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Roman Empire vs Han Dynasty (Concept 2.3)

[Note: This is being posted later than the 20th because my computer was having an issue where I could not log into the Tumblr account to post this until I finally figured out how to fix the problem 15 minutes ago.]

      When empires rise, they expand their borders, linking together different regions, cities, economies, and cultures. It is in an empire’s best interests to keep their domestic stability high, and provinces peaceful; this usually means assigning soldiers to safeguard roads from bandits, and making navies patrol sea zones to fight piracy. These practices, although expensive, are the key to inter-regional trade, which couldn’t exist profitably without them. So the rise of inter-regional empires also facilitated the existence of long-distance trade routes.

    The rise of the Han Dynasty led to the establishment of many such trade routes, which connected the distant parts of the empire, and circulated trade goods from the corners of the world. Other commodities, such as cultural artifacts or ideas also spread via trade, such as languages, religion/belief systems, art, philosophy, and technology. The Han also funded the creation of “imperial roads” to facilitate trade, these roads were protected from bandits, and connected large cities.

    The same could be said about the rise of the Roman Empire, in the first centuries of the C.E., the merchants of the mediterranean experienced “Pax Romana” which meant trade was safe and productive, and was expedited by the large road network built by the Roman legions, which connected the northern border with the Germanic tribes, through Rome, and also the North African coast.

    The domestication of horses in both Rome and Han china led to the creation of horse-drawn carts/wagons which both increased the distance goods and people could travel, but the productivity of the farms and mines which harvested the important trade goods. The first major boom of horse populations in East Asia was during the regime of Emperor Wudi when he expended vast amounts of currency importing horses from the west to “modernise” Chinese agriculture and military power.

    Another new technology that facilitated trade was the compass, which was used by Chinese navigators in conjunction with the stars to calculate where exactly someone was on a map, what direction you were traveling, and how fast. This technology was used to improve the naval trade routes commonly used at the time by decreasing the chances of getting lost or misdirected, and by increasing the distance one ship could travel; this allowed the Han to expand their trade across the South China Sea to Borneo and Malacca and beyond.

    Trade in Rome was similar, but there was a much larger focus of sea routes rather than roads, even though both options existed for traders. The reasons Roman merchants prefered naval travel over land travel for anything longer than a short distance was that it was much faster, and thus cheaper to travel that way. Not to mention most of the commodities that were in high demand (Silk, Gold/Ivory, and Wheat) were channeled to ports with exclusive export rights for that commodity; so it was easier to ship the goods. Trade was much more valuable to the Romans than the Han Chinese because the Roman Empire was completely connected by sea routes via the mediterranean, so trade overall was less costly.

A very valuable Chinese commodity, Silk was kept under a chinese monopoly for centuries. Because this good was much prized among the world and could only be found in one place, a very long trade route developed stretching across Eurasia. Sadly this large trade route allowed the spread of very harmful diseases like the Bubonic plague, Measles, and Smallpox.

    A very major downside to trade, and the long-distance travel of people overall is that pathogens can live inside humans and the pests that travel within their trade cargo, as they travel. This means that the more trading that goes on within a civilization, the more chances of a disease spreading from one port to another.

    Major disease outbreaks affected both the Romans and the Han in the early centuries of the C.E.; The first major outbreak of Smallpox in China happened in 161 C.E. and caused the deaths of many peasants and scholars alike. The widespread decimation of human lives caused some to question the authenticity of Confucian beliefs, and looked for an alternative (Buddhism). The plague of Smallpox also caused social turmoil that eventually became too much for the Han Dynasty to control, and was one of the causes for their fall.

    Smallpox and measles outbreaks also affected the Romans as well, in 165 and also in 251, the massive destruction of these outbreaks helped lead to a period of anarchy and chaos in the third century that eventually caused the fall of the Romans by the sixth century. As with China, the widespread decimation of human lives led many to abandon their old roman pantheon of gods in favor of whatever alternatives were available. By this time Christianity was well known, and followers of christ were a significant part of the population in Anatolia and major port cities like Rome.

