1. Building and maintaining empires in India and China presented three main difficulties: controlling the aristocracy, standardizing territory, and establishing a stable system of taxation. 2. In India, the caste system posed challenges for control of aristocracy. Early emperors like Mahapadma and Chandragupta developed systems of direct taxation and public works but struggled to overcome the rigid social hierarchy. 3. In China, Confucian ideology prescribed that emperors rule benevolently and maintain the Mandate of Heaven by serving the people. However, determining the rightful emperor based on moral character was imperfect and led to instability.

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James Greer
Hist 112a
Professor Hinz
Problems of Building Empire in India and China
The idea of a universal empire would seem almost impossible to achieve and keep intact
if all perquisites for it are met in today’s society but during the late B.C.E and Early C.E. times
this was a far different case. When we look at empire we think of the areas of Persia, Rome,
India, and China as some of the more notable empires besides the British empire that formed in
the later 1600-1800s, but for the purposes of this essay I wish to argue three main points or
difficulties of establishing empire in China and India that may or may not have been fully
resolved. These three main difficulties include control of the aristocracy, standardization of
territory, and a solid system of accumulating income through taxation. In the case of India the
degree to which empire succeeded can be considered questionable in contrast to that of China
where on the basis of a single system several periods of empire succeeded and fell.
To discuss the attempt to establish an empire in India we must first note the important
role of the caste system. There are four main levels of caste. The Brahmin who have religious but
no political authority, the Kshatriya or kings and nobility who have no religious but much
political authority, the Vaishya who are the wealthy merchants and craftsmen, and the Sutras or
peasants. The untouchables are not counted in the caste system. The first attempt to establish and
empire in India was the Nanda “Empire” (421-321 BCE) by Mahapadma who was part of the
Sutra caste and was also called “the Destroyer” because his attempted method to control the
aristocracy was to completely eliminate them. The Kshatriya were utterly terrified at the

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demonstration of brutality Mahapudma showed. In addition he did develop a system of direct
taxation and a full standing army.
The second attempt to build an empire in India and from whom The Arthasastra was
developed was enacted by Chandragupha. This was also called the Maaryan Empire which lasted
from about 321-185 BCE. Chandragupha was one of the Kshatriya who managed to escape the
wrath of Mahapadma and his methods differed in that he used what elements were already in
place by the caste system to appoint regional based aristocracy. He also developed a system of
taxation based around central, regional, and local state monopolies. In addition, he also reached
out in appeal and support of the people by massive public works projects such as garrisoned
roads and integrated trade networks. One example of how he managed the aristocracy was
through a large scale system of spies as we see in The Arthasastra under chapter ten; “Spies are
in the guise of pseudo-student, priest, householder, trader, saint, practicing renunciation,
classmate or colleague, desperado, poisoner, and woman merchant.” With this expansive spy
network he was able to maintain control over his highly contested position in which other
Kshatriya wanted.
In addition in Ch.21 of The Arthasastra titled Building of Villages he declares a sort of
standardization of village specifications in which he states “Villages should consist of not less
than a hundred and not more than five hundred families of cultivators of the service classes. The
villages should extend from about one and a half miles to three miles each [in circumference]
and should be capable of defending each other.” These standardizations make it easier to plan
public works, a tax census, and other necessities of empire. The last of the three emperors
Emperor Ashoka done all of the above things plus expanded military further for improved
management and established the Pillar Edicts as a form of theater statecraft to display himself as

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like a father to the empire in which this statement “I started to have Dhamma edicts written for
the welfare and happiness of the people, and so that not transgressing them they might grow in
the Dhamma.” (The Seven Pillar Edicts, section 6) demonstrates this concept well showing a
form of kindliness and love as would a father give to his son.
In China the problems were the three issues of building empire also were encountered,
but the resolutions are similar and yet different from Ashoka in India. Confucianism school of
thought was adopted into China by a man named 孔夫子 (Confucius) in the Warring States
period around 475 BCE and became the main ruling ideology in that like Ashoka the emperor
should act towards his subjects as a father does towards his son, but in addition to this ideology
the emperor is also claim to the Mandate of Heaven in that he acts as a cosmological mediator of
some kind between heaven and earth. This is similar to the Egyptian ideology of Ma’at but the
emperor in this case is not seen as a God. There is yet another term that is used to define how an
emperor should treat not only his subjects but neighbors that surround him called “benevolence”
in which through obedience by the subjects he is to repay in benevolence by offering help in
times of war, weapons, supplies, gems, etc…
Let’s look at a few of The Analects said by Confucius himself to see how certain issues
were approached. In analects II. 3. He says “Govern them by moral force, keep order among
them by ritual and they will keep their self-respect and come to you of their own accord.”
Through this statement we see a bit of how the terms benevolence and obedience should be
enacted upon in the since that this applies to the emperor as well as the subjects to maintain a
certain moral obligation and through good character of the emperor himself the people will
follow this same moral respect and see him as benevolent therefore they will be sure to approach.

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This helps to resolve both dominance over the aristocracy by moral character and will prove for
easier business transactions to bring in capital from neighboring areas.
In section XIII. 11. Confucius says “Only if the right sort of people had charge of a
country for over a hundred years would it become really possible to stop cruelty and do away
with slaughter.” This again puts high emphasis on the behavior of the emperor to set an example
for his people, but this statement does not really help much by itself since there are often several
“Big Men” contesting for the most benevolent and rightful over others and does not necessarily
prohibit warfare or promote peace between states. However, in attempt to resolve this issue a
Civil Service Examination system is developed as like a series of tests that people had to take for
promotion to test their knowledge of the analects to rise in what I would basically call
benevolence points in hopes to ensure the most prominent officials were in charge though the
title of emperor was off limits mostly to those except for family to ensure a dynastic kingship
which unfortunately could be a problem if their civil service exam scores were not high enough
or they did not even have to take them.
This follows into part II. 19. on public opinion in which Confucius states “But if you
raise the crooked and set them on top of the straight, the commoners will not support you.” In
which does caution against possible corruption. Furthermore, this leads us back to the mandate of
heaven in that if something goes wrong like a drought or a flood and the emperor is seen as
flawed in character it is his responsibility to maintain benevolence and order by continuous
support for the people by building of roads, moving supplies, maintenance of buildings, and
other duties then he has lost the mandate of heaven and rebellion will result leading to empire
collapse.

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Overall, these three problems of aristocracy control, income and taxation, and
standardization of territory occur in both China and India empires constantly showing a degree to
which the system of universal empire is relatively unstable and expensive. Both countries took
several measures in attempt to resolve these issues through methods like soft and hard coercion
as well as theater statecraft, but inside of each of these empires there still remained holes that
could be taken advantage of ultimately leading to decline in the political structure. In India, the
main problem was the caste system and Hinduism itself which posed a strong opposition to the
building of empire. In China, Confucianism being the main adopted ideology had several issues.
It could govern and set examples of behavior and moral character for emperors and subjects, but
the way in which this was achieved was too open to many who wished to be in this position and
good moral character can easily be faked in the first place and corruption could easily take hold.