Empire in the Provinces: A Comparative Analysis Between Imperial Intermediaries in Rome and China

Large empires depend on intermediaries to govern provincial lands. The Roman empire and imperial China during the Qin and Han dynasties are no exception. This essay compares the types of intermediaries found in Rome and China. Both empires utilized local elites and imperial bureaucracies to maintain rule, but not to the same extent. To keep order, imperial China entrusted minimal powers to the local aristocracy and heavily depended on a bureaucracy run by imperial officials. Meanwhile, the Roman empire’s bureaucracy was much more limited. Instead, Rome mainly allowed local elites to rule the provinces. To maintain the loyalty of their intermediaries, both empires had to offer various incentives to cooperate with the system. However, neither Rome nor China had perfect control over their subjects. Corruption was a common problem among intermediaries. Even so, both imperial systems were successful enough to last several centuries