Han China Dbq

898 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Technology in the Roman Empire

Two great empires of the ancient world, the Han, in China, and the Romans, in Italy, were similar in power, but different in their views towards technology. Han China’s attitude towards technology was more open and positive in comparison to the Romans who had a more class-divided society with slavery as their main source of labor, therefore causing general attitudes of labor and technology to be split between positive and negative. Han China’s attitude towards manufacturing and labor and its advancement tended to be open and positive to the opportunities and potential the development of technology held. A Han government official, Huan Guan, writes of his discourse with the government, who created poor quality tools and maintained a monopoly …show more content…

An upper-class Roman political leaders writes of his views on what job is “acceptable,” stating how suitable jobs were for gentle man and vulgar jobs were for hired workers-- “whose labor is purchased rather than their skill,”-- emphasizing his view of technology being necessary, but not fit for the enlightened (Document 5). An upper-class Roman philosopher and advisor to Emperor Nero, Seneca, states his opinion of technology's creation being for those who work with his hands, in contrast to those who work with their mind. Further showing how some thought technology was necessary, but not enlightened (Document 7). As seen in both documents, Roman’s who generally did not see technology as of enlightened mind, thought it to be a task for those who do work with their hands, or slaves, as their society was slave- dependent, making their attitudes toward technology as not needed for the upper-class and themselves specifically, a stark contrast to Han China who viewed their government as responsible for taking care of all of its people. Of all these documents, the perspectives of the peasants and slaves fails to be heard to provide evidence of their attitudes towards technology, as all the documents are written by upper class men. In comparison to the Roman’s view on technology as either a positive aesthetic or an intellectual negative, Han China’s attitude

Show More
Related

  • Summary Of Michael Loewe's Bing

    1127 Words  | 3 Pages

    There are little to no direct accounts of how individuals’ lives were a couple thousand years ago in Ancient China. With a wealth of information on the rise, decline, and fall of empires, Michael Loewe, a sinologist who specializes in oriental studies and theology, writes an imaginary story about a hero named Bing set around 70 BCE. Bing: From Farmer’s Son to Magistrate in Han China is Loewe’s fictional portrait of life during the Han Empire. It is by no means a comprehensive historical account of Han times, in fact, it was written with those readers who are not familiar with Chinese in mind, however through the life of Bing we can gage how the lives of laborers, those involved in military service, merchants, and government officials might

    Read More

  • Chinese Sojourn Labor Summary

    1682 Words  | 4 Pages

    In this paper by Scott Alan Carson, Carson writes about Chinese Sojourn Labor. Carson writes how institutional arrangements and labor market forces that interacted in the construction of America’s railroad led to the demand for Chinese Laborers. Carson writes more about these relationships and the work given to the Chinese than writing about the more personal details of the workers. For instance, Carson writes that because of land grants given by the government Central Pacific and Union Pacific railroads earned more capital by completing more railway tracks. Carson also writes how the Chinese did the jobs no one else wanted to do, and they did them for lesser wages. Therefore, Carson writes specifically about the work of the Chinese and the factors that caused the hiring of Chinese more so than the personal aspects of the workers.

    Read More

  • Comparison between Classical Athens and Han China

    994 Words  | 2 Pages

    Han China was an empire that expanded over a vast territory and Classical Athens was only a small city-state. Inevitable, there were differences in all aspects of life. The documents provided plenty of information on demographics, government structures, individual roles and duties of a citizen, an view on physical life. Overall, the 64 million differences in population, the democracy that arose in Athens, the importance of a father-son relationship in Han China, and the interests in nature by the Hans were the key facts in the two’s differences.

    Read More

  • Technological Advancements In The Medieval West

    882 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Medieval West was not fortunate enough to have advanced technological strife 's at their disposal. Many times, the technology and equipment they could acquire was still of no use. Many times the technology would be obsolete to the point where the villagers would resort to using their bare hands to cultivate the land (Duby 171). This would make the Medieval West society extremely difficult to achieve any type of efficiency in one 's work. “Primitive technical equipment obviously restricted narrowly the individual 's productive capacity” (Duby 171). The unproductivity of this inferior technology would make work much more difficult as opposed to other societies. The Roman Empire for example made many great strides in their technological advancements. These advancements added comfort to the lives of its people.”Technology in this period did not pretend to dominate and revolutionize nature [...] but in isolated areas the ancients were capable of amazing feats” (Veyne 108). Technology such as the siphon would make aqueducts possible to expand many valleys and bring people their basic needs (Veyne 108). This shows technology would add extra comfort to one’s life as opposed to the medieval west’s

    Read More

  • The Confusions of Pleasure

    1051 Words  | 3 Pages

    Timothy Brook’s book, The Confusions of Pleasure: Commerce and Culture in Ming China is a detailed account of the three centuries of the Ming Dynasty in China. The book allows an opportunity to view this prominent time period of Chinese history. Confusions of Pleasure not only chronicles the economic development during the Ming dynasty, but also the resulting cultural and social changes that transform the gentry and merchant class. Brook’s insights highlight the divide between the Ming dynasty’s idealized beliefs, and the realities of its economic expansion and its effects. Brook describes this gap through the use of several first hand accounts of individuals with various social statuses.

    Read More

  • Roman and Chinese Empires

    839 Words  | 2 Pages

    More than two thousand years ago, two great empires arose. The Chinese and the Roman Empires. Having different locations, there were obvious differences from the start, assembly and the collapse of the empires, but there were also astonishing similarities. Located in modern time Asia and Europe, the Chinese and Roman empires were revolutionary with their ideas and accomplishments in their time from the start to the end of their empires.

