印度和中国同为世界人口大国，西方人一直将印度和中国作为比较的对象，从军事、经济、科技、人文历史等领域总要和中国比较一番。在美国Quora问答平台上，有人提出问题：古代中国文明比古代印度文明更先进吗？这一问题引发了印度精英的积极回应，整个评论区非常高能。
以下节选部分Quora读者的评论：
Sanchayan Sarkar, PhD Research Fellow at University of Pittsburgh (2017-present)
Sanchayan Sarkar 匹兹堡大学博士研究员（2017年至今）
No. Certainly more documented but not more advanced. The Indian Civilisation dates to over 7500 BC according to current archaeological facts. The oldest site of civilised Indus Saraswati City is Bhirrana (7500 BC). Please note that artefacts from the underwater sites of Dwarka has been found over 32000 BC and the site itself is predicted around 12000 BC. That takes it before the Ice Age melting around 10000 BC. Note that the Dwarka excavation is still under progress and the facts are empirical in nature.
Coming to the Indus Valley Civilisation, it has been proved that they are the largest occupying civilisation of the early bronze age with exceptional engineering and urban planning, high sophistication in creation of public places like baths (Bath of Mohenjo Daro) , Granaries of Harappa and perfectly aligned brick houses. The Dholavera site has also excavated a stadium of the biggest proportion in the ancient world. Not just that reservoirs , underground running water drainage system , Toilets and many such structures were refined. There is no parallel to that in any other civilisation. Not just that , the social order of the civilisation was advanced in the way that the priest formed the highest tier, yoga is depicted there and spiritual knowledge existed. They also had seals , weighted trade coins , etc.
China has no such contemporary history . China’s history co-incides with the Iron Age of India and it does not match with India . Chinese scholars themselves praised universities like Nalanda and Taxilla in India and the greatness of the Indian empires like Guptas and the Pallavas. Indian rock cut archtiecture was at the finest in the world at that time. Indian metal was the finest in the world. India had plenty of water trade routes and that meant large navies and ships. The Cholas , Pandyas , Guptas , Mauryas had all powerful navies.
不。当然了中国的文字记载更多，但并没有更发达。根据目前的考古资料，印度文明可追溯到公元前7500年。萨拉斯瓦蒂文明古国最古老的遗址是比拉那(公元前7500年)。请注意，水下遗址的人工制品可追溯到公元前32000年，而遗址本身预计在公元前12000年左右。比公元前10000年左右的冰河时代融化还要早。需要注意的是德瓦卡的挖掘工作仍在进行中。
现在说说印度河流域文明，已经证实他们是最大的青铜时代早期文明，拥有超高水平的工程和城市规划，公共场所如(Mohenjo Daro浴室)、哈拉帕谷仓和完全一致的砖房的建设非常复杂。Dholavera遗址还出土了古代世界面积最大的体育场。不仅仅是水库，地下自来水排水系统，厕所和许多这样的建筑也得到了改善。不仅如此，社会文明的秩序也得到了发展，祭司成了最高统治者，出现了瑜伽和精神知识。当时也出现了印章，贸易硬币等。
中国没有这样的现代史。中国的历史与印度的铁器时代并存，与印度的历史不相匹配。中国学者也称赞印度的那烂陀和塔西拉等大学，以及古普塔和帕拉瓦等印度帝国的伟大。印度的石刻建筑在当时是世界上最为出色的。印度金属是世界上质量最佳的。印度有大量的水上贸易路线，这意味着大型海军和船只。朱罗王朝、潘迪亚王朝、古普塔斯王朝、孔雀王朝都有强大的海军。
Spiritual knowledge in India is the most sophisticated. It’s not bragging but it’s true and all eastern philosophies were heavily influenced by India . China did not influence India but India influenced China , Japan , South East Asia , Korea and also west Asia. China invented paper but India used barks of tree to record. India was extremely advanced in mathematics rivalling the Egyptians and the Greeks. Both Vedic Maths and Classical Maths were advanced in India. Infact the Persians and the Arabic people borrowed a lot of maths from India. The decimal number system evolved in India , binary numbers evolved in India . India utilised value of PI much before any europeans.
Indian epics were the oldest and the longest. The Mahabharata is the longest epic in the world till date. Now this is the current history .If you follow the Vedic history , then the civilisation is far more advanced. Ayodhya , Dwarka and Bharatavarsha were the grandest empires in the world.
