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Compare and Contrast: Ancient China and Ancient India Essay
Ancient China and ancient India are both important and interesting ancient civilizations. They are alike and unlike in many ways. Some significant ways in which ancient India and China are similar and different are religion, art, economics, politics, and social structure. Ancient China and ancient India both consider religion to be very important. The main religions of China were Confucianism, Taoism, and Legalism. The central religions in India were Hinduism and Buddhism. Both Ancient China and India had religious teachers that invented these prevalent religions. Confucius invented Confucianism, Lao Tzu invented Taoism, and Hsün Tzu invented Legalism in China. In India, Hinduism had its roots in the religious beliefs of the Aryan people.
Just like other civilizations both China and India would develop and incorporate a local river into their daily lives and agriculture. Though, Chinese civilization is one of the oldest, experienced and developed making it the country it is today, India was a little behind in some developments. The trade between countries brought a wealth of information for both of these civilizations, and it helped India and China to evolve.
Chinese civilization had a massive population, and due to that fact they needed a lot of food and resources to uphold their growth. Agriculture in China was prolific due to the iron-works of weapons and tools. The Chinese focused on politics and philosophy in order to control its society. The agriculture in this civilization was a big source of trade and wealth, which created a strong economy. People used to negotiate in trading, but the negotiating was replaced by money. “Currency replaced barter and early mechanisms of credit evolved which enhanced trade and commerce within China and trade with societies as far away as Africa.” Trade allowed for more wealth and stability within ancient Chinese civilization. Silk was a major commodity and a highly thought of item. The silk roads led to a lot of trade of merchandise like silk, politics, and also religion and values. In contrast, India would import most of its rice, politics, and values. India become the melting pot of different cultures and values, however, India was very accomodative of the diversity. “Rice cultivation, likely imported from China, provided most of the calories in the diet of people.” This shows that China was ahead of India in agriculture and had a strong economy.
The silk roads also gave birth to the religious preference of China when Buddhism branched off of Hinduism. Hinduism was the religious preference of India, and with these different religious preferences it brought different values and views into their civilizations. China developed strong philosophical trends that affected the way they live their lives. Indian civilization was a little behind in philosophy and other aspects like mathematics, writing, and medicine; however, they also had religious trends they followed. Either way, both china and India used religion to control the masses. “While chaos reigned in government, people turned to philosophy as an instrument to cope with disorder.” This shows that Chinese civilization where philosophical in their thinking and the way they lived their lives.
Due to the fact that India was a melting pot for different cultures and religions, it adopted some of its invaders traditions. Indian civilization focused on religion and social classes or structures to control its people. India’s weak political traditions are a result of the caste system and decentralized government that was used. Brahmins or priests would control what tasks caste groups had. “The caste system likely had a twofold purpose. One was to maintain the racial purity of the Aryans and the second was the need to explain and justify the various economic distinctions that seem omnipresent in any agricultural society.” There was an endless struggle between the Brahmin class and the ruling class. In contrast, China had a centralized government for the majority of their civilization, which was centralized around the emperor having the overall power.
However, if you look at it, both Chinese and Indian civilizations had powerful and meaningful ways of developing through the times. Their dynamics were different, but, also having some shared aspects due to the globalization of certain ideas like religion. I believe China was the superior civilization due to their dynamics. Strong and harsh governing along with individual values lead their civilization to flourish in many aspects even in their almost total isolation. The China we see today still has traditions running deep through it since the Han period. Indian was unable to stay safe from visitors and due to this fact it had a wide diversity of influences. I think the stability of Chinese civilization helped further themselves and create distance between them and other civilizations.
