Jonatan Frisendahl
WHAP
Ms. Rodriguez
DBQ
Both Rome and Han China’s government’s attitude toward technology varied. Some supported the thought of new and improved technology, while others thought lowly of it and didnt find a need of technology. Technology also affected the social and economic classes of Rome and Han China. The governments of Rome and Han China had many reasons to support technology. According to Han Government Official from the second century BCE, the use of technology could prevent floods as well as bring more fresh water to cottages and government building. (doc 1) The document shows that technology with good maintenence and improvements can not only bring greater pleasure by increasing the amount of water that flows
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According to Huan Guan, a government official from first century BCE, tools made by individuals were well made and of high quiality, but as the government started to take over and monopolize tool manufacturing, the quality of tools diminished. Many agricultural workers had to resort to wooden tools that were inferrior compared to iron tools. The monopoly over tools and the quality of tools got so bad, that even some government officials agreed that the state should stop with the monopolization and return back to how metallurgy use to be. Huan Tan, and upper class philosopher from around 20 CE, wrote about Fuxi, the inventor of the mortar and the Pestle that lead to greater innovations of the two which increased efficiency of the pieces of technology. This document shows that the mortar and the pestle was a great invention, so great that an upper class philosopher is writing about how much this invention has helped. A greek-born, Roman official , known as Plutarch, wrote about Roman political leader, Gaius Gracchus, of the first century CE. Plutarch wrote that Gaius built a paved road for the public to use. He set up mile markers to help mark distances, and also set up stones for people to get on their horses without the help of another person. This document shows that with the improvements with the road, people are able to travel better and faster and how technology affected people of all classes. An additional document that is from a middle to lower class citizen would help emphasize the affect of technology on all classes. Not just upper
Huan Guan, a Han government official, says that tools given from the government to the laborers were not very functional in the sense to help the laborers do their work (document 2). This is seen as an inconvenience to the laborers because they aren’t able to keep up with their work-load, when using tools that don’t work as well as they would have hoped. Huan Guan, also says that the tools made by the laborers perform better than those provided by the government/state. The attitude that comes off of document two, is that Huan Guan just wants the laborers to have the best materials they can, even with the iron and salt trades. The third document is written by Huan Tan, who is an upper-class Han philosopher, who praised Fuxi. Fuxi is a mythological wise emperor, who developed the pestle and the mortar which were eventually developed to be powered by water and animal power (document 3). Huan Tan’s attitude towards this improvement is that it is a good thing, that should be recognized and that it is extremely beneficial to the society. In the fourth document, it is taken from the History of the Early Han Dynasty, written in about 200 C.E. The focus of this document is on the invention of a water powered tool, which was to benefit the laboring peoples. This was invented by Tu Shih, governor of Nanyang in about 31 C.E., this caused for the invention to be popular and widely used (document 4). The sixth document solely focuses on the architecture of Rome and how it was used throughout the city. It was written by Plutarch, a Greek-born Roman citizen, about Roman political leader in the second century B.C.E., Gaius Gracchus. It describes how Gaius Gracchus was anxious about road building and how he paid attention to detail, throughout the city. Gaius Gracchus developed the columns along the road, the columns served as mile markers (document
The Han Dynasty and the Roman Empire both had a great influence not only on its people but the world as a whole. The two had similar and different methods of political control. Both ruled their people under a bureaucracy, they had civil servants to maintain their large empires, and their foundations were made of great and strong rulers. Aside from the similarities they also had several differences. Take China for example, they focused more on Confucianism and they had a Mandate of Heaven. Rome on the other hand used entertainment to distract and control the masses of its population.
Both Rome and Han China rose from a smaller state. They achieved success through trade, discipline, and a strong military force. Agriculture was a main economic backbone, which supplied their government with tax funds and wealth. Overall, both empires encompassed a large amount of culture derived from the peoples derived and annexed into it. Imperial Rome and Han China’s similarities in social class, governing style, and technology helped aide its governmental power, but their differences in labor, job success, and ruling style caused for slight changes in societal standing.
Although Han China and Rome shared similarities in their techniques of imperial administration though military conquest and engineering’s aid toward the economy, they differed in their approach to land distribution.
Additionally, there were other distinct viewpoints, such as the different prespectives of the authors. There were two different views, one was a philosopher’s viewpoint and another was a government official’s viewpoint. To begin with, the Han philosophers and government officials always had a positive perspective. For instance, in document three, it mentions “Later on, the pestle and the mortar were cleverly improved in such a way that the whole weight of the body could be used, thus increasing the efficiency ten times.” The Chinese appear to note that innovation is of extraordinary advantage; subsequently they’re continuously making technological advancements. This Philosopher had Confucian beliefs, which swayed his judgement because Confucianism
Han dynasty emerged into power back in 221BCE after the fall of Qin dynasty 206BCE. They were the original pioneers when it comes to political systems and structure of the society that lasted more than 2000 years in China. On the other hand, the Roman Empire controlled the western Mediterranean and they had various advancements in technology and science. The Romans had different engineering accomplishments considered to be different from those of the Han kingdom. They formed the basis of the establishment of the western legal codes. This research is aimed towards analysis the similarities and the differences between the Han dynasty and the Roman Empire. The consequences of their differences are also analyzed in this research.
