preview

Similarities Between Han China And Imperial Rome

Good Essays

The Han dynasty in China (206-220 CE) and the Roman Empire (31 BCE-476 CE) had similarities and differences in the methods used to maintain political control. Both Han china and Imperial Rome maintained political control through adapting previously established philosophies into the political system and by incorporating a patriarchal society. Whereas, they differed in whether the trade focused on exporting or importing, and how the each government quelled rebellions. The Han dynasty and Imperial Rome differed in where they focused in facilitating the trade, outside or inside of the empire. The Romans built roads throughout their empire for efficient trading inside of the empire, while the Han dynasty produced goods for export. Han China had a popular product that they exported-silk, which established the Silk roads and facilitated silk trade throughout Asia. This gave the government political control over the silk revenue. For Rome, the era of Pax Romana brought about the construction of 80,000 kilometers of road throughout the …show more content…

The Romans subdued potential uprisings of the poor by giving grain and public entertainment instead of addressing the poverty situation, While Wang Mang of the Han Dynasty tried to address the problem of land distribution directly. Increasing wealth in the Roman Empire threw off the social balance, which resulted in poverty for many. The government sought to keep the masses content with what they called “bread and circuses”, which was grain and public entertainment. In China, Emperor Wang Mang redistributed land to the landless in order to fix the problem of unevenly distributed land and to establish political control over the wealthy. The reason for this difference is that the imperial Roman authorities never reformed the urban policies, while Wang Mang tried to reform China’s urban

Get Access