Han China Dbq Analysis

The empires of both Han China and Rome were by far the most technologically advanced civilizations during the time they existed. Even though the rise of technology led to significant improvements in their societies, Han China and Rome had very different approaches in terms of their dependence on technology, the leader’s intentions through technology, and their views on the use of technology.
Han China valued technological advances and modernization more openly than Rome did. In Discourses on Salt and Iron, published in the first century B.C.E., a Han government official named Huan Guan wrote about his desire to rectify the conditions of the poor quality tools given to the common worker (Document 2). Although Guan was a government official, …show more content…
Early in the second century B.C.E., a Han government official wrote to local officials to establish water control, have experienced workers on duty, and create defensive walls throughout the land to prevent flooding (Document 1). The Han government took these actions to protect the people from disasters, such as the floods mentioned in the document. Because the official simply requested local officials to follow these recommendations to create safer districts throughout the empire, the letter can be deemed to be objective. In addition, Chinese leaders took initiative to benefit the common people by establishing generous regulations on the use of technology. For instance, in the History of the Early Han Dynasty, Tu Shih, an appointed governor of Nanyang, created peaceful policies in favor of the community (Document 4). Shih developed the labor-saving device, known as the water-powered blowing engine to ease the work of the people. His benevolence has positively impacted the lives of people as his policies were adopted and used by future leaders. Henceforth, there is the showing of concern and impression that technology is present to aid the people. On the contrary, Rome leaders never had the intend to benefit the common people through technology. Rather than helping the people, they focused mainly on the infrastructure of their empire. As can be seen, infrastructure relating to road building was the main enterprise at the time (Document 6). Such emphasis led to the glowing reports encouraged by Graachus for the imperial good. Other than road building, the heavy emphasis of aqueducts also played a key part in the Roman Empire. Frontinus, a Roman general, governor of Britain, and water commissioner for the city of Rome, emphasized the practical nature of Roman technology over the works of the Greeks (Document 8). As a high ranking official, Frontinus had the incentive to

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Han China Dbq Analysis