Similarities Between Han China And Imperial Rome

Although both Han China and Imperial Rome had large, long lasting empires with similar economies and some similar policies centralized governments and similar administrative policies regarding land reform, their techniques of imperial administration differed in terms of how it came to be and how emperors ruled. One major similarity between the administration policies of Han China and Imperial Rome was that both empires had very centralized governments. In China, the emperor had all the power. While there were smaller units of government, the emperor controlled everything within the empire. Han China’s government structure was modeled after its precursor, the Qin dynasty. The Han elaborated on the original structure, perfecting it. In Rome, the emperor was also the most powerful; however the Roman people had an illusion of power not seen in Han China. Although the emperor held the
Rome did not develop a mostly unified religion until much later in the empire. From the beginning of Han China, the emperor was seen as having divine approval. The Mandate of Heaven gave the emperor this divine approval, and it could be taken away. Chinese emperors also often ruled with philosophical values, the most common of which was Confucianism. The philosophical value of legalism is what actually got China out of the warring states period and began Han China. Han China continued to rule according to the philosophical value of legalism, just their precursor, Qin China. Rome didn’t have a constant religion until late in the empire when Constantine made it legal to practice Christianity and endorsed it. Theodosius later made Christianity the official religion of Rome, but this occurred years after the empire was founded. Because the empires were ruled with different philosophies and religions, administrative techniques were