    Read More

  • Zheng He Dbq

    736 Words  | 2 Pages

    Who doesn’t love celebrations? When we celebrate something it’s usually because the event influenced or impacted history in some way. In the case of Zheng He, I do believe we should commemorate his voyages. Zheng he did experience a bad child-hood; as he was involved in many devastating events like the death of his father, becoming a prisoner by the Ming dynasty and being forced to work for a royal family. Zheng didn’t let that bring him down and eventually became a trusted advisor and earned power and wealth. These actions lead to his first of 7 voyages. His voyages had successful outcomes and they also showed that great leadership skills were needed to complete these voyages. Therefore, I do believe we should memorialize the voyages of Zheng

    Read More

  • First Civilization Summary

    1160 Words  | 3 Pages

    The author describes how ingenuity and technology changed social organization in early civilizations. Why was this “one of the major turning points in the social history of humankind?” How does this alteration of social structure reflect our modern societies? Give specific examples from your own culture to demonstrate how this change persists today.

    Read More

  • Comparing the Han Dynasty and the Roman Empire

    2784 Words  | 6 Pages

    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 the Roman emperor. Both empires shared similar agendas to exploit their vast territories and resources, which helped them expand their political dominance; however, despite having similar political goals and foundations, their government system, cultural ideologies and imperial expansionist natures diverged.

    Read More

  • The Shiji

    1697 Words  | 4 Pages

    ...u wavered between an essentialist reduction of their nature to those aspects of it that the Chinese found particularly shameful and a more favorable appreciation of their intelligence and flexibility. Likewise, some Xiongnu customs, such as their preference of the young over the elderly, are depicted as simple reversals of Chinese customs. The description of the political organization of the Xiongnu, for example, gives an impression of efficient government rather than backward tyranny. In fact, its sophisticated combination of centralized control and decentralized administration seemed well suited to provoke the admiration of Sima Qian’s Chinese readers, many of whom were critical of the unwieldy governmental bureaucracy of the Han. His descriptions of the Xiongnu underlined the limits of the expansion of Han civilization in the steppe regions of northern Asia.

    Read More

  • The Han Dynasty And Roman Empires

    938 Words  | 2 Pages

    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 apart. The decline of these two civilizations were both caused by internal affairs. The Han Dynasty and the Roman Empire both ruled close to the same time span, they both had highly centralized political systems, and they both were the most advanced civilizations in their region of the world. Their similarities did not overshadow their differences however. The Roman Empire had a senate that served as their legislative body and in China, the emperors ruled over the city. The Han Dynasty implemented national equality, and used Confucianism thoughts to keep the country united, while the Romans divided their citizens into different social classes and kept ethic discrimination. While both civilizations had strong social class separators, the Roman Empire made their’s more apparent. Both civilizations were strong and advanced for their time, however, they both ruled their countries differently.

    Read More

  • What Are The Similarities Between Ancient China And Rome's Culture

    935 Words  | 2 Pages

    The differences and similarities between Ancient China and Rome’s culture are pronounced and merit analysis. Both cultures were very innovative technology for their time. Some of their practices were also very diverse. In the end, both cultures were very similar.

    Read More

  • Escalation Of New Ideas Analysis

    643 Words  | 2 Pages

    Ideology, Knowledge and the escalation of new ideas led to a better life and society that made positive impacts on Western Civilizations. There were many idea’s that were explored and implement into the daily lives of the people and for the most part it turned out to be a good impact. Although there were some bad ideas that caused suffering to the society at the time. They learned from what they witnessed and created something that would work better for the most part. In this essay I am going to use some primary sources that support my idea that society benefited from the new “ideas” but I will also use an example to explain how it caused a negative impact too.

    Read More

  • The Achievements of the Tang and Song Dynasties

    1139 Words  | 3 Pages

    Today we can look around ourselves and see thousands of technical innovations that make life easier; But if we take a step back and ask ourselves “How?” we will soon realize that most often, these technological advancements did not just “poof” into existence, but are usually the outcome of building upon yesterday’s technology. If we follow this cycle back into time, we can attribute almost any modern day invention to an ancient civilization during its golden age. China was no exception. China’s Song and Tang dynasties fostered scientific advances comparable to Rome’s during its Pax Romana. The most significant and impacting of these were the development of primitive gunpowder and porcelain of the Tang and paper money, and the magnetic compass of the Song Dynasties. Although these may seem very far off, if you look hard enough, you can see traces of their impacts in society today because most of the advancements today we owe to them.

    Read More

  • Attitudes of War in Ancient Civilizations

    1047 Words  | 3 Pages

    Chapter Eight War and Society reveals the attitudes about war in both ancient Rome and China. These attitudes prove that in these cases perhaps it is safe to say that wars are not inevitable or natural but were caused by warlike societies and social situations. After reading bits and pieces of both the ancient Roman and Chinese history, one can only gain a greater perspective on how these attitudes derived. In 391 nomads called the Gauls defeated a small army of Roman aristocrats and burnt down the town of Rome. After this attack, Rome rebuilt its town and changed it into an empire, which spread its laws, culture, and peace from the North. Rome was convinced that after this first invasion, it was necessary to change their military.

    Read More

More about Han China Dbq

Open Document