What were the social, cultural, and political consequences of the unification of China under the strong centralized governments of the Qin and Han empires?

In much the same period in which Rome created a huge empire, the Qin and Han rulers in China created an empire on a similar scale. Like the Roman Empire (see Chapter 6), the Chinese empire was put together through force of arms and held in place by sophisticated centralized administrative machinery. The governments created by the Qin and Han Dynasties affected many facets of Chinese social, cultural, and intellectual life.