Despite who it is, it is a loss or decline In technology and skill in exchange for increased labor. . Plutarch says that Gaius Gracchus built needed roads, and mile-calculating systems. These were needed technological advancements, and despite the creator, they were useful. Seneca says that the hammer and tongs were not created by wise men, nor does it matter which came first. He says that they were created by someone nimble and sharp, and are useful. Frontinus says that the aqueducts are important, and are very useful. He then goes on to say that the pyramids and the useless but famous works of the Greeks are unimportant, for they do not help the empire.
New agricultural techniques, porcelain, metallurgy, printing, and naval technology were few of the technological elements that reinforced the established features of social order. New agricultural techniques helped in the expand of their agricultural potential, the dynasties gained reputation from porcelain technology which moderately diffused to other societies producing porcelain in large quantities, metallurgical techniques as well diffused to lands beyond China, printing produced texts quickly and popular works appeared in huge quantities, and naval technology included of the magnetic compass which soon became common for mariners to use. Population growth, patriarchal social structures, and gunpowder were technological elements reinforcing established features of political order. Population growth reflected the capacity of economy and distribution of food, patriarchal social structures included of concern to preserve family fortunes and foot binding, and gunpowder was an element used for military effectiveness. These aspects provided a fundamental change in traditions because they changed their whole concepts of how to use goods as in previous Chinese eras.
The empires of this time period had some innovative ideas and discoveries that permanently changed their nations and in some cases, the world. Both Rome and China had two unique and important cultural characteristics that completely changed their nations. For the Romans, their unique cultural characteristics were new ideas. The first of these new ideas, their unique Judicial System is the basis for many current judicial systems around the world, the other new idea, Christianity is now one of the worlds most practiced Religions. Whereas the unique cultural characteristics of China, namely the creation of paper and the formation of the “silk road” were more practical cultural characteristics, but no less impactful for both their
The Han dynasty was a golden era for China. It saw the greatest land confiscation of the nation’s history and economic success. In this paper I will be focusing on the structure of the national government, the monopolizing of iron and salt, the Yumen Pass and the Yellow Turban rebellion. Join me as we take a trip back in time to visit a time in Chinas history that is highly revered.
Arnold Pacey published Technology in World Civilization: A Thousand Year History in the year 1991. Arnold Pacey was an associate lecturer at The Open University in Britain as well as an author to three additional books: Meaning in Technology, The Maze of Ingenuity, The Culture of Technology. He published all four of his books within a ten-year span. Arnold Pacey was trained as an engineer but is well known as a historian of technology because of the conclusions he drew of society and technology and their relationship. Society is defined as the aggregate of people living together in a more or less ordered community. Technology is defined as the application of scientific knowledge for practical purposes, especially in industry. Technology influences every aspect of our lives today, but we often forget that it profoundly affected the lives of past generations dating back to the beginning of civilization. Perhaps not to today’s extent, but the impact was still dramatic. New inventions or innovations produced more food, created new processes and tools, made life easier and made war more devastating. This course traces the evolution of technology and its impact on civilization from the creation of elementary tools up to today’s latest devices and even looks into future technologies.
Another artifact shows how the invention of gunpowder increased Chinese trade and caused the rise and fall of empires and governments. And that a small invention, with seemingly no use at all, contributed to the creation of even greater technology like ammunition and first generation
The Roman Empire left a legacy that still continues to affect people with modern technology. The Romans’ technology might have not been as advanced as modern technology today, but they still managed to caused great impact over the ancient people. The Roman Empire’s inventions and innovations such as indoor plumbing, aqueducts, and construction of roads and buildings with their fast drying will always be notable attention because they managed to acquire extensive progress without modern methods. However, the Romans were not restricted to new inventions, they also managed to improve the existing fields of medicine, law, government and warfare.
In history, attitudes towards technology differed in regions due to the various factors such as religion, philosophy, and social classes that were intertwined with technology. In the period up to 500 C.E., although both the Han and Romans had an attitude of much appreciation for their water network technology, their overall attitudes towards technology was different because while the Han government had a more open minded attitude as they believed that they should use technology to help their whole society, including the peasants due to their religious and philosophical beliefs, while the Roman government had a more narrow attitude in the sense that they usually did not use technology to help the peasants, but to help the higher social classes.
In both Roman empire and han dynasty they made sure the technology was advanced at the time as it could be and most useful tool. For example in doc 1 and 6 they both address how they want the thing they are doing to be well constructed and advanced. In doc 1 the Han government wanted to conserve its water in the best way and resourceful way possible so they used high officials to keep things running well and precise when constructing their water canals, pools, and rivers. These had to pass certain expectations to make sure they were very good precise and advance, obviously this was done because this was the government in their view any error could cost lots of money and resources since this is for the greater good of the civilization.This was the same basically for the Romans like in doc 6 a high official which was a political leader had roads constricted. These were not just regular roads he made sure they were well and good looking like he stated “ paying attention to utility”. The Roman official did this because in his view this was a better technology for