Han Dynasty Research Paper

Political integration was a key in the development of both Imperial Rome and Han China. The organization of government within each empire was similar in that both empires administered its centralized power structure through the establishment of a bureaucracy. The bureaucratic system implemented by Han China was an alliance between the ruling imperial family and a new class, the scholar-gentry. To perpetrate its bureaucracy, the Han established a number of schools to educate the students in the principles necessary for political and social order. Upon graduation, the new

In Rome, the highest positions in the government were held by two leaders, who ruled the Roman Republic. A senate composed of citizens elected these leaders. This is different than the Han’s distribution of power because they believed in no citizen involvement in their government. The Han had a central control or supreme monarch which had total control over the people and gave citizens no influence towards leadership, unlike in Rome. They created social classes to bring together the people of the empire. In China, the leaders used a group of experienced bureaucrats while in Rome land was given to

During this period, China had an extensive educated bureaucracy composed of citizens from any class. The bureaucrats were educated with principles of Confucianism, and Chinese literature. This was the governing class. The bureaucrats were respected by members of the lower classes and controlled the local areas. The emperor ruled through the instructions given to the bureaucracy. Imperial Rome had a single authoritarian ruler who was in control of the country because of the power of his military. The tyrant ruled through laws imposed on the citizens. Local governments in the Roman Empire had more autonomy than its Chinese counterparts. Aristocrats were trusted to control their regions. China ruled through its bureaucrats enforcing Confucian values while Rome established laws for the country, but allowed local aristocrats to enforce

The Han dynasty tried to interpret confucian thoughts to fit the needs of the elite and even raising their status. The Han dynasty bureaucracy was far more sophisticated bureaucracy then Imperial Rome’s it relied heavily on the elites and slave labour. It was founded on Roman Law. It had a much greater emphasis on law codes even the emperors were follow to the law code. An example would be an emperor wanting to marry his niece so he changed the law so everyone can marry their nieces.

It's somewhat similar to the United States, we get to vote for president. But, when Rome started to grow and become bigger, then the emperor started to rise. This caused an issue, a man name Julius Caesar wanted to rule Rome. If Caesar was to become the emperor that would be the end of their government. So, because of this, a man went and killed Caesar. Yet, a man named Augustus became emperor in 27 b.c. This did cause their government to come to an end. Moving on, to Han government it was very structured. Han Empire had an emperor, he was head of government. His job was to create laws, but also heading the armed forces being the commander of chief. Lastly, the emperor served as chief executive offical. The Han people didn't have power, unlike the Roman Empire. The Han emperor had full control, and power over the people and China. The Han government did have 3 councilors of state; chancellor over masses, imperial counselor, and grand commandant. There jobs were to budget the

The Roman empire had an effective system of government through civil service. He paid workers to manage the affairs of government, such as the grain supply, tax collection, and the postal system. They had an organized way of carrying out day to day operations and controlled an entire empire through this. This also gave the common people jobs too, “Although the senate still functioned, civil servants drawn from plebeians and even former slaves actually administered the empire” (162). The Han had a similar system but ultimately, the common people weren't accounted for and the poor couldn't have government jobs. Wudi set up a school where hopeful job applicants from all over China could come to study Confucius’s works…. In practice, few peasants could afford to educate their sons. So only sons of wealthy landowners had a chance at a government career (203). The Han’s system was effective but not as effective and proactive as the Roman empires because the Roman’s system involved all people and gave all people

Although the foundation of both empires was built upon political integration, their organization of government differed. The Han Dynasty’s centralized power and administration was based on a bureaucratic system while the Roman Empire’s imperial power was based on a one-man sovereign. In order to improve Chinese society, which was under tyrannical rule under the Qin Dynasty, the Han Empire centralized their government with the synthesis between an imperial family and the new scholar-gentry class under a bureaucratic system. By securing power to overthrow the Qin Dynasty, Liu Bang provided lands to those military supporters who helped with the task. From the land grants given, the royal families and supporters were entitled

The Han dynasty, instead, viewed their government bureaucracy in more high esteem. The origins of the Han dynasty bureaucracy were in the preceding Qin dynasty. This is described in one passage by Sima Qian, a Han historian, where he describes the first emperor of the Qin dynasty. In these writings he describes the first emperor, Qin Shihuangdi, as a very cruel despot who burned important writings, imposed cruel penalties, and was very arrogant.(FOOTNOTE). However, even Sima Qian acknowledges that he unified China through the appointment of officials to rule provinces, and standardizing their measurements and writing system.(FOOTNOTE). When the Qin dynasty ended in 202 BCE, however their bureaucratic system survived through the Han dynasty.(FOOTNOTE). This is significant because even though the Han viewed the Qin dynasty very poorly, they still enacted a bureaucracy that was very similar. The unique attributes of this bureaucracy was that it was more centralized, and cohesive then that of the Roman empire. Also, as mentioned earlier, it was better staffed and more equipped.

The upper-levels of the government were staffed by highly educated scholar-officials who were selected by undergoing grueling writing examinations. Culturally, the Chinese started practicing a new philosophy called Confucianism ,which kind of served

The Tang Dynasty had a very successful government. They had rightfully placed government officials and good leaders. The Tang Dynasty had good government officials because of the civil service test. It was an exam that people took to determine if they could be placed in government. It was known for its difficulty. It contained questions about Confucianism, his books, and his poems. It also consisted of government based questions, and poetry questions. The higher that you scored on this test, the higher place you can get in government. This promoted the best people and chose people to work in government based on merit. This examination was available to people from all social classes, so it meant that the government was getting the most qualified people for positions.

Even though the Qin dynasty was seen as barbaric and brutal, the Han did implement some of the old Qin institutions into their new government. One of these institutions were the Commanderies. These were administrative divisions of land in which a governor would be appointed by the government and run it as the government or emperor wants it to be ran. This is institution is very useful for knowing how many people you have. When war comes and you need to draft able bodied men to go fight, you will know just how many you will be able to get. Another reason would be for tax purposes. It is also very useful to regulate the trade and growing of certain crops. Even more in depth than that the government can control what the children in the commanderies are taught and what propaganda they are seeing. Qin law is another thing that the Han used from the former dynasty. One example of this practice was the fact that women could bring up cases against men even though the women did not have the same rights as men. Punishments were also

Also since it was cheaper, more people were able to afford it. The woodblock printing was also used to print Buddhist text. However some disagree, they claim the Song Dynasty was better because

To begin with, both Imperial Rome and Han China were ruled under a bureaucracy. In Rome the emperor was the ultimate authority. The

The Ming Dynasty had created an empire. They had the government, the military, and the economic system to prove it. At different points in time, The Chinese Empire was the greatest in the world, for trade, military, and other key factors in a society.

Woodblock was the absolute best Chinese invention, it was used for books, communication, but it also had a downside. It was expensive and time consuming. Woodblock changed all of China by using books and scrolls. It came with cost but was great in the long run. Woodblock printing was China’s best