Origins Of India And China

The Han Dynasty governed China for more than four hundred years. It rose to power in 206 BC and stayed until 220 AC. The Han Dynasty played a vital role in China’s development. This dynasty pioneered a political system and social structure that lasted in China for almost 2,000 years. The Han Dynasty and the Roman Empire were considered two of the most strongest civilizations at that time. The Roman Empire lasted from 27 BC to 393 AD. This empire changed the way Romans lived. The Romans made rapid advancements in science and technology. Both of these civilizations successfully took control of their countries. While they both have an abundant amount of similarities, they is an overwhelming amount of differences that set these two empires

Two of the earliest empires in Chinese history were the Qin Dynasty (221- 206 BCE) and the Han Dynasty (202 BCE- 220 CE). They both successfully unified the vast nation of China. Both Empires allowed government to not only influence politics, but also economy, philosophy, and social life. The empires ruled China distinctively differently. The Qin was a very fierce and brutal dynasty, while the Han dynasty tried to reduce the repression of the people brought by the Qin Dynasty. They also both used two distinctive government styles, the Qin used Legalism, a style based on based on effective institutional structures, and the Han used Huang-Lao which combined legalism with Daoist and Confucian ideals. While both empires and schools of thought had their strengths and weaknesses, both subsequently fell.

The Han Dynasty and the Roman Empire were two grand empires that rose out of preexisting territories and provided relative peace over wide areas. The collapse of the Qin Dynasty (221-206 BCE), which was the first great land-based empire in East Asia, came after a period of war, confusion, and tyrannical rule. Due to the political disorder that stemmed from the early dynastic activity, the emergence of the Han Dynasty (206 BCE- 228 CE) sprung to focus on restoring order. On the other hand, the rise of the Roman Empire (44 BCE- 476 CE) originated from consolidating authority over aristocratic landlords and overriding the democratic elements of the earlier Republic. Instead, the Roman Empire redefined the concept of “citizen” as subjects to

2. Thesis: Although both Han China and Gupta India’s political control directly correlated to religion, they differed in the centralization of their government, and what members of society became rulers.

As both empires had considerable amounts of land that they ruled over, the method of organizing their lands held great importance to effectively ruling each empire. First off in Persia, we see King Darius’s acumen in organization through the division of his land into 20 provinces. King Darius assigns a governor called a satrap, a military commander, and a tax collector to each province to allow self-governing as long as each province paid their taxes and tributes and remained loyal to the king. Similarly, during the Qin Dynasty in

During the Classical period, Han China and Mauryan/Gupta India developed many methods of political control. Although these empires were located in different geographic regions, they both used social hierarchy, language, bureaucracy, and religion as a means of political control. Many of Classical India’s religious beliefs and bureaucratic practices contrasted each other in relation to the ways that they supported the methods of political control.

The foundations were set for these two Classical developing empires: China, separated from other developing empires and India, supported by them. While both Classical China and India had hierarchy’s based on agriculture and organized patriarchal societies, India developed multiple institutions, such as language, while China developed one united dialect.

How both of these civilizations got their beginnings both rose out of the ashes of previous rather successful empires that would lay out the groundwork for both of them.  In the Han Dynasty’s case, it became the successor to Qin Dynasty. The Qin Dynasty being a very significant part of China’s history as it brought together the six different kingdoms after the Warring States period in Chinese history. The Qin Dynasty was also the same dynasty that brought forth the idea of the first emperor. After the Qin Dynasty collapsed the Han Dynasty was founded by government official Liu Bang who became emperor of China. According to our Liu Bang adopted the Qin Legalist system. With the Legalist system Liu Bang expanded on it by incorporating the teaching Confucius. Under the Legalist system the emperor had absolute power.1 The only other government officials were two chancellors and nine ministers who were in charge of the nine ministries that helped handle justices, revenue and foreign affairs.2

The history of the development of China and India are very different. India was broken up into many different settlements ran by different people, such as dynasties and empires. On the other hand, China was always more united and was also ran by a dynasty. A dynasty is a government ran by the same family, only to be thrown out of power by a new dynasty. The dynasties of China were successful, where as the dynasties of India were not as fortunate. There were a few factors that set the Chinese dynasties up for success compared to the Indian dynasties.

