The word “slavery” is a general term applied to all patterns throughout history, but while different systems of slavery are similar on the surface, closer examination reveals very distinct differences in slavery practices, as evident by comparing the two models of Asian and Greco-Roman slavery. The model of slavery in Asia, particularly in East and South Asia, developed during the Han dynasty in response to the implementation of legalism as a means of social control. In China, legalism, a governance concept first introduced by Xunzi and further developed by Han Feizi, was a belief system that all people are inherently evil and the only way to curb such inclinations is through institution of severe punishments whenever a law is broken. In legalism, one method of inhibiting illicit behavior was to have neighbors monitor each other, with the threat of being punished by association, an incentive to keep an eye on one's fellow citizens: "whoever does not recognize any culprit is definitively censored and punished with the same punishment as the culprit (Han Feizi).” The most common type of punishment was for offenders, along with their families, to be enslaved by the state (Wilbur, Enslavement p. 72). Another type of slavery that existed in Asia was private slavery, most often provided by people who either sold themselves or their families into debt bondage or servitude. This often occurred during times of famine where families often pawned their children and husbands even pawned their wives (Nelson, Slavery in Japan p. 475); and all post-Han decrees prohibiting it were often overlooked in view of the extenuating circumstances that motivated it, such as economic disruptions... middle of paper... regarding the rights slaves have towards marriage and property , how slaves were used by the state and private slave owners, and how freedom could be obtained by those who wanted it. Works Cited Baker, HD. "Degrees of Freedom: Slavery in Mid-First Millennium BC Babylon." World Archeology 33, no. 1 (2001): 18-26. http://www.jstor.org/stable/827886 (accessed February 23, 2012).Fisher, NRE. Slavery in classical Greece. 2nd ed. London: Bristol Classical, 2001. Print.Joshel, Sandra R.. Slavery in the Roman World. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press, 2010. Nelson, Thomas. "Slavery in Medieval Japan". Monumenta Nipponica 59.4 (2004): 463-492. JSTOR. Network. January 6, 2012. Wilbur, C. Martin. Slavery in China during the former Han dynasty, 206 BC-25 AD New York: Russell & Russell, 1967. Print.Primary Source Package 2, Han Feizi.