Compare and Contrast Classical China and India Essay

Social classifications and expectations between classical china and classical India were very similar to each other. Both classical China and classical India had what is called a caste system. A caste system is when a citizen is organized into a special group that determined everything from their job, to their political rights, to their religious beliefs, and who they would marry.

Both China and India used social hierarchy systems, but they were used differently. India used a very strict system called Varna, or the caste system. People only associated with people in their class. Marriage outside of your class and helping people in lower classes was absolutely forbidden. People couldn’t even eat or drink with people outside of their class. The Chinese rules of social hierarchy were very different. The Chinese

Social structure is something that has been present all over history. There are many aspects used to define the social structure of a civilization, like race, ethnicity, class, gender, social mobility, and religion. One civilization in particular, China, has had the social structure of its reason evolve over time. Chinese dynasties from the Classical Era, the Post-Classical Era, and the Early Modern Period each established their own take on these categories. The dynasties from their respective time periods each differentiated themselves from the previous time period and allowed themselves to also have similarities between them. Chinese dynasties from the Classical Era and the Post-Classical Era are able to determine the factors of social structure that remain consistent and the factors that change throughout the time periods, which are class, gender, and social mobility. In the same way, the Ming and Qing dynasties of China from the Post-Classical Era compare to the Song and Tang dynasties from the Early Modern Period in China to define the consistencies of social structure through class, gender, and social mobility.

Ancient China and Ancient Greece were two vastly different civilizations with different cultures; they shared a multitude of similar political, economic, and philosophical achievements while also inholding multiple differences. The centralized government of China differed from the independent city-states of Athens. A similarity that both civilizations held in regards to politics would be the role, or lack thereof one, that women played within their respective governments. China’s economy was focused on the internal trade and technological advancements while agriculture, trade, and slavery made the foundation for Greece’s. However, the two shared a link within whom they traded with as well as both

Rulers who were well versed in their philosophies ruled their kingdoms in harmony. In China, laws played a big role in the everyday society. Laws during that period was very harsh. If someone had broken one of the laws, they would have been punished harshly. That was what Legalism was like back then. According to Legalism, laws had to be revised and have harsh punishments in order “to wipe out evil deeds”(Document 6). In Hinduism, the sacred law of the caste system was to have have a different laws for each districts. According to Document 1, the most popular guilds were “teaching the Vedas for a Brahmin, protecting the people for a Kshatriya, and trade for a Vaisya.” The lower castes, such as the Untouchables, were looked down upon due to

The caste system refers to Indian social order which is based on ancestry. The main social classes, “varna”, had priests at the top and peasants at the bottom. It developed due to increasing social complexity from intermingling with Dravidians.

Both classical India and China were classified as patriarchal societies. Though for the most part this is true, women within the household had more power than they were accounted with. Women within the household had more say in matters than was written in theory. Both societies however stressed the importance of respect in the direction of one’s father/leader. Another similarity is the large peasant class of each civilization. For the Chinese, these were the mean people and for India these were the untouchables. These classes were both considered the lowest of the low in respect to the social castes. This class may simply exist for the mere fact of making those in other cases appreciate their ranking more, relieving the government of potential uprisings. The mean people understood that they could test their way up and if they could not they accepted their inferiority. The untouchables were born with the understanding that this caste is where they were placed due to the actions of a previous life and this is where they were to belong for this lifetime. It all comes down to religion and its structure. A final similarity is the societal structure brought to each civilization is a result of the civilization’s adopted belief system or religion. In China’s case this is Confucianism and in India’s case this is Hinduism. This is exemplified by the bureaucracy in China due to the structure of Confucianism and the

Like many other civilizations in this time period, such as China, family structure was purely patriarchal; women were expected to worship their husbands as gods. The patriarchal families and subjugation of women remained consistent throughout the classical era of Indian

The ways we group society in the past and the present differ throughout countries. This is because many countries have different cultures and look at life differently. Throughout human culture we’ve felt the need to group up individuals and tell them where they belong. Although some civilizations may be more harsh than others, groupings still exist today in our society and other countries as well. For example, China and Confucianism and India and the caste system. While these groupings in their society started long ago, they are still in act today. For the United States, that is a different story. The United States has a society that is based on modern times. People get put into groups and discriminate against people for things that they may not even have control over. Like race, age, gender, and sexual orientation. To compare these three countries and how they group their society. We must learn about the systems in which they run under. All 3 civilizations, China, India, and the United States, are similar in a few key elements. Each one is unique and diverse in its own way because of the beliefs these cultures have.

In Ancient China, they believed in strict social groups. Chinese philosopher, Confucius, taught that strict social order was the key to success in the society. Men and Women were not equal at all. Men had many more privileges. Also, the Chinese strongly believed in wisdom of the elders, so grandparents were greatly respected.

The first part of this paper discusses what the caste system is and will discuss the disadvantages of the caste system and how the caste system segregates its people instead of bringing them stability. The caste system really dates back to somewhere in the 2000 BC and formed its origins from the Aryans in ancient India. This system was a way to basically separated people into social classes where they would best fit them (Funk and Wagnall). The caste is divided into four Varna: Brahmins, Kshatriyas, Vaisyas, and Sudras. Brahmins sit at the top of the ladder and is made up of spiritual and intellectual individuals such as priest and philosophers. A step down the ladder you will find Kshatriyas which is made up of soldiers and nobles. Under Kshatriyas you will a mix match of craftsman, farmers, and different skilled artisans which make up the Vaisyas class. At the very bottom of the caste ladder you will

The Social part of ancient China was the hierarchy. Hierarchy is the divisions of different people based on what they do or how much money they made, the social standing of your family could never change no matter what happened because the hierarchy meant that their is only a set of jobs that you could do if you were born to that family. The type of hierarchy that China followed was Feudalism in which the people got little money while the nobles and emperors got a lot of money. The hierarchy in order of the Chinese people was the royals on top, noble warriors just

In the following paper I will discuss the key differences in medieval India and China. I will compare and contrast each society’s social, cultural, political, and religious climates. In addition, explaining the civilizations economic environment during medieval times. Finally, I will describe how the Turks and Mongols influenced these two civilizations.

To begin with, Gender inequality in China could be traced way back to when emperors once ruled the nation. Chinese society was a patriarchal society with strict rules of conduct for women. According to the Confucianism idea of ‘’three obedience and four virtues’’, women should obey their father before marriage, the husband after marriage and their son in widowhood. Confucianism ideas about inferiority of women deeply influenced the Chinese society and culture, leading to women being placed at the bottom of the power and gender hierarchy.

In India, caste is the most important basis of social categorization. Initially caste originated on the basis of division of people on the basis of their natural inclinations and occupations and over a period of time it has turned out to be hereditary. It has created social groups based on kinship and ethnicity. The hereditary occupations have created vested interests in the form of socio-economic monopolies and have bred an extreme form of exploitation. The main attribute of Caste system is ritualistic purity, and this in turn has created inflexibility, rigidity and feelings of superiority and inferiority.