To begin with, both dynasties had made milestones in unifying China. The Qin created mandarin as the standard language and started building the Great Wall which created camaraderie between the peoples. The Han created new technologies which then spread to bring together all of the cultures in China and helped them use the same types of tools and tactics. These two dynasties also were patriarchal societies; this means that the men were the leaders in the families and societies in general. Agriculture also played a large part in each economy in these two classical societies. Also, the leaders of both civilizations expanded the borders, creating a larger area of which China was in charge. Overall, these dynasties brought the people and cultures of China together and had other similarities to make them successful.
Next, the Han and Qin dynasties had several differences to create a balance between the two. The Qin dynasty was ruled by Shi Huangdi who was a type of dictator; he believed in legalism which is a type of government that requires extreme punishment and includes strict policy. Huangdi believed the key to a successful empire was to treat the people with little respect and create fear in the minds of civilians by giving major consequences to actions. On the other hand, Liu Bang and the other rulers of the Han dynasty believed in the philosophy of Confucianism. This belief was not a religion but rather a way of life; this stated that if you give people the respect they crave, the favor will be returned. The Qin dynasty also was ruled by a dictator in a centralized government while the Han dynasty was ruled by an emperor and had a bureaucracy to make decisions. The first school in training was created for bureaucrats in the Han dynasty, but nothing like this was promoted in the Qin; Huangdi wanted to keep the civilians uneducated so he could remain in power. This is the complete opposite from Wudi and other leaders of the Han because they encouraged education; they believed that this could help China in the long run. Thus, these two societies had very different ways of running their empires, but they both contributed to modern China in crucial ways.
All in all, the Qin and the Han dynasties are completely dissimilar in that their leaders had different views on government and ruling their society, but they shared a few characteristics that helped unify China and pave the path for modern China.
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