The establishment of the Roman and Chinese empires was quite impressive. Both covered great distances and had much power. Both empires invested heavily in aqueducts, bridges, roads, canals and protective walls, all so they could have a stronger more superior way of life. The Romans are said to have felt that "almost the entire world" must be under their control while the Chinese felt that "all under heaven" must be theirs. These were two very confident and powerful empires will equally powerful and confident leaders marking the way into the future. 

     The Chinese empire decided to look to Buddhism as their religious background. They took the teachings of Buddhism from India. This mentality meant that all would come to one common agreement to unify and become a stronger empire. The Chinese leaders offered an assimilation process for all those who were not Chinese though were living in Chinese run territory. These non-chinese were integrated in language, culturally and also through intermarriage. The assimilation of all of these "barbarians" or non-chinese allowed those foreign to their new powerful leaders to find a way to fit in and feel as if they belong and want to be a part of this new world. 

     The Roman empire offered an assimilation process also though it was a little different than the Chinese. The Romans offered citizenship to those that offered their service to the empire or that recognized the empire on their own. Becoming a Roman citizen allowed all to become men of public office, to serve in the Roman military, and to wear a toga even. The Romans though did this in terms of legal status and still saw others as being what they are and not necessarily Roman. Greeks were still Greeks and Egyptians were still Egyptians. 

     Another assimilation factor for both empires is that of written language. The Roman empire had their roots of written language in Latin. The Latin writings gave specific sounds that could be used in such languages as Spanish, Portuguese, French, Italian, and Romanian. The Chinese on the other hand had just one standard set of written symbols that had no actual sounds attached to them. These written symbols though could be understood by all literate people that could speak a dialect of Chinese. This would allow for more of the Chinese empire to communicate with one another thus giving a chance for a brighter and bigger future. The Romans, limited by all the diversity in language, cold hit a few speed bumps when in the process of looking to communicate with a fellow countryman, though they may not actually be of the same country as, thus not allowing for any wave of fluid communication. 

     A major problem for both empires seems to be the pollution they both lived in. THe Romans lived in areas of mining operations, and the crazy amount of smelting metals. These led to smoke and noise all throughout the cities. THe Chinese had large scale ironworks and the mass amount of agriculture and logging deprived the land of its rightful nutrients. An empire may be great but that does not mean that all within the empire is great.