In chapter 5, Strayer talks about how the Chinese society was shaped by the actions of the state. Later on, Confucius picked officials based on merit and morality. I didn't like the fact that schools only taught those who were potential officials. It wasn't surprising to me that the wealthy landowners were basically able to run the nation, and that majority of the population were peasants. Merchants were very disliked by the China people because they were considered dangerous and manipulative. India is similar to china in the sense that it was hard to move social classes and birth determined your social status. However, India was different from all other civilizations because their society was organized by the caste system. The Caste as Varma was basically a social pyramid that separated each of the societal sections. The Caste as Jati was the subsections of each of the Varma sections. Inequality wasn't the only major problem, slavery was starting to rise. Slaves were typically women and then men started to become slaves. Slaves have no freedom and in some civilizations they are able to earn back their freedom but in others they can't. The Roman society thrived on the fact that people could own slaves. In China, women were considered to be beneath men depending on their social class. In Athens, only men who owned land could participate in voting and only men would be educated. However in Sparta, boys would be taken from their families at a young age to become soldiers, girls were encouraged to play sports, and both were educated.