Another thing that trade spread was religion: during the Han Dynasty Buddhism spread via trade routes from India to China. Usually the first adopters for religion were ones of lower class or privilege, and in Han China, where Confucianism was widely adopted, women who thought they were oppressed converted to Buddhism to gain higher social standing. The religion was spread by the occupation which traveled the farthest, the quickest, the most; the merchant class.

    In the Roman empire during this time, Christianity was on the rise and was starting to become a large minority of roman citizens. It’s spread was not wholly dependant on trade, there was many factors for it’s spread throughout the Roman Empire, but trade was still a large supporting factor in the history of Christianity. As with Buddhism in China, the early adopters of Christianity were the oppressed peoples of lower social class; particularly women, or those living on the edges of the empire who felt the effects of Roman Imperialism hard.

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The Greatest Cause of the Conditions that Caused the Effects that Resulted in the Collapse of the Han Dynasty and the Beginning of the Three Kingdoms Period.

[Note: This is being posted later than the 20th because my computer was having an issue where I could not log into the Tumblr account to post this until I finally figured out how to fix the problem 15 minutes ago.]

The Han Dynasty, was no different from any other Empire, before and after it. it rose, it prospered, it stalled, then it collapsed. This is a common cycle throughout history, as is seen with the Roman Empire, the Macedonian Empire, the Egyptian Kingdoms, and any other former empire in history; it is simply an unavoidable fact of life, that eventually things just get too complex, to chaotic, and too unruly to wrestle with that they just fall apart.

The fault for why the Han dynasty eventually lost power over china could be attributed to many factors: invasions by the Xiongnu nomads from the north, peasant rebellions which threatened the power of “superiors”, or over exploitation of the land? No doubt all of these contributed in some way albeit very differently, however they all led to the end result of the Han losing the “Mandate of Heaven”, and thus the divine authority to rule in the eyes of the people. So it can be said, that the fall of the Han Dynasty could have been a spiritual shift as well and a political one.

Let’s start with addressing what the “Mandate of Heaven” was and how it was meaningful to the Chinese; “Heaven” is a divine spirit which can influence the world and judges people based on how “good” (defined by a confucian) someone was. So “Heaven” would think highly of a confucian scholar who followed the teachings of confucius very faithfully. The “Mandate” thusly, is just the authority given to the emperor, from “Heaven” to rule, because the emperor is a good confucian. When life is good and easy, and the public is happy, then the emperor is said to have the “Mandate”, or approval from “Heaven” to lead. However, when things go bad, the state is attacked, and taxes are raised, people start to have doubts that the current emperor has the “Mandate” anymore; so as conditions get worse, and life in generally just gets harsher and harder to deal with less and less people believe in the legitimacy of the current emperor. If you have ever read a book on the collapse of empires you’ll know a common stage is when many people claim to be the rightful emperor and that the current one is in power on false pretenses; this happened to the Roman emperor title after Augustus died, and the same thing happened to the Han Dynasty after Liu Xie abdicated in 220 C.E., and East Asia was split up into three factions, each side believing that their emperor was the one with the rightful “Mandate” to rule.

So, in order to deduce which was the most important cause of the Han Dynasty losing the “Mandate of Heaven” we must compared each of the factors at play and decide which one caused the most social uprising and overall upheaval. So starting with the outside invasions of the north, the Xiongnu who were nomadic herders at the time invaded when the Han started showing signs of weakness within their empires. The Xiongnu never captured much more than the northern parts of the empire, however that was enough to creator a multitude of successor states in the north. These states did not hold on to their nomadic roots and quickly adopted Chinese customs, encouraged intermarriage, and copied Chinese courts of law; so I wouldn’t say they had a large effect on creating social upheaval.

Another large strain on the Han bureaucracy was the devaluation of land by overexploitation for resources. Simply put, they took too many nutrients and resources out of the soil for it to replenish itself in time, water was pumped too fast to refill the aquifers, and the forests were cleared too fast for them to regrow; and thus, they’ll get less returns on the land in the future. During the Han Dynasty there was large-scale iron production which caused massive amounts of air-pollution, additionally logging and the transformation of grasslands into farmlands caused erosion to speed up and turn the “River” into the “Yellow River”. This definitely was a major factor in the Han Dynasty’s fall, and probably forced the Chinese government to tax the land more, and to invest less into philosophy, technological advancements, and arts. Still I do not think this caused the level of social instability that would cause the peasants to rise up against their serfs.

