get where it was. The Chinese empire used legalism and a strong army. The Indian empire used religion to be successful. An empire consists of many different features, but there are some specific key features that makes an empire a strong and powerful empire and it usually consist of a strong military, effective leader, religion, trade and a lot more different features.
Han China and Mauryan India had many similarities. They were both bureaucracies, they both had emperors, and both empires established their laws on religious belief. They also had a lot of contrasting ideas for positioning their people, and they had contrasting ideas for their different religious standpoints. One empire put more weight on logic, and the other more on religion.
The Qin and Han employed different philosophies on how to run their dynasties. The Qin used controlling Legalistic ideas while the Han used the relationship building Confucianism. The Qin and Han had a different relationship with outsiders because the Qin preferred to keep foreigners out while the Han wanted to build a relationship with them. The Qin and the Han each contributed to the growth of China’s culture and expansion. The developments in trade, foreign relations, and building expansive building projects in the Qin and Han Dynasties effected the design of every dynasty
When I was growing up, there was a huge emphasis put on what college a person was attending. My parents always wanted what was best for me which equated to a college with name recognition and a prestigious history. I always believed them until I went on my first college visit. All the lectures and tours were focused on the aspects my parents fixated on but when I talked to students, it was a whole different story. They did admit that a school’s quality of education was important to them along with how future employers would evaluate their undergrad degree.
Being bilingual, or speaking another language besides your native language has many benefits. While it is difficult for many people to learn a second language, the pros out way the cons for many people. People who know a second language have an advantage in the workplace. While there are translators, it would be beneficial to not have to rely on one.
