Christine li

Mesopotamia and ancient China Ancient people live near the river, that is called the river valley civilization. There are many reason about it. But the most important one is the water. Human beings and agriculture need water. Plentiful water, and the enrichment of the soil due to annual flooding, made it possible to grow excess crops beyond what was needed to sustain a village. Other advantages of living near river included easy transportation by water as well as good hunting and fishing. So I want to campare and contrast about Mesopotamia river valley and China river valley. There are three reasons, first is the complex institutions of Mesopotamia and ancient China, second is the record keeping, and third is the advanced technology. Mesopotamia is a land between Tigris river and Euphrates river. And the whole things are called the fertile crescent. It includes the lands facing the Mediterranean Sea and a plain that became known as Mesopotamia . The word in Greek means “land between the rivers.” The river flowed from the mountains and finally to Persian Gulf. And the waters of these rivers provided the lifeblood that allowed the formation of farming settlements. These grew into villages and then cities. This is the Mesopotamia river valley. Ancient China have two major rivers. One is the Huang He, and one is the Chang Jiang. Two major river flow from the mountainous west to the Pacific Ocean. The Huang He is found in the north. In central China, the Chang Jiang, flows east to the Yellow Sea. The Huang He, whose name means “yellow river,” deposits huge amounts of yellowish silt when it overflows its banks. This silt is actually fertile soil called loess , which is blown by the winds from deserts to the west and north. The first China’s cities was built at 4000 years ago, it is later than the other three civilization at least one thousand years. But unlike the other three river valley civilizations, the civilization that began along one of China’s river systems continues to thrive today. Mesopotamia and China have some similarities in the complex institutions. Mesopotamia have a code is called Hammurabis’ code. Hammurabi recognized this single, uniform code of laws would help to unify the diverse groups within his empire. He collected existing rules, judgments, and laws into the Code of Hammurabi. Hammurabi had the code engraved in stone, and copies were placed all over his empire. This code include many laws, some is just and some is not just. I think this’s similar to the feudalism in China. In order to protect people's interests, but there are many areas for improvement, like some cruel practices and unfair punishment. They also have another similar way, they all follow the leader of the country, the king. Mesopotamia and China also have some different way in complex institution. The religion is the most important one. Many peoples in the Fertile Crescent, they believed that many different gods con- trolled the various forces in nature. The belief in more than one god is called polytheism . Enlil, the god of storms and air, was among the most powerful gods. Sumerians feared him as “the raging flood that has no rival.” Demons known as Ugallu protected humans from the evil demons who caused dis- ease, misfortune, and misery. But people in China, they do not believed in polytheism. In China, the family was closely linked to religion. The Chinese believed that the spirits of family ancestors had the power to bring good fortune or disaster to living members of the family. The Chinese did not regard these spirits as mighty gods. Rather, the spirits were more like troublesome