Preview

Compare and Contrast: Ancient China and Egypt

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
438 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Compare and Contrast: Ancient China and Egypt
Egypt and China were two extremely well developed ancient civilizations. Although similar in many ways, they differed in the way they ran their monarchies, their use and development of bronze metallurgy, and their religious belief and worships. There are many possible reasons for these differences.
Egypt and China had similar governments in which they were both monarchies, but the way they were run differed. Although Egypt and China had strong monarchy governments, Egypt developed one ruler, the pharaoh, whereas China had different rulers ruling individual towns that all followed one leader. This led to the downfall of China because the individual leaders, called subordinates, gradually established their own base of power. The pharaoh system in Egypt, however, worked considerably well due to the fact that there weren’t people to challenge the leader. A reason for this may be that the Egyptian ruler Menes rose to power and extended his authority, while the separate towns took over each other and eventually formed one big unified kingdom.
China and Egypt are also similar in the fact that they all took use of bronze metallurgy. But although they both used bronze, China was better adapted to it and benefitted more from it. Egypt was slow to develop the use of bronze, and the high cost didn’t allow them to use it much. Bronze transformed China- they made many things with bronze, such as chariots and weapons for their forces. The reason for this may be that China monopolized the bronze industry, so they could buy and use it more than Egypt. Bronze was an important factor in the development of the ancient civilizations.
Egypt and China shared joint beliefs religiously as well. They both believed in the afterlife and the thought that there were many gods. Although Egypt and China were both polytheistic societies, china had a strong belief in worshiping ancestors. A reason for this may be that China believed the gods didn’t care about the mere lives of humans, whereas

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    - The Greeks and the Romans had a very different religious system compared to Han China that had more of a national philosophy then a religion.…

    • 1080 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Mesopotamia vs China

    • 468 Words
    • 2 Pages

    China and Mesopotamia are alike in a lot of ways. Both of the civilizations started on or by a river. This helped with the starting of their trade, and helped them get off the ground and running. They both also created many extraordinary inventions. The Mesopotamians invented the first ever wheel. This made it easier to move things around faster. As time went on the wheel got bigger and better and made things a lot easier. Mesopotamia also invented the first every calendar. This was a very basic calendar but it made time keeping easier. China invented the Silk Road. This was a huge trading route that went through almost every civilization. This made is extremely easy to trade which they could not live without. It was created during the Han Dynasty. Another similarity of the two is that they both made a way to write. Mesopotamia created the first ever form of writing during 3500 BCE. The writings were simple pictures which represented an object or idea. They used clay to draw the picture because that’s all they had. China also created a type of writing. The Chinese used a series of symbols that created a word or phrase. They both were very patriarchal. Both of the two civilizations had a lot in common.…

    • 468 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Egypt and the Shang-Zhou Dynasty were both powerful and influential civilization who faced similar ideas in their government, and defense strategies, but differed when it came to cultural rituals, and the use of natural resources.…

    • 837 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Approximately 5000 years ago the first complex, politically centralized civilizations began to form independently along numerous river valleys throughout parts of Asia and Africa. These civilizations were the building blocks for organization of human economic, political, religious, and social practices. Although the cultures of both Ancient Egypt and Shang China River Valley Civilizations share geographic, religious, and political similarities, the cultures are vastly different when social characteristics and economic trade are taken into consideration.…

    • 633 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Ancient China and Egypt were very successful empires; however, there were also some setbacks keeping them from great success. Some of these barriers were due to the selfish rulers, weak armies, and the landscape. These early setbacks in civilizations were difficult to manage and effectively brought upon their downfall.…

    • 493 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Jessica Wiede

    • 1665 Words
    • 7 Pages

    Thought the world there are new civilizations growing and becoming prosperous every day. From now till back in 1500 B.C.E. the world has been forever changing. In the Middle East and China new events take place every day that can alter the civilization from a grand impact to the littlest thing. Each civilization has something that sets it apart from the rest, but also has numerous things in common with surrounding areas and civilizations, or ones half way across the world. Although Egypt and China developed in different areas of the world, they both were still able to have similar aspects in geography and religion, but also able to develop difference in these characteristics as well. The people of Egypt and China both settled in river valleys and shared a common climate. It is said that most places that are located on the same line of latitude usually have particularly similar and close climates to each other. China and Egypt both developed and grew around the same latitude thus giving them the same climate and the ability to grow similar to almost the same crops. The geographical features of the areas differed though. China was surrounded by mountains and water on one coast. While Egypt was geographically isolated from the rest of the world due to the deserts surrounding them. This change in ground and soil caused them to have the ability to grow different crops even though they shared a common climate. Religion was another feature of similarities and differences. Egypt and China both believed an abundant amount of Gods, which proved them to be polytheistic just like the Hindus of India. Egypt believed in their kind as God sent to earth to maintain ma'at, along with China who believed in Tian and Di as their link between people and God also. On the other hand, Egypt built pyramids for the afterlife, and the Chinese hand no such thing. China believed in more…

