Mr. Lash
Adv World History
14 October 2015
The mighty Islamic caliphates and the powerful Chinese empire ruled during the early Middle Ages. Their interactions with other cultures, whether by trade or conquest, varied greatly. The social hierarchies of theses great societies also differed. They both developed similar strong economies, though the basis of these economies contrasted. The Islamic caliphates and Chinese empire both became important civilizations in the early middle ages, their rise to power and development varied through cultural interactions, social hierarchies, and economic systems.
The Islamic caliphates valued interaction with other cultures while the Chinese empire did not think highly of other cultures. The Islamic caliphates tolerated other religions such as Christianity and Judaism. The …show more content…
In Ancient China power and social rank correlated with land ownership. The lowest classes of people owned little or no land and share cropped on the land of more powerful people. This is also why Chinese societies did not like merchants, because of their lack of land. In China the Confucian ideal of filial piety and the five relationships influenced the social classes, with the five relationships involving a higher power member of society and a subordinate member of society. While in the Islamic caliphates did not have distinct social classes as under Islam all Muslims are equal in the Umma and those that were not Islamic were also treated well. Robin Doak sums up the life of non-christians in the Islamic empire world saying “They often held important positions in government and owned and operated their own businesses. They were allowed to continue practicing their religion in private (Doak).” Both of the societies did however include a supreme leader in the Chinese empire in was the Emperor and in the Islamic caliphates it was the