印度的精神知识是最复杂的。不是吹牛，这是真的，所有东方哲学都深受印度的影响。中国没有影响印度，但印度影响了中国、日本、东南亚、韩国和西亚。中国发明了纸，而印度用树皮来记录。印度数学极为先进，可与埃及人和希腊人相匹敌。印度的吠陀数学和古典数学很先进。事实上，波斯人和阿拉伯人从印度借用了大量数学知识。十进制在印度出现，二进制在印度出现。印度对圆周率的使用远远早于任何欧洲国家。
印度史诗是最古老、最长的。《摩诃婆罗多》是迄今为止世界上最长的史诗。如果你研究吠陀的历史，那么文明要发达得多。阿约提亚、德瓦尔卡和巴拉塔-瓦沙是世界上最伟大的帝国。
Akshit Singh, B.A. History, St. Stephen’s College, University of Delhi (2018)
阿克希特·辛格 德里大学圣斯蒂芬学院历史学士（2018）
In the Ancient China, there were many philosophical groups like Confucianisn, Taoism , Buddhism , Legalism, but Confucianism were more prevalant and effective.
Confucianism can be characterized as a system of social and ethical philosophy built on ancient religious foundations to establish the social values, institutions, and transcendent ideals of traditional Chinese society.
I’ll list out some features of Confucianism and will compare with Ancient Indian Civilisation :
在中国古代，有许多哲学团体，如儒家、道教、佛教、法家，但儒家思想更为普遍和有效。
儒家思想可以被描述为一种建立在古代宗教基础上的社会和伦理哲学体系，它确立了中国传统社会的社会价值、制度和卓越理想。
我会列出儒家思想的一些特点，并将其与古印度文明相比较：
1.Confucius believed that the quality and merits of individuals were greater than the circumstances of his birth and environment , but in Indian Ancient Civilisation , all the respactable jobs were hereditary and were trasferred from father to son. Farmers son will become a farmer and nobles king will get a good respectable job in the kingdom.
2.Law, according to Confucianism, was concerned with not how to sort out the rights and wrongs of each case but how to re-establish social harmony. Penalties were more like social rites than individual punishments. The custom oriented, practical nature of the law was apparent in the fact that no separate court system existed ,
severe corporal and capital punishment was illegal, the state seldom interfered with clan justice. , but in Indian Subcontinent, the land was diverse which was ruled over by many kings, so there was no uniformity and moreover we cannot find this kind of law and order as it is in Confucianism.
1.孔子认为，个人的素质和品德比他的出身和所处的环境重要得多，但在印度的古代文明中，所有体面的工作都是世袭的，由父亲传给儿子。农民的儿子长大后是农民，贵族国王沿袭体面的王国内的工作。
2.根据儒家思想，法律关注的不是如何辨别是非，而是如何重建社会和谐。惩罚更像是社会仪式而不是个人惩罚。法律以习俗为导向，实用性明显，没有专门的法院系统，严重的体罚和死刑是非法的，国家很少干涉氏族司法。但是在印度次大陆，领土由许多国王统治，没有统一，我们也找不到这种法律和秩序，因为那是儒家思想。
3.The attitude that the Chinese had of superiority and self sufficiency and looking upon foreigners as ‘barbarians’, led the western scholars to coin the term ‘Sinocentrism’ to describe the way the Chinese perceived themselves.
All countries that desired relations with China had to accept the tributary system, while in Indian Subcontinent , there were no centralisation of power and every kindom had their own rituals and ethics , that means no uniformity.
4.Society was traditionally divided into four occupational classes. Highest of all were the scholar administrator (shi); peasants (nung), artisans (kung) and lastly the merchants (shang). Above these four orders were go nment bureaucrats and below were the ‘degraded’ people, who were denied the rights enjoyed by the common people.
These were actors, prostitutes, soldiers, yamen messengers, vagrants etc. Traders were not given priviledge earlier because the economy of China was well eqipped,but in Indian Subcontinent we found trade from many countries like Rome , Middle East which opened the way for foreigners to intervene.
3.中国人有优越感和自给自足的态度，视外国人为“蛮人”，这使得西方学者创造了“中国中心主义”这个术语来描述中国人对自己的看法。所有希望与中国建立关系的国家都必须接受朝贡制度，而在印度次大陆，没有中央集全，每个王国都有自己的宗教和伦理，这意味着不统一。
4.社会传统上分为四种职业。其中最高的是士大夫、农民(农)、工匠(工)，最后是商人(商)。这四个等级以上是官吏，之下是“下贱”的人，他们被剥夺了老百姓所享有的权利。这些人包括戏子、妓女、士兵、衙役、流浪汉等。早些时候，由于中国经济发展良好，贸易商并没有得到特权，但在印度次大陆，我们与许多国家展开了贸易，比如罗马，中东，这为外国干涉打开了大门。
We cannot say that the Confucianism was the best but if we see in total Confucianism had more pros than Indian Ancient Civilisation.
Confucius – founder of Confucianism
我们不能说儒家思想是最好的，但如果我们总体观察，儒家思想比印度古代文明具有更多的优点。
孔子—儒家思想的创始人。
Damon Kent 达蒙.肯特
What do you mean when you are talking the civilization?
