The social hierarchical structure in Persia was divided into 3 classes high, medium and low. The high class which was a small group consisted of the king and the royal family being at the top with the most power, bureaucrats which were advisers of the king who were in charge of day-to-day affairs and military people who were greatly honored and provided with special benefits from the government. The medium class or the free class which was the bulk of the society consisted of priests who maintained temple communities, traders and craftsmen who earned income mostly through trade with some benefits and rights. And, the low class which consisted of peasants and slaves. Peasants belonged to the traditional class of farmers, laborers or owners of small farms. While the slaves were considered the lowest class that was forced to work with no rights, and a few privileges. The slaves consisted of war prisoners, citizens who rebelled against imperial authorities and citizens from the free class who accumulated debts they could not satisfy. Similarly the social hierarchical structure of China was divided into 3 classes high, medium and low. The high class consisted of the emperor, his advisors who were aristocrats, nobles and military people who were honored in Chinese culture. The medium class consisted of merchants and traders receiving income from production of paper, silk and iron. And the lowest class consisted of peasants and slaves. Comparing both of the societies similarities are seen were a king or emperor is at power, both of the societies have a bureaucrats or aristocrats class and both have the slaves as the lowest class with few privileges and no rights.

In Persia minorities were treated with respect were the empire consisted of different ethnic groups with their own religions and cultural traditions and to not cause rebellion the king allowed the people to keep their cultural traditions and religion. In contrast, China wanted to have a unified culture so minorities were not tolerated and under law of China the citizens had to believe what the emperor told them and they were not allowed to be against him. This is seen in China as a whole having Confucian education which was required and thought of as the norm for the society. Another example is when Qin Shi Huangdi was at rule and commanded all of the citizens to believe what he thought was important and other teaching were not allowed and scholars who taught something he didn’t approve were punished or executed. This is seen in the quote: “Anyone who dares to discuss the Shi Jing or the Classic of History shall be publicly executed. Anyone who uses history to criticize the present shall have his family executed (The Shiji, chapter 6)”. Clearly there is a contrast between the societies in how minorities or differences were thought of Persia displays respect to minorities while China is against it and is for unification of all the citizens.

In Persia, women had social and economic freedom. This is exemplified in them being allowed to spend money, have property and have jobs for both genders. However Persia was still patriarchal with special jobs done only by men, men having more control in the family and being more trustful which is seen in them being required to be present when a contract is made. Similarly in China a patriarchal societies is observed with women having limited privileges, less variety of jobs and women were mostly expected to take care of the children and the house while the man worked. Also in China a wife had to be obedient to her husband. So there is a similarity between the societies on women roles and them being limited by men.

In Persia being a military person was honored and gave special benefits from the government. In Persian society there was a full time army which helped control the empire and stop rebellions. Similarly in China military people were honored and the military helped control the empire. The difference is in China it was expected and from a young age boys were trained to become soldiers. Clearly there is a similarity in the societies in military where both help control he empire and military people are honored, but in Persia it wasn’t required but in China it was required and from a young age boys were educated to become join the military.

Persian society developed from the Achaemenid empire which reflected their origins as a nomadic group. So for centuries they lived with the steppe traditions and “even after establishment of the Achaemenid empire, some of them followed seminomadic lifestyle and maintained ties with their cousins on the steppes”( The empires of Persia,139). This is also reflected in their social development where “family and clan relationship were extremely important in the organizations of Persian political and social affairs”(The Empires of Persia,139). In contrast China had a negative relationship with the nomads with numerous conflicts and their only communication was trade. This is seen in the quote: “When they could not satisfy their needs and desires through peaceful trade, they mounted sudden raids into villages or trading areas, where they commandeered food supplies or manufactured goods and then rapidly departed”(The Formation of Classical Socities,160). Clearly when comparing the societies about nomadic groups they greatly differ with China having negative relationships with them while Persia originated and close connection with nomadic groups.

In Persia slaves were considered to be the lowest class and they had hard lives with no rights, and very few privileges. Being a slave was also classified as punishment because people not obedient to authority, with debts or war prisoners were slaves. This is seen in the quote “Slaves status deprived individuals of their personal freedom. Slaves became the property of an individual…and they could not move or marry at will…”( The empire of Persia,141). Similarly in China slaves were considered the lowest class and had limited privileges and almost no rights.

o Standardized coinage and taxation

o The merchant class was looked down upon by Chinese people

o Iron metallurgy was mastered and therefore Han was able to make advanced tools to help with their agricultural needs

o Dependent on trade

o Traded along silk road

o Created silk and paper

o Standardized coinage and taxation

o Focused on trade

o Built many qauats, which were underground canals, to help with the fertilized farmland

o Conquered many huge trade points like the city Lydia

Liu Bang

Han Wudi

Wang Mang

Darius

Xerxes

Cyrus

• Built roads and canals

• To finance the building Han Wudi levied taxes on agriculture, trade and craft industries (Traditions and Encounters 160)

• Built roads such as the famous Royal Road

• Government organized postal stations (111 total)

• Also improved existing routes between Mesopotamia and Egypt

• Buildings of canals

o Split their government into 30 provinces

o Governor (Applied ides of the king), Military commander (Keep control)

o Had harsh laws that kept their citizens in line

o Had a vast army that threatened all rebellion and reinforced Hans control

o Strong centralized government, rejected feudalism

o Split their land into stratapies, this was an easier way of keeping control because they were smaller areas of control

o Had Imperial “spy’s” to make sure no satrapies turned independent on Persia

o Standardized coinage was established along with taxation

Had a capitol, Persepolis which was a place of political power and a flurishing cultural center

o Let every citizen still practice any religion and keep their cultural values (Civic code)

o Each satrapise had to pay the Persian Empire a certain amount at an increment of time on a continuous scale.

o Each satrapies contained a governor, and military commander

• More than 70 different ethnic groups were acceptedunder the rule of Darius (traditions and encounters134)

• Ruled of people who spoke manydifferent languages

• Many cultural and religioustraditions were observed

• The Achaemenids needed to establish lines ofcommunication with all parts of their realm (traditionsand Encounters 134)

• Forced a legalist governmentstructure onto the people

• With use of Confucian education structure toeducate future bureaucrats (Traditions and Encounters164)

The rulers under Han considered all Chinese the same and unified