Compared with China, why were there fewer large-scale peasant uprisings in ancient Egypt

Compared with China, why were there fewer large-scale peasant uprisings in ancient Egypt for nearly 3,000 years?


As the title suggests, this is an essay comparing ancient Egypt and ancient China.
Only by comparison can we distinguish. There are two kinds of comparison, one is the comparison between similar things, focusing on, how they are the same, but why do they show different characteristics? The other is the comparison between different types of things, focusing on, why are they different, but why they show the same characteristics.
So, were ancient Egypt and ancient China the same type of civilization or state, or were they different types of civilization or state? I'll start with the conclusion that ancient Egypt and ancient China were the same type of civilization or state.
Why do you say that? Let's start with the legal system of ancient Egypt. Let's start with property law. In ancient Egypt, the supreme ownership of land throughout the country (the most important property ownership in ancient societies) was vested in the highest administrative head, the Pharaoh. The pharaoh then distributed the land to the temples and officials in the form of grants or salaries. This is the same as the ancient Chinese "under the whole earth, there is no king". Secondly, in Egyptian society, the Pharaoh was not only the highest administrator but also the highest priest and the highest judge of the state, which is also the same as in ancient China. Let's look at criminal law. In the criminal law of ancient Egypt, the biggest crime is "state crime", that is, insurrection or rebellion; This is precisely the important feature of ancient Chinese criminal law: "treason" is the first felony.
Finally, ancient Egyptian law required that any transfer of important property, including the most important property, and land, be signed in writing at a local or central office and registered by an official clerk. In terms of marriage and inheritance law, divorce is declared by official judicial decision, and abandonment of the wife is forbidden without an official judicial decision for any reason. In terms of succession, no matter what kind of succession method, the heir and the fact of succession have to be registered through the official office. All of these are similar to ancient China.
Of course, in addition to the analysis of the legal provisions in black and white, we can also analyze the remaining buildings. For example, the famous tombs of the pharaohs, and the pyramids, indicate the supreme position of the pharaohs in Egyptian society. In addition to the pyramids, ancient Egypt also left many tall temple buildings. So, does the existence of these huge temples mean that the priests of ancient Egypt were equal to the pharaohs? The answer is no. Because most of these temples are themselves matched with the pyramids, they used to worship the pharaoh's mausoleum temple. In short, all these remains in ancient Egypt belong to the same nature as the magnificent imperial palaces and imperial tombs in ancient China.
Finally, we can also see the power and influence of kingship in the general consciousness of the middle and lower classes of people. For example, in the descriptions of ancient Egyptian literature, we often read that the ministers "prostrate themselves before the Pharaoh," "prostrate themselves again," and "prostrate themselves before the Pharaoh again." And in the large number of epitaphs that have survived, we can also see the happy and proud mood of the tomb owners when they were praised and rewarded by the pharaoh: "Pharaoh admires me", "Pharaoh admires me above all else", "I am more satisfied with me than with any other minister", "I am outstanding in Pharaoh's heart because I give Pharaoh satisfaction", "I perform well before him... He appointed me chief of the guard and gave me 100 men as a reward ", "and he gave me a gold stick, a gold scabbled, a dagger, and a piece of cloth..." Let's wait. In the above text, if we replace the word "pharaoh" with the word "emperor" and the word "prostrate" with the word "genuflection", we can completely copy it to Chinese society. We know that since the gravestone was to be placed in front of the tomb for viewing, the words of praise used on it (whether they are formulaic or not) naturally should also conform to the prevailing values of the society at that time, so we can see the powerful influence of the administrative kingarchy in ancient Egypt at that time.
Once the influence lasts a long time, it will inevitably be passed on to the entire social education system. In a school document used to teach students to read and write, ancient Egyptian teachers tell their students: "As soon as a man is born from his mother's womb, he must obey his superior." "Being a secretary (after repeatedly describing in detail the hardships of the peasants and soldiers) allows one not to be burdened with servitude and participate in all work. He didn't have to hoe or carry a basket. Being a secretary saves you from rowing and suffering. You don't have a lot of masters, you don't have a bunch of bosses." "One secretary can direct the work of all. He doesn't pay taxes..." The natural conclusion is "to be a secretary, who directs all the work." (See The Literary Exploits of the Nile River, The Kingdom of the Pharaohs, etc.) If we replace "secretary" with "official", we can also copy the above words into ancient Chinese society without making any other changes.
Now, if ancient Egypt and ancient China belong to the same type of administrative civilization, then why, in its long history of nearly 3,000 years, it rarely broke out like the large-scale peasant uprising in ancient China? This is certainly not because the pharaohs of ancient Egypt were all wise men, dedicated to the service of the people; Nor is it because ancient Egypt always had good weather and never suffered famine; It's not that they never built huge, wasteful, and ineffective projects - on the contrary, the pharaohs built for themselves huge pyramid tombs that will astonish future generations... Similarly, the reason why so many large-scale peasant uprisings have broken out in China is not because the emperors of ancient China were all greedy and bent on crushing the people. For no emperor, no ordinary, no crueler, would be so foolish as to deny the people basic food and force the people who could not survive to rise and overthrow him.
So, what is the inevitable reason that ancient Egypt did not continue to break out large-scale peasant uprisings like China?
I would like to say the conclusion first: because of some accidental geographical factors, the top leadership of ancient Egypt had a very good understanding of the farming climate and the actual living standards of the basic people below, so the Pharaohs could determine different taxes and levy different kinds of labor according to different specific conditions, without excessive use of civil forces.
So, what are the accidental geographical conditions, that can make the situation of ancient Egypt smooth? I can't help but start with the famous Nile River.
The Nile River is more than 6,000 kilometers long, like a streamer, running through the entire territory of ancient Egypt. The land of ancient Egypt was distributed on both sides of the Nile, and its shape was also a narrow ribbon similar to the Nile. And the most special thing about the Nile is that it floods its banks every year during the rainy season. But the Nile's regular annual flooding helped ancient Egypt's agriculture: After the flood, the fertile mud remained on the sandy soil on both sides, ensuring that the agricultural harvest was flourishing. If there is a lack of rain and drought in a given year, the area on both sides of the river will be greatly reduced, and the agricultural harvest will fail that year. Therefore, the quality of agriculture in ancient Egypt in a given year depended entirely on the amount of Nile water that year. And most importantly, if the Nile water is low, the upper, middle, and lower reaches will be dry at the same time, all over the country. If there is a lot of water in the Nile, there will be a good harvest in the upper, middle, and lower reaches at the same time, and there will be no exception in the whole country.
So, you might ask, what does this have to do with the rarity of peasant uprisings in ancient Egypt?
It matters too much. It is precisely because of this completely accidental feature of the Nile that the ancient Egyptian pharaohs could easily know the quality of the country's agricultural harvest in a given year and the living conditions of the country's farmers that year. Note that this is a national picture, not a local picture. The specific method is very simple, near the royal palace, in a suitable part of the Nile, erect a large solid stone monument, on which the scale is marked. Every rainy season, special personnel are sent to check the level of the flooded stone monument, so that we know the amount of river water in the year, and then we accurately know the amount of the national flood irrigation area, as well as the national agricultural harvest. The Pharaohs then used this accurate information to determine the level of national taxes and the amount of labor to be recruited for that year. For example, in the case of the construction of pyramids, the construction is normal in good harvest years, slow in bad harvest years, and temporarily suspended in famine years, and so on.
In contrast, in ancient China, it was difficult for the emperor at the top to accurately understand the climate and agricultural abundance of the vast territory, let alone the actual living standards of the grassroots people. Even if a natural disaster occurred somewhere, and even if the local officials reported it, the emperor would not know whether it was a real disaster or whether the local officials were incompetent or misrepresented for personal gain. And colleagues competing for promotion will inevitably raise some malicious questions. Therefore, to retain their official positions, the officials at the following levels could be promoted based on the so-called evaluation of their achievements, and at the same time avoid the suspicion of the emperor and prevent the quarrels of their colleagues, they naturally hid from the superiors and deceived them as much as they could. In short, good news does not bring bad news. Over such a long period, under the repeated influence of false information that the situation is good and the country is prosperous, even the wise emperor will make misjudgments and will be too happy to make major decisions that are not in line with the national power (let alone the foolish emperor). On the other hand, officials at all levels transferred the pressure of huge administrative orders transmitted by the emperor from above, which did not correspond to the actual situation of the people, to the lower levels, so that the people at the lowest level could not live and had to rise.
These are the basic reasons why there were fewer peasant uprisings in ancient Egypt because of unobstructed information, and why large-scale peasant uprisings kept breaking out in ancient China because of unobstructed information. Well, that's the end of my rough argument, thank you!