Which country has more complex artworks?
Which country has more princely buildings?
Which country has more militarist?
which country has more treasure?
That is pointless!
I think China is more advanced than India in Ancient age, For:
China has the continuous honest history, not myth or epic.
Even most of the India ancient history are reform according the China historical records.
India’s ancient history is created by Indian, recorded by Chinese, explored ruins by British.
你指的文明是什么意思?
哪个国家的艺术品更精美?
哪个国家有更多的贵族建筑?
哪个国家有更多的军国主义分子?
哪个国家有更多的宝藏?
那是没有意义的!
我认为中国在古代比印度更先进，因为:
中国有着悠久而可靠的历史，而不是神话或史诗。
就连大部分印度古代史都是根据《中国史记》改编的。
印度的古代历史是由印度人创造，中国人记录，英国人探索的废墟。
Vdhay Kumar N, Consultant at Oil and Gas Industry (2017-present)
维德.库马尔 石油天然气行业顾问（2017年至今）
It’s hard to answer such questions india and china both are ancient cultures and have Large history of inventions & innovations.
India did a lot on yoga, mathematics, philosophy , astronomy, medicine etc. Chinese did lots of inventions like paper, gun powder, compass etc. they have also did lots of
research on indian scriptures and translations to their language and are successful in developing it to a new level. Many chinese museums have India’s oldest scriptures collected by people like xuang xang etc and are restored perfectly.
Buddha was from india, Chinese have spread it entire east, kalari a form of martial art in Southern India was developed into khumfu, karate etc by Chinese.
这样的问题很难回答，印度和中国都是古老的文化，有着悠久的发明和创新历史。
印度在瑜伽、数学、哲学、天文学、医学等方面很有造诣。中国人发明了很多东西，比如纸、火药、指南针等等。他们还研究了很多印度经文，并把它们翻译成自己的语言。中国的许多博物馆都有玄奘等人收藏的印度最古老的经文，而且修复得很完美。
佛祖来自印度，中国人把它传播到整个东方，卡拉利是印度南部的一种武术形式，被中国人发展成功夫，空手道等。
Guo Yang 郭洋
Ancient China is far ahead of India, territorial expansion to Central Asia, Europe has a lot of records about ancient China, China has a history of more than two thousand years, India’s history has come to China to visit (India itself has no detailed historical records, because they Like the mythology as history.) Chinese culture affects South Korea, Japan, Southeast Asia, Central Asia. Ancient China despise India, ancient Indian culture has long been destroyed, alien invasion and so on. China, South Korea, Malaysia, Malaysian Chinese, Thai Chinese, Indonesian Chinese, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and China are among the countries that are influenced by Confucian culture. The However, most of India’s culture is influenced by religion, and China is deeply influenced by Confucius philosophy
古代中国远远领先于印度，其领土扩张到中亚，欧洲有很多关于古代中国的记录,中国有二千多年的历史，印度的历史要到中国来寻找(印度自身没有详细的历史记录，因为他们喜欢神话历史)中国文化影响了韩国、日本、东南亚、中亚。古代中国轻视印度，古代印度文化早已被外来入侵摧毁。中国、韩国、马来西亚、马来西亚华人、泰国华人、印尼华人都受儒家文化影响。然而，印度的大部分文化受宗教影响，而中国深受孔子哲学的影响。
Alexander Tan 亚历山大·谭
As a Chinese person, India was more sophisticated than China in ancient times. Why?
During the Ancient period, the most sophisticated civilization was the Achaemenid Persian Empire. Persia shared a border with India, letting India receive much of their innovations. China did not have the advantage of an already advanced civilization bordering them.
However in the late ancient period when Han China was in power, then definitely China was more sophisticated. Chinese inventions are always being recorded, whereas Indian advancements were mostly cultural (at least those recorded). Chinese had more physical development.
我是中国人，印度在古代比中国更发达。为什么?
在古代，最发达的文明是阿契美尼德波斯帝国。波斯与印度接壤，使印度接受了他们的许多发明。中国不具备与已经很先进的文明接壤的的优势。
然而，在汉朝统治时期，中国显然更加发达。中国的发明被记录了下来，而印度的进步主要是文化上的(至少那些被记录下来了)。中国人则有更多的自然科学方面的研究。
Kush Rajput, Good Knowledge of History and Civilization of India.
库什·拉吉普特 了解印度的历史和文明
The origin of all the civilizations is India or you can Say Bharatvarsh(Ancient name of India). So if India was the first civilized country then it would be more advance than Chinese Civilizations as per my Knowledge. As I know about the histories of India, it is a country of Gods, Scientist, Technologies and lot more. But now days its going back from those things and India is following the westernization which will lead us toward the hell. I hope you will be satisfied with the given answer.