Classical Chinese Empires and the Roman Empire were massive Empires that both became some of the most well known Empires in the world. The Romans were set out to conquer the lands of Europe and take anyone out in their path. The Chinese Dynasties lasted for a 4,000 year span of many Emperors like the Zhou Dynasty, Qin Dynasty and Han Dynasty. They both had a reason on why they lasted so long, Rome were very serious for their army because when you got to the age of 7 you were sent to an extensive army camp which you would stay until you are 18. China had their Innovation and trade. For example the Han Dynasty were lucky enough to use the silk roads which got them tons of silk to trade to other empires. The Qin Dynasty had some of the first modern roads so they can travel with ease.

The Qin Dynasty used their power to enforce legalism which was accepted by the people and to summarize what it is, is when a ruler treats his people equally and gives everything equally. In document 3 it states that when a ruler gives out rewards everyone got a part of it, but when punishment was given everyone also received it. The strict law were to prevent dishonorable people from living there. An example is people who were disobedient or people who were selfish. The way that the Mauryan Empire used their political power was that an a leader called Emperor Ashoka discontinued the killing of animals and said they may only be killed for good purposed, but one was not found. In document 4 it states that the ruler saw the animals on the same level as people and even gave them medical treatment as they would give to humans. The way that these empires differed from each other is that the Qin Dynasty used legalistic philosophy to keep their empire in check whereas the Mauryan Dynasty used their power to stop the killing animals entirely and treated them like

Both of these civilizations had authority over their countries with assistance or not. In the Han Dynasty, there would be an emperor ruling over his people as he pleases.The ruler would serve to his people by ruling according to the Mandate of Heaven, where a ruler would have to rule his people with good morals and benevolence. This ruler would rule his people independently, without assistance unlike the Mauryan Empire, where the ruler would have a bureaucracy and government of a variety of ministries and spies to regulate his people and keep his people informed. In this empire, the ruler kept his country protected, having a large military force of several thousands at his hands. Both of these civilizations had similar forms of authority, however the Han Dynasty had authority of one person, the emperor, and the Mauryan Empire where they had authority of multiple people, like a

The Qin and the Han are two equally important dynasties that greatly expanded in their reign, although both the Qin and the Han had its own ideas on expansion. In fifteen years, the Qin Dynasty united the seven warring states. Emperor Qin’s rule resulted in the isolation of China from foreigners and brought upon strict rules and the removal of freedom. Under Emperor Qin’s rule, any action people took which angered the ruler could result in harsh punishment. Consequently, people were unhappy and often suffered from poverty. On the other hand, The Han dynasty lasted 426 years and managed to conquer more land, which gradually expanded and formed what China now is today. While isolation from the outside world was still present

The Han Dynasty of China from 206 B.C.E. to 220 C.E. and Imperial Roman Empire from 31 B.C.E. to 476 C.E. are well known classical empires. Both these empires have their commonalities and variances in their political structure. Religion played a huge role in both these empires; Christianity in Rome and Confucianism in China. Both Rome and China had an unstable situation in terms of politics which emphasized the family unit and the authority of parents. Rome and China had two very different political systems that both resulted in failure due to their large territory being invaded countless times.

Before the Qin Dynasty, China was composed of a network of city states that were loyal to the Chinese king. The seven Warring States had their own institutions that were run by aristocrats. The Qin Dynasty took initiative to expand their territory and to unite the Chinese empire together. Through their ruthless military techniques the Qin Dynasty was able to conquer the city states in China. The Qin Dynasty ruled from 221 BCE – 206 BCE; during their regime, Emperor Qin’s primary goal was to unify the Chinese people. Even though the Qin Dynasty was a short-lived empire, it played a major role in unifying the Chinese empire and provided a foundation for succeeding regimes through a centralized government, standardized systems, and through infrastructure.