Compare and Contrast Between Classical India and China Essay

The early civilizations of China and India emerged prior to 600 CE in what is known today as the continent of Asia. With the Himalayan mountains in between them, these civilizations developed in isolation from one another, and yet still managed to produce kingdoms with continuous growing populations to this day. Individual growth and development amongst the people stimulated technological inventions, increased the chances of survival and lead to: greater agricultural production, strong armies, and expansion. Eventually, these commodities and other luxury items produced will be traded, spurring the economic growth of both civilizations. Overall, these early stages of development not only furthered contact amongst these two great empires allowing for cultural diffusion, but also set the foundation for future generations to follow. Although China and India’s growing empires took place in different parts of the world, the structure of their economies developed similarly, beginning with an agricultural infrastructure and progressing towards trade within and beyond the kingdoms, while also acquiring distinctive cultural differences overtime such as a social hierarchy defined by certain beliefs. These characteristics will define the beginning and the advancement of early economic systems used during the Foundations Era and Classical Age, and provides insight on the essentials that influenced the two economic

. One factor that creates cultural difference is India’s nine religions. Ancient India consisted of three religions: Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism. All three ancient religions are part of the nine religions today. Statistics have shown that 827 million (80.5%) have returned themselves as followers of Hindu religion, 138 million (13.4%) as Muslims or the followers of Islam, 24 million (2.3%) as Christians, 19 million (1.9%) as Sikh, 8 million (0.80%) as Buddhists and 4 million (0.4%) are Jain (Religion). I don’t

India under the Gupta Empire was more successful than China during the Han dynasty. The Gupta Empire was hailed the Golden age of India, and during that time made many discoveries in the fields of medicine, astronomy, and mathematics. We owe our knowledge of the mathematical sequence pi to the Gupta Empire. Gupta India was also renowned for building two prestigious universities that educated foreign students to aid in the transfer of Indian knowledge around the globe. Unlike India, China focused more of the restoration of their culture. Both societies followed a caste system. Though the Chinese caste system allowed movement up the social ladder and India did not, people in the Indian caste system interacted with one another more fairly than

The classical civilizations of the 600 BCE-600 CE period were characterized by large empires rising out of the earlier city states. Rulers/military officials extended their influence through conquered new and nearby lands, expanding of land and increasing availability and variability of resources as they added more people and wealth; China, under the Han dynasty, was no exception to this trend. To illustrate, the Silk Road, a trading route interconnecting Europe, Asia, and North Africa/Middle East was named after China’s main cash crop, silk, which was prized for its soft smoothness and durability, in Rome, the Middle East, and other civilizations. This meant that merchants had a large impact in and outside China. The big silk trade also led

There was a huge demand for luxury Asian goods in India, that would lead Europeans to trade along the Indian Ocean for Indian spices and goods. Because of this, an economy was revolved around trading, known as a mercantilist economy, where European nations would have rivalries in order to obtain silver in the Americas. This would then lead to European countries trying to thrive in the Indian Ocean with joint stock companies and trading posts in order to control the area and help out their economy.

In the Silk Road from China, the photograph shows a long trail, known as the silk road, passing through several different well known places such as China, the Middle East, and India ( Document 8 ). Around the main are two different routes, which are the Eurasian Steppe Route, and the Main Connecting Route. All of the different courses link together, with the two routes being used to provide a passageway for different countries, create the general Silk Road. The creation of the Silk Road was influential towards mankind since it gave the different civilizations and easy and simple course to follow when in the desire or need to trade with different civilization. In addition, with the benefit of trade going smooth and easy, China was able to take in needed material in which helped them stabilize and improve the civilization. All in all, the Chinese Civilization influenced mankind from the invention of the Silk Road, and how it originated the idea of trading with far

