Han China And Athens Research Paper

Submitted By clarkatchison
Words: 383
Pages: 2

Clark Atchison
5th hr

There were many differences in Han China and Athens. The main ones stated in these articles are in population, where China outnumbered Athens 100 to 1. The government was completely opposite. Their philosophies had very different beliefs and moods. These weren’t the only ways in which the empires were different though. The difference in the population of china and Athens was huge! China had 65,000,000 while Athens had only a mere 315,000. A majority of china’s population was peasants, accounting for 78% of the people. Most of Athens population was from slaves and free women. Both countries upper class contained the smallest amount of people when compared to the population of the entire empire. Besides the large difference in population, the governments were worlds apart but yet both were still very successful, according to CM Brown in document 5. The Athenians had the first true democracy and they governed themselves. The assemblies were open to all free men who were citizens of Athens no matter the social class or what they made. On the other hand China took a different approach, they established a bureaucracy. They stressed central authority to help show how to effectively rule a vast territory. In document 7 it states that there is 130,000 bureaucrats and they represent 0.2% of the population, but they still rule the empire. Document 9 was based on a lot of historic beliefs. Athenians believed that if you didn’t believe in what the