1. Public Works/Infrastructure
1.1. Achaemenid Empire
1.1.1. The rulers of the Achaemenid Empire wanted to have communication and unity. As a result of this desire "they built good roads across their realm, notably the so called Persian Royal Roads." (T&E, 135) The impacts of these roads were very large, as they increased communication and trade.
1.1.2. In order to increase communication "the imperial government also organized a courier service and built 111 postal stations along the Royal Road" (T&E, 135). These couriers allowed for the exchange of messages between people from different parts of the empire. The success of this service was largely attributed to the imperial servants who delivered the messages.
1.1.3. The political stability and increased wealth that the construction of roads and administrative machinery provided the rulers allowed them to "undertake extensive public works projects such as the construction of qanat (underground canals)"(T&E, 135)
1.2. Han Dynasty
1.2.1. Han Wudi made several contributions to the infrastructure of the Han Dynasty to increase the authority and prestige of the central government.. "He also continued the Qin policy of building roads and canals to facilitate trade and communication between China's regions."(T&E, 158)
1.2.2. In order to successfully build effective forms of transportation and useful structures?
2. Religion
2.1. Achaemenid Empire
2.1.1. Because the Persian empire stretched so far across so many cultures, there were many religions practiced within it. Some of these religions were Zoroastrianism and Judaism. "The Achaemnid rulers presided over more than seventy distinct ethnic groups, including people who lived in widely scattered regions, spoke many different languages, and observed a profusion of religions and cultural traditions" (T&E 134). Because Cyrus began his reign over the empire with a policy of tolerance, all sorts of cultures with different religions were able to live under Persian rule. It created a diverse, yet unified empire that was able to be connected despite the many religious differences.
2.2. Han Dynasty
2.2.1. Han Dynasty: Philosophies that were invovled in the Han dynasty were legalism and confucianism. There was confucian educational system in the Han Dynasty. In Han dynasty the goverenment was run by the legalist principles. " He (Han Wudi) built an enormous bureaucracy to administer his empire, and he relied on Legalist principles of government." ( T&E 159)
3. Government Structure
3.1. Han Dynasty
3.1.1. Han Dynasty: rule by an emperor, the emperor had all of the power; there were enormous bureaucracy built to adminster the empire and officers sent to maintain order and to implement polices; there were leived taxes on agriculture, trade and crafe industries. " The Han dynasty consolidated the tradition of centralized imperial rule that the Qin dynasty had pioneered."(T&E 159)
3.2. Achaemenid Empire
3.2.1. Achaemenid Empire: centralized rule with great titles and privilege as king; governors to serve as agents of central administration and oversee regions; divided kingdom into 23 "satrapies" which were administrative and taxation districts; satrapies governed by satraps who were generally Persians but administrative officials generally locals; military officers, tax collectors, and imperial spies as checks to prevent satraps from rebelling with locals; regularized tax levies instead of irregular gift tributes; no uniform law and local laws preserved but could be modified by government; "The government of the Achaemenid empire depended on a finely tuned balance between central initiative and local administrations." (T&E 134)
4. Leadership
4.1. Achaemenid Empire
4.1.1. Cyrus: policy of toleration to respect the multicultural ideas of different people across the empire; positive legacy of establishing the great Persian empire where subjects were generally satisfied; "In Mesopotamia, for example, they (Cyrus and Darius) did not portray themselves as Persian conquerors but, rather, as legitimate Babylonian rulers and representatives of Marduk, the patron deity of Babylon." (T&E 136)
4.1.2. Darius: again, policy of toleration to respect peoples' values and traditions; positive legacy, making the Persian empire even bigger, establishing the idea of human rights, and improving the socioeconomic situation; "Darius also won high praise from Jews in the Achaemenid empire, since he allowed them to return to Jerusalem and rebuild the temple that Babylonian conquerors had destroyed in 587 BCE." (T&E 136)
4.1.3. Xeres: much stricter policy than Cyrus and Darius, didn't necessarily try to oppress people but was very harsh with rebellions; negative legacy with a negative reputation and in a way partly to blame for the downfall of Persia in that he fueled the Ionian Greeks anger which led to the Persian War which enabled Alexander the Great to launch an attack on Persia from Greece; "Xeres...harshly repressed rebellions and thereby gained a reputation for cruelty and insensitivity to the concerns of subject peoples." (T&E 136)
4.2. Han dynasty
4.2.1. The first leader of the Han Dynasty was Lui Bang. He "...attempted to follow a middle path between the decentralized network of political alliances of the Zhou Dynasty and the tightly centralized state of the Qin." (T&E 159). This idea was called Han Synthesis. Bang used Han synthesis for while, however after a close encounter with the Xoingnu he discovered that allotting large areas of land to family members was not as good as he thought. Afterwards, he and his successors followed a policy of centralized government.
