Roman Empire and Han China Essay example

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Justin Kim
Coach Shells
AP World History
26 September 2014 The Roman Empire and the Han Dynasty of China were both large and powerful empires that existed during the Classical Period. Han China and Rome were very successful during the Classical period, due to their similarities, but also because of their differences. However, both have fallen down as a result. There are many similarities and differences between Rome and Han China that connect and divide them; in the sense of political control. Although both were seen as two of the strongest empires of their time, they differed on methods of achieving such a title. The major difference between the methods of political control was the structure of government in each empire. While there are key differences between both empires, such as form of government, their social structures and causes of external collapse unite them. Also, declining economic trade was a huge impact and one of the reasons to their fall.
Rome had a similar government system as Han China because both rulers had absolute power, which made the governments make mistakes that led to similar declines. However the government’s involvement and view on trade was different between these two empires. In the organization of their governments, the two were very different. In Rome, the government was run by two powers, the king and the Roman Senate. Even though this republic was not a democracy, men of lower class could vote for their officials even though their votes did not count as much as the elite, landowning wealthy class. In Han China, the emperor did not share much power with any group or individual. The citizens of the empire could not elect their emperor in this civilization and the only way of overthrowing the emperor were warring states with strong military.
The gender relations within both Rome and Han China were similar. For example, both civilizations were patriarchal. The male was in charge because he was the closest to his ancestors, maintained the well-being of the household, and made sure to continue the family’s sense of honor. A difference between Rome and Han China included the family structure. The people of Han China believed that the way an individual acted would reflect upon the whole family and their hierarchy as Rome was more tolerant on the individual affecting the family’s hierarchy. The reason for the Romans’ tolerance was that there was no equivalence of Confucianism in Roman society. Roman hierarchy did not completely rely on an
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