Ancient Greece & China: Similarities & Differences - Research Paper

Introduction

Ancient Greece and ancient china are among societies that experienced and practiced civilization during the early periods. The two ancient civilizations have many similarities and differences. Even though the two communities had intellectual advancement, ancient Greek culture poses a more detailed and advanced style compared to ancient china. Ancient Greece and China had a similar way of how they socially treated their women. Both societies had no respect for their women. In ancient China, women were subordinated to their fathers, their husbands, and their sons in case they were widows (Pines, 2012). And they also had no political rights, were controlled by men every stage of their lives, which is similar to classical Greece, where women also had few rights compared to men. Women in classical Greece were not allowed to own or inherit any property, vote or appear in public except in the company of the husband the same way as ancient china women were viewed as a substantial piece of the husband's property.

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In marriage, we see that in ancient china, the bride went to live with the groom in his house or his parents. After marriage, the woman would be viewed as nothing but the husband's property, which is similar to classical Greece, where all women were expected to be married, and the father usually organized it, and the woman would go and stay in the husband's house. And once married, women were expected to take care of children and manage the household's daily requirements (Pines, 2012). Similar to ancient China where, women were to bear children in which, males were preferred.

Difference Between Classical Greece and China

The difference between classical Greece and ancient china that is notable among the very many is their way of governance. The Greek citizen highly participated in management, which encouraged citizenship. The classical Greece leadership believed in a democracy, so they treated its people equally and allowed all its tribes to have representatives in the general army and also in governance (Pines, 2012). While the ancient city-states are characterized by the four most common governance systems, democracy, monarchy, aristocracy, and tyranny, ancient Greece was still recognized and associated with the birth of freedom. We can see that male citizens of eighteen years, and above were allowed to vote in the assembly and even speak openly to gatherings.

While on the other hand, ancient china had a different way of governance. They had a monarchy form of government where the emperor was the ruler with a royal family, and he used the Confucian model, which supported bureaucracy from its robust centralized system. As seen by its first empire Qin Shi Huang who ruled from 221-210 B.C. (Pines, 2012). This way of governance saw much support from the hierarchy system and the emphasis on obedience to the system. Ancient China's governance was supported by strict rules that were formed and enforced in the land. Here, the government officials would have control over large areas of the empire and with other officials working in the local districts.

Reference

Pines, Y. (2012). The Everlasting Empire: The Political Culture of Ancient China and Its Imperial Legacy. Princeton University Press. https://books.google.co.ke/books?hl