4.2.2. Han Wudi, known as the Martial Emperor, came after Lui Bang. Han Wudi "...pursued two policies in particular: administrative centralization and imperial expansion." (T&E 159) . Han built a large bureaucracy and used imperial officers to implement his Legalistic policies. He invaded places like Korea and Vietnam for expansion, and inforced his policies there as well, and also expanded into Xiongnu territory. Han Wudi used the Confucian education system to educate his imperial officers.
4.2.3. Wang Mang
4.2.3.1. Wang Mang, also known as the socialist emporer was a ruler for a short time, during the interregnum period in China. He was not a very good leader, as he felt rushed and made decisions that led to the downfall of his reign. With good intentions, Wang Mang "...ordered officials to break up large estates, redistribute them, and provide landless individuals with property to cultivate" (T&E 164)
5. Economic Foundations
5.1. Han Dynasty
5.1.1. Han Dynasty :Agriculture and iron metallurgy was the economic foundations . The reason for that was "High agricutural productivity continued during Qin and Han dynasties, and it supported the development of craft industries such as forging of iron tools and the weaving of silk textiles."(T&E 162) Also the iron tools made agriculture surplus and the silk and paper were traded with other people.
5.2. Achaemenid Empire
5.2.1. Achaemenid Empire: agriculture was economic foundation b/c needed agriculture surplus to support military force and administrative specialists and specialists in the city; Persian empire included super fertile areas like Mesopotamia, Egypt, Anatolia, and India; most common grains barley and wheat, also peas, lentils, mustard, garlic, onion, cucumbers, dates, apples, pomegranates, pears, and apricots; beer and wine; vast amount of food flowed into imperial court for state-owned lands which became wages or banquet food; standardized precisely measured metal coins issued which led to a huge increase in trade because it was a lot easier and fairer for merchants to exchange standardized coins; thousands of miles of highways paved, especially the Persian Royal Road, enabled the different societies in the Persian empire to trade with each other; extensive public projects like the qanat (underground canals) led to enhanced agricultural production and population growth; iron metallurgy spread to all parts of empire and iron tools became very common; "Agriculture was the economic foundation of the Persian empires, but the empires had the effect of encouraging rapid economic development and trade."(T&E 141)
6. Social Organization and Norms
6.1. Han dynasty
6.1.1. The Han dynasty was a dynasty that continued the last dynasty, Qin's, efforts to unify all of China. In order to do this, the rulers and law enforcers used Legalism and enforced strict and forced ideas on the people of China. With the first leader of the Han, Lui Bang, came a continuation of legalistic ideas and harsh order on the society, and everyone was forced to do what the law said. Afterwards with Han Wudi was the introduction to the Confucian school, and people began to be taught different things. One of the biggest ideas in China was an idea of filial piety, which included respecting your elders, and women respecting men. In "Lessons for Women" by Ban Zhao, it was discussed that "the virtues most important for women were humility, obedience, subservience, and devotion to their fathers, husbands and sons." (T&E 162)
6.1.2. Ancient China was a patriarchal society that prevented women from having many rights. Beliefs on women should be treated were found in the book "Lessons for Women" which was written by a women, Ban Zhao (http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/440602/Ban-Zhao#ref185588). The book demonstrated how it was thought that women should obey men and perform domestic work. The ideas that were presented in "Lessons for Women" reflected the Chinese society during the Han Dynasty.