First, the economy brought Eurasian civilizations together through the trading routes. When traveling through the Middle East, Africa and Asia, Moroccan explorer Ibn Battuta states that “Some of the Chinese own large numbers of ships that they send to foreign countries. There are no people in the world wealthier than the Chinese.” (Ibn Battuta, and H. A. R. Gibbs.). China was a very wealthy civilization in this time and their trade with other lands allowed them to form relations with the lands that they traded with. Other countries would want to trade with China due to its known wealth. In “Traveling Salesmen, Traveling Taxmen”, Kenneth Pomeranz and Steven Topik describe the Indian Ocean trade and state that “since India was probably the world’s largest exporter from 1500–1700, the horse trade was a crucial link in world trade.” (Kenneth Pomeranz and Steven Topik). Most of the horses being traded were coming from India, which means that many merchants wanted to go to India so that they could get valuable horses. At this time, horses were very valuable because it was a way of transportation, so some people wanted to buy them. This brought people together by bringing them to one area to exchange commodities and it allowed access for a way of transportation to be able to trade in the future. The Department and the king of Ancient Ghana states that “In the eighth and ninth centuries, Arab merchants operating in southern Moroccan towns such as Sijilmasa bought gold from the Berbers, and financed more caravans.” (“Arts of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas.”). These people were traveling to different

Did you know originally the Silk Road was made to trade silk with in the Chinese Empire. Marco Polo was one of the first people to travel to China along the Silk Road. The two countries I will be focusing my research on are China and India, but also a part of the Silk Road was Asia Minor, Mesopotamia, Egypt, the African continent, Greece, Rome, and Britain. In this essay, you will be learning what was introduced to both China and India, how the Silk Road affected China, and how India was affected by the Silk Road.

In many ways, the pre-imperialism India is somewhat similar to today’s India. Take for example how diverse both are when it comes to cultures and religion. This can be attributed to all of the trades, invasions and immigrants bringing in their own beliefs to the mix. These exchanges brought in many new languages, clothing, food, music and so much more. It truly was - and still is - a bit of a melting pot. (William, n.d.)

The creation of a strong and productive society depends on a stable economy. The development of extensive trade relations in Africa, Europe, and Asia, was necessary for the existence of the highly advanced civilizations that exist today. The Trans-Saharan trade, Indian Ocean trade, and manorial trade of Europe in the middle ages were major trading networks that flourished. The Trans-Saharan trade network connected the Mediterranean countries and Northern African countries with Sub-Saharan Africa. The Indian Ocean Trade network stretched from Eastern Africa to China, India, Persia, and other Asian countries. Manorial

In the Han Empire, early trading consiting of protection costs to the barbarians that threatened the peace of the vast empire. They traded money for moments of tranquilty, which the barbarians did not alwasy follow. Eventually trading for protection, became trading for profitable terms. In search of profit from trade, Chinese merchants traveled westward, thus creating the first traces of the Silk Road. China and India had strong affairs, and through merit of the

China produced silk, porcelain, and tea, while East Africa sent out ivory, gold, and slaves. Merchants found new economic practices such as using credit and the uses bills of to exchange. The Chinese were first to use this practice, then it spread to many reigons of the world. Many port cities became important trade centers, such as cities of Indian, Southeast Asia, and, several European cities created the Hanseatic League to counter Italian control of sea trade. Trade became much more important in the economy of the empires and cities in the Indian Ocean Trade and even changing many economic practices because of strong dependents for foreign

The expansion of Asian trade over the centuries originated in China due to the large cities and cultural centers that developed there. As these cities became interconnected through roads to transport military defenses, they were also used to trade goods and services. Goods such as, spices, teas, and silks, flourished in the climate specific to the area making these items especially difficult to acquire in Europe. Asian trade prospered over European trade due to the manufacture of luxury goods originating in the East.

The biggest difference between China and Europe is the cultural development. It is not as large of a difference politically or demographically as implied. The power base structure remains the same whether you are royalty or peasant. Going back far enough in European history, we see a uniform language and people similar to the Chinese. I am referring to the Celts who covered most of Europe. The cultural differences between the East and West evolved based on religious beliefs as well as the geography and interactions with foreign groups.

India turned their region into a cooperation of prosperity throughout parts of Asia and neighbors aboard that gain strategic power in the transporting of goods. The challenges and business ventures that made this region dominant by cultural exchanges, also their civilization