From ‘The World Book Dictionary,’ (Hyksos) “A succession of six foreign rulers of Egypt—from about 1730 B.C. to about 1570 B.C; Shepherd Kings.” --- And from the Encyclopedia Britannica, ‘Hyksos’, invaders who were also called the Shepherd Kings, who in the time of “King Tutimaios” entered Egypt and took possession of it ‘without striking a blow’.

The ancient Egyptians owned and farmed their own land. How did the Hyksos invaders take possession of it without striking a blow?

Genesis 41: After Joseph had revealed to the Hyksos king that his dreams were a prophecy telling of a seven-year period of plenty, which would be followed by a seven years period of severe drought, Joseph is made Governor of all Egypt, and all Egyptians were commanded by the King to obey him.

The King removed his royal ring with its engraved seal and put it on the finger of Joseph. He was given the second royal chariot and a guard of honour who went ahead of him crying out, “Make way, make way.” And the King said: I am King, but no one in all of Egypt shall so much as lift a hand or a foot without Joseph’s permission.

He gave Joseph an Egyptian wife, Asenath, the daughter of the High priest of Heliopolis, who prophesied that if ever the bones of Joseph left Egypt, the LIGHT of Egypt would go with him. For that reason, a permanent guard was set up to keep watch over the tomb of Joseph, in order that no one could remove the mummified body of Joseph.

During the seven years of plenty, Joseph gathered a percentage of the Egyptian grain crop as a tax, which was stored in silos throughout Egypt. In the early stages of the great seven-year drought, the Egyptians had to buy their grain from Joseph, when their money had all gone, they traded their possessions and livestock, after which, they were forced to sign their land over for grain in order to survive.

Genesis 47: 20-21. Joseph bought all the land of Egypt for the king. Every Egyptian was forced to sell their land, because the famine was so severe; Joseph made slaves of all the people from one end of Egypt to the other, ‘without striking a blow.’