THE ROMAN AND CHINESE EMPIRES: COMMON PROBLEMS AND SOLUTIONS

Despite the fact that most scientists are inclined to claim that the Roman Empire and Han Dynasty developed independently mainly because of a great geographic distance, both states shared a large number of similarities which were moderated by religious and cultural specifics.
In 1994, Christian Gizewski offered a nine-phase parallel model of the development of two states. At the initial stage, the appearance of polities began, which increased military potential of the united groups in their region. At the next stage (500-400 BC), such entities gained autonomy and came into conflict with equal competitors. Because of the remote geographic location from power centers, these entities were under the small influence and control.
With the third stage (400-300 BC), the influence of polities increased as a result of their expansionist policy: Rome gained control over Italy, and Qin dynasty occupied Sichuan. This was achieved without provoking conflicts with leading polities. Furthermore, Rome and China spent little costs on protection due to the beneficial geographic location.
The fourth phase resulted in establishing hegemony over the entire region after a series of large-scale conquests. However, in order to control vast territories, a direct rule was needed. Consequently, a change in regimes occurred: the established oligarchy in Rome was superseded by military monarchy, and military state of Qin was replaced by less centralized regime of Han.
During the fifth phase, the scale of expansion reduced, and the shift towards internal homogenization began. As a result, local elites gained more autonomy from the state power.
Phase six was characterized by increasing the power of local elites and decentralization of states. Consequently, both empires became fragmented, and military regimes were introduced.
In the seventh phase, both empires made efforts to restore and preserve the structure, power and military presence in remote areas. However, both cases ended in barbarian conquests, which started in China from the fourth century C.E. and in Rome from the fifth century C.E.
The subsequent stage 8 was the beginning of the end of the two mighty empires. China was divided into three kingdoms under the reign of three military leaders. Roman Empire was divided into eastern and western. In the meanwhile, using the ebbing of influence of both empires, “barbarian” successor states were formed closely to the northern frontiers. Moreover, new religions – Christianity and Buddhism – claimed autonomy from the state and were making essential progress among lower social strata. It was only in the final phase, the author claims, that there were sharp divergences in development between the two states.
Having brought enough evidence that both empires have evolved in a much similar way, it is necessary to progress towards analyzing common problems and solutions. Since a nine-phase parallel model of the development of two states has already been distinguished, the analysis of problems and solutions is made in accordance to stages. One of the first challenges that the empires had to deal with at initial stages was establishing and maintaining control over new territories. During the first four stages, government system and military networks were developed. Furthermore, in terms of safety policy, local power was given only to people who proved their loyalty to leaders. Unlike the Qin dynasty, “the [Han] empire was ruled primarily through commanderies, though there were also a number of small subject ‘kingdoms,’ entrusted to members of the Han dynasty”. The use of prefectures to localize government and economy greatly helped with the task of running large Roman Empire. “State enterprises were placed in the hands of trained bureaucrats, appointed and promoted on the basis of merit”.
In order to maintain expansionist policy, both polities needed to build strong and big army that would be capable not only of conducting warfare in remote areas and occupying new territories but also defending empire’s borders from the enemy invasion. To experience great military success against its enemies, the Han Empire decided to nationalize a number of important industries (including salt and iron production), thereby allowing the Han leaders to fund a large standing army that was unusually well-armed. During the first four stages, the military sphere had been gathering momentum due to large human resources and priceless loots that were gained in campaigns. For the Roman Empire, it was the major income that covered most of the necessary expenditures. However, in the fifth phase, the income was not satisfactory to cover expenditures, and the Roman Empire faced considerable financial burdens concerning the protection of its borders. Since the country could not disband the army and had to find finances for military purposes, it burdened local people with high taxes.
A combination of tax issues and cases of epidemics such as plague adversely affected the empire. Ineffective leadership was also a factor considering the extravagant lifestyles of the Rome Emperors in disregard to the populace. The increasing discontent by the lower class and declining focus on the social and political status within the empire created a severe situation. In other words, the Roman Empire needed new reforms in the sphere of governance and economics.
On the other hand, the Han Dynasty was more successful in dealing with financial problems. More specifically, they implemented a series of reforms aimed at developing the sphere of agriculture. Since one of the major sectors of ancient China economy was the production output of peasants, the government decreased heavy taxes for small land owners. However, merchants were burdened with heavier tax rate. In its aspiration to begin agricultural boost, the government confiscated land from the nobles to secure peasants and farmers with places for planting. Another important step in the internal policy was nationalization of the key industries such as salt and iron to prevent and limit the growth of potential industrialist powers. This allowed peasants employed by merchants in these industries to return to farming. Furthermore, state control of the iron industry allowed production of tools important to make farming more efficient and thus bring more taxes to the government. In contrast, the Roman Empire put little efforts to introduce new reforms. Despite the fact that the empire had sufficient iron deposits, they were hardly used in any other sphere than military.
Since empires conquered large territories, a matter of great importance was preserving not only geographical but also cultural unity. These were the cultural specifics between republican Greko-Roman civilization and feudal-monarchical Chinese tradition that mediated the formal expression of empire’s developments. In preserving ideological unity that should serve as a footing for state’s actions, the Roman Empire failed to draw one clear direction. Because the main focus was made on the military sphere, cultural life was neglected. Furthermore, it is believed that one of the main reasons of the Roman Empire decline was the absence of its own unique culture. Rome did not have enough to offer to conquer new lands culturally. As a result, polycentrism began to develop in the fifth phase. What the Roman Empire lacked was spiritual/religious unity that would serve as a ground for relative stability alongside the borders of the empire. Partially, Rome tried to solve the problem of polyculturalism by appointing bureaucrats in regions to spread Roman governance. “These wealthy men were encouraged to think of themselves as part of the Roman system; they responded by … endowing their cities with public utilities such as libraries and water supplies and monuments to civic pride”.
In contrast, lands that were occupied by the Han Dynasty showed less resistance due to the fact that the government implemented favorable reforms and supported lower class. Furthermore, introduction of Confucianism brought high moral values and fundamental rights to people.

About the author: Amanda Hall is a freelance writer at Essay Service, company that makes students' life easier. Her hobbies are reading and traveling. Amanda tries to spend her life with benefits.

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