Which is exactly what happened during the Yellow Turban Peasant revolt in 184 C.E.; peasants, who were under the influence of a particular form of Daoism which saw common practice of supernatural healing and public confession of sins, and looked forward toward a “Great Peace”, a supposed “golden age of equality, social harmony, and common ownership of property”. Obviously these ideas were tempting to the peasants at the time, who were being forced to live in terrible conditions under landlords who would take around half the food your family could produce, with taxes on that as well. The revolt was crushed by the Han Dynasty’s armies, but the rebellion left long-lasting effects on the importance of Daoism, and showed how Confucianism could fail. The revolt was also very costly to the Han’s economy and weakened the state very much, and this is what contributed the most to the Han’s fall in the third century C. E., because it caused the most social and religious change in the empire, and people who were strong believers of Confucius truly thought that “Heaven” must have been doing anything in its power to end the rule the the Han because they failed to be proper Confucians and protect the peasants from exploitation in the first place.

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Buddhism originated in India, it migrated to China and became a major religion. 

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A prominent religion in Han China was Buddhism.

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Government of Han Dynasty

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Liu Bang, first emperor of the Han Dynasty.

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Oh no, my pocket-protector

David Gilman, in response to his pocket-protector falling out of his pocket.

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Social Structure of Han China

In the Han Empire the emperor was at the very top. He ruled over everyone else with the support of the Kings and Governors who were appointed by him. The Kings and Governors stayed in power with the help of state officials, nobles, and scholars. Peasant farmers were next, they were above soldiers, artisans, merchants, and slaves because they provided a vital part of the empire: food. Artisans, merchants, and slaves were considered unimportant because they did not provide any necessity for the empire. 

http://slideplayer.com/slide/1388577/ 

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The Han Dynasty

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Roman Empire v Han Dynasty (Concept 2.2)

Liu Bang also known as the Emperor Gaozu of Han was the first ruler in the Han Dynasty. He was born into a peasant family of little significance. His first job in politics was as a low-ranking patrol officer. In 206 BC Liu Bang and Xiang Yu rebelled against Qin. In October of the same year his army attacked the capital and overthrew the Qin Dynasty. Xiang Yu was angry at Liu Bang for capturing the capital before he did. For the next four years they fought for the throne, resulting in the triumph of Liu Bang. While Liu was in reign from 202 BC to 195 BC he lowered taxes and enforced Confucianism.

Augustus was the ruler of the Roman Empire. He ruled from 27 BC to 14 AD. Unlike Liu Bang, Augustus was born into wealth and politics. His father was a Senator and Governor in the Roman Republic, and his great uncle was Julius Caesar. Augustus founded the Roman Empire, he transformed it from a republic to a successful empire, and he laid the groundwork for Pax Romana (Roman Peace). While in power he worked to improve and beautify Rome.

The Han Dynasty’s most substantial religion was Confucianism, although some Chinese followed Legalism, Daoism, or Buddhism. Confucianism was a religion established by Confucius in sixth century BC. Confucianists believed that religion should be kept out of politics. Confucianism centered around the idea that superiors should set a moral example for their inferiors. Family life was also very important during the Confucianism age, it was expressed through filial piety and the arrangement of the government as a family structure. Another part of Chinese culture was theocracy, the Chinese believed that their emperor was chosen by the Mandate of Heaven.

Similar to Chinese belief, Romans also attached religious significance to their leaders, they believed that their rulers were gods. “Having fought his way into power, Augustus used religion as a tool to protect his position and promote his political agenda.” (“Augustus”) Augustus helped inflict this belief on the people of Rome, he wanted to stay in power and there was no better way to ensure that, than to become a “god”. He did this with the help of Haley’s comet. He declared Haley’s comet to be Julius Caesar entering heaven, and since Augustus was an heir to Caesar therefore he too was a god. The Han Dynasty and Roman Empire were both polytheistic but they honored these gods in different ways. While Han China honored their dead ancestors through filial piety the Romans expressed their loyalty by building statues of the gods they worshiped.