    • 1665 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Better Essays

    China and Rome were astonishing civilizations that managed to advance technology and civilations. Both civilizations were rapidly growing and making changes to the world. The two cultures were pretty similar, yet very different. Their religions were something to be modest about. When it came to religion it helped the decline of both societies, by religion changing. When it came to technology though, its change is what caused the societies to flourish. As for education the both leaders of China and Rome worked on making it easier, evident from the letters, for common people to gain knowledge. Changing things in their kingdom clearly took time. With politics being something of a fight in many respects; came as part living in an ancient society. Peaceful changes in power was a rare occasion in Rome but, highly common in China. Both societies treated each other differently, no matter if it was regarding slaves, or women. The underclass was not treated well not out of hate but out of a well beaten attitude that whoever they were, somehow they were always better. Both societies were similar yet highly different it’s surprising how it came about. When two societies emerge like the Romans and Chinese, we would expect conflict, yet none came about, here is a look into both societies as truly empires.…

    • 1381 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    In order to completely understand the relationship between two events, comparing and contrasting is necessary. Through comparing similarities and differences it is easier to analyze why things developed and occurred the way they did. For example, in comparing Egypt and Mesopotamia it will be easier to achieve understanding of major aspects of their culture, the way other cultures impacted them, and their influence on the future. In addition to the similarities between the two cultures, the differences are what make them unique. Although Egypt and Mesopotamia both left stable heritage in their respective regions, due to geographic location their influences on politics, economy, and social relations differ.…

    • 961 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Some differences between Ancient China and Egypt is there religion. Both China and Egypt have different religions and different ways they take care of their religion. Ancient Egypt was polytheistic and centered on the leader of their religion. Also, China was Polytheistic, but the Chinese worshiped their ancestors. Over time the beliefs of these were mixed with Buddhism, Taoism, and Confucianism.…

    • 342 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    How did religion compare between Egypt and Mesopotamia. Both Mesopotamia and Egypt were polytheistic societies. The flooding of the rivers had to do with the consistency of the gods. In both societies priests are at the top of the class system. They play a major part in religion. The gods were pictured differently in these societies. A few of the Egyptian gods were Ra, Anubis, and Osiris. A few of the Mesopotamian gods were Ashur, Anu, and Enki .…

    • 389 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Ancient Egyptians religious beliefs were very different then that of our own. They were Polytheistic, meaning that believed in their religion that there were many gods and not one supreme god. They had separate gods for things like war, the sun, embalming and they also believed that the pharaohs were gods. The entire civilization believed in the same thing, unlike America where we have many types of religions spread through the states. Also their priests and high religious figures were favored by the gods more then the average person. Many people still did many things like build…

    • 743 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    China and India were both very advanced ancient civilizations. Both agricultural based civilizations made various technological advances. Although China and India shared many similarities, they had differences such as the social system, politics, and the importance of trade in the economy.…

    • 907 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The chinese also a lot of the time used swords and stuff like that more than the egyptians. The chinese is better because, some of their…

    • 193 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Both Egypt and Mesopotamia believed in many gods. In Mesopotamia they had massive destruction of their crops and lands because of the flooding, they believed that their god had exceptional powers so they had to keep the gods satisfied. In order to maintain them they offered food to the gods. While in Egypt it was calm and mother earth was not acting up, Egyptians believed that their place was designed as some shelter in a world so chaotic. Egyptians believed in preserving their bodies in order to supply the important tools that they would need for their afterlife. Overall Egypt and Mesopotamia left their marks and thanks to them we are able to benefit from many things that they created as a…

    • 471 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Both the Roman Empire and Ancient Egypt made religion a very big part of their daily lives. They did not have the same religion though. Egypt was polytheistic for starters. That means they had many, many gods. Ancient Egyptians believed that all of their gods had something to offer. In fact, the gods were so important to them that they even had little rituals they did for them. For example, they offered up sacrifices, they had temples dedicated to the gods, they had animal cults, they had oracles, and they even believed in magic from the gods. ("Ancient Egyptian Religion") The Egyptians believed that all of those things were pleasing to the gods. Like I said, religion was important to the Roman Empire too, but theirs was completely different from Egypt 's. They weren 't polytheistic anymore, they had a specific name for their religion, and they worshipped God differently. Since the Roman Empire wasn 't polytheistic, what were they? There 's only one answer to that question, and that answer is monotheistic. That means that…

    • 1494 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays