Compare And Contrast Classical China And Rome

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Classical Rome and China As the classical era came to an end, various major civilizations fell into a rapid downhill spiral. These declines, such as that of the Roman Empire and Han China from 200 to 700 CE can be accredited to many internal and external factors including political instability, low class revolts, and whether or not each region recovered from the decline. Both Rome and China experienced political instability. Rome had no system of choosing a new ruler, however China did. After the Pax Romana, Rome endured a grueling few hundred years when cruel and corrupt Barracks ruled the empire. Rome had no system of choosing a successor, and civil wars often broke out over who the next emperor should be. China however, did have a system for choosing successors. The cause of their political instability was military leaders overstepping their bounds and taking power away from …show more content…
Although peasants in China could own land and had more rights than Roman slaves, extensively heavy taxes placed upon the caused peasants to revolt numerous times between 200 and 700 CE. Some infamous Chinese peasant revolts include the Yellow Turban Rebellion, which took place in Han China from 184-205 CE, and an unnamed uprising in 611 CE during the Sui dynasty. In Rome however, slaves had hardly any rights and were to be completely submissive to their masters. Slaves made up more than a quarter of the population of Rome, and were very diverse. China expected ll peasants to completely assimilate into Chinese culture and ways of life. Not much is known about Roman slave revolts. Spartacus led a groundbreaking revolt in the final years of the BCE ages, and the idea of another revolt was feared by people in higher classes of Rome for decades after. Roman slaves often ran away, assaulted their masters, and even committed suicide. Low class revolts and acts of violence are internal happenings that do not provide any stability or a

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