The government in the Roman Empire was an autocracy. The senate was still intact from the days of the Roman Republic, but it lacked real power because authority was granted to the emperor. “It dealt with foreign embassies, made binding decrees, served as the state’s highest court, and elected urban magistrates…” (World History in Context) The emperor was eventually able to take on all authority for lawmaking.

The government in the Han Dynasty was quite similar to that of the Roman Empire. The government was also an autocracy, ruled by an emperor. “The emperors had three councilors of state, the Chancellor over the Masses, the Imperial Counselor and the Grand Commandant. Each of the counselor’s main duty was to draft the government budget, conduct disciplinary procedures for government officials and to command and the military, respectively.”(The Chinese Han Dynasty Government Systems), just like the Roman emperor had the senate.

The ultimate collapse of the Roman Empire was caused by Germanic invasions. The Han Dynasty was also weakened by invasions, the Han were invaded by the Xiongnu, a nomadic civilization based north of the Han Dynasty. Another reason for the downfall of the Han Dynasty was internal fighting. Many of the elites in China warred among themselves. There were also a lot of revolts, such as the Yellow Turban Revolution. These internal struggles weakened the Dynasty and left it vulnerable to outside attack.

An unusual aspect of the Roman Empire was the way in which the civilization collapsed. The Roman Empire did not ultimately disappear, only the western part of the Empire collapsed. The eastern Empire remained intact for another thousand years, it was called the Byzantine Empire. When the Han Dynasty collapsed it was split up into three kingdoms: Wei, Wu, and Shu.

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Bibliography:

"Augustus." History.com. A&E Television Networks, n.d. Web. 19 Oct. 2015.

"Augustus." PBS. PBS, n.d. Web. 20 Oct. 2015.

Boundless. "The Fall of the Han and the Three Kingdoms Period (220–280                 C.E.) - Boundless Open Textbook." Boundless. N.p., n.d. Web. 

              20 Oct. 2015.

“Confucianism Beliefs During the Chinese Han Dynasty.” Totally History                    Confucianism Comments. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Oct. 2015. 

"Confucianism." Confucianism. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Oct. 2015.

"Liu Bang - Emperor Gaozu of Western Han." Emperor Gaozu of China 

              Han Dynasty: Liu Bang. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Oct. 2015.

"The Chinese Han Dynasty Government System & Laws." Totally History

             Han Dynasty Government Comments. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Oct. 2015.

Violatti, Cristian. “Han Dynasty.” Ancient History Encyclopedia. N.p., 27 

              May 2013. Web. 17 Oct. 2015.

World History in Context. "Roman Empire." Gale. New Trier High School, 

              2008. Web. 19 Oct. 2015.

"Worship." PBS. PBS, n.d. Web. 20 Oct. 2015.

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Key Terms Used:

Mandate of Heaven: An ancient Chinese concept that “heaven” granted emperors the right to rule based on their ability to govern well and fairly. 

Xiongnu: An ancient nomadic group that formed a state north of the agriculture based empire of the Han dynasty. 

Legalism: A Chinese philosophy, in which, Legalists believed that rules and laws were needed to maintain an empire. Large rewards and high risk punishments were used to enforce these laws. 

Confucianism: Another Chinese philosophy created by Confucius, stating that the key to a successful empire was the moral example of superiors. 

Daoism: The third Chinese philosophy created to stabilize the empire after the “Age of Warring States” in China. Daoism is the belief that the answer to a good government lies in nature. Daoists believe in a simple way of life free from the government and education. 

Filial Piety: The honoring of one’s ancestors and parents. 

Liu Bang: The emperor of the Han Dynasty. He is also known as Emperor Gaozu of Han. 

Autocracy: A system of government by one person with absolute power.

Augustus: Born name Gaius Octavius was the first emperor in the Roman Empire.

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Send me a cup of the soup

Liu Bang, First Emperor of Han China in regards to his enemy threatening to boil his father alive.

www.ancient.eu/Han_Dynasty/