所有文明的起源都是印度，或者你可以说Bharatvarsh(古印度)。所以，如果印度是第一个文明国家，那么根据我的知识，它比中国文明更先进。据我对印度历史的了解，这是一个神、科学家、技术和更多东西的国家。但现在这些都是往日云烟了，印度在西方化，这将把我们引向地狱。我希望你会对给出的答案感到满意。
Raisal Ven, History buff 丽莎 历史爱好者
In terms of soft culture? Only Greece matched India, with all the religions, philosophy, debates, culture, etc.
软文化方面？只有希腊能与印度匹敌，包括所有的宗教、哲学、辩论、文化等等。
Orz Chin
The toilets in India are better than in China
印度的厕所比中国的好
Vikash Tewarie, Counsellor (1992-present) 维卡什·特瓦里 顾问（1992至今）
To keep it short and simple, ponder about this quote from Chinese ambassador and philosopher, Hu Shih: “India conquered and dominated China culturally for 20 centuries without ever having to send a single soldier across her border”
简而言之，让我们来思考一下中国大使和哲学家胡适的这句话：“印度无需派出一兵一卒，就在文化上征服和统治了中国20个世纪。”
Kimberly Keith 金伯利·基思
Hieroglyphics from Ancient Egypt are dating back nearly 30,000 years, making them older than Vinca script in Europe, which is only 7000 years. That is my response to Justin Green’s answer, which is incorrect. Furthermore, Ancient India is responsible for many religions, philosophies, technologies, and cultural traditions in China. The ancient Chinese learned from ancient Indians
古埃及的象形文字可以追溯到3万年前，比欧洲的温卡文字还要古老，而欧洲的温卡文字只有7000年的历史。这是我对Justin Green的回应，他说的是不正确的。此外，古印度是中国许多宗教、哲学、技术和文化传统的发源地。古代中国人向古代印度人学习。
Danethy Neutron
No, Ancient India acquired farming, literacy, and a written script BEFORE the Ancient Chinese; they also had a larger civilization and population then Ancient China during the Indus Valley civilization. They also discovered and utilized Iron metallurgy and sophisticated metal working BEFORE Ancient China. They also constructed numerous building’s out of stones and bricks, and out of pure bedrock, SOMETHING STILL UNPARALLELED BY ANYONE IN THE ANCIENT ERA EXCEPT FOR MAYBE THE MESO-AMERICANS; they also had constructed monuments and artifacts out of pure iron steel, like the iron pillers of India, which has NOT rusted or corroded TO THIS DAY to when it was first constructed in the BC period!
Whereas the Ancient Chinese mainly utilized wood for their structures. Ancient Indians already had tidal docks and ports thousands of years before the Ancient Chinese, all the way back to the IVC civ. The Ancient Indians also had invented and come upon modern Pythagorean geometry, Advanced algebra and trigonometry, binary, and the modern numerical system and the concept of zero BEFORE the Ancient Chinese. They came upon the concept of Atoms BEFORE the Ancient Chinese. THEY CREATED AND INVENTED THE MODERN GAME OF CHESS WITHOUT AND BEFORE THE ANCIENT CHINESE! Even modern martial arts like Kung fu and Judo, WERE CREATED AND INVENTED BY ANCIENT INDIANS! Even MODERN BODYBUILDING WAS CONCEIVED OF AND CREATED BY ANCIENT INDIANS!
不，古印度人在古代中国人之前就学会了农耕、识字和书写；他们在印度河流域的文明和人口也比古代中国更大。他们还发现和实践了中国古代以前的铁冶金和复杂的金属加工。他们还用石头和砖块建造了无数的建筑，这在古代是无人能及的；他们还用纯钢铁建造了纪念碑和手工艺品，比如印度的铁柱，它至今没有生锈或腐蚀！
而中国古代的建筑主要使用木材。古印度人比中国提前了几千年就拥有了潮汐码头和港口。古代印度人还发明了现代的毕达哥拉斯几何学、高等代数和三角学、二进制、现代的数字系统和零的概念。他们在古代中国人之前就提出了原子的概念。他们创造并发明了古代中国没有的现代象棋游戏！就连功夫和柔道这样的现代武术也是由古代印度人创造和发明的！甚至现代健身也是由古代印度人构思和创造的！
By the medieval period, Ancient India WAS ALREADY DOING CALCULUS LEVEL AND LIKE MATHMATICS BEFORE ANYONE ELSE! Ancient India during the medieval period, WAS THE MOST ADVANCED CIV OF MATHEMATICS DURING THE MIDDLE AGES JUST FOR THIS FEAT ALONE! During the Middle ages, Ancient Indians came upon carbon nanotube technology and wootz steel making, which was the strongest high quality steel in the Middle ages; this technology would later be known as “damascus steel” and would be known in the world for being the most effective and high quality steel on the market back then, par none, AND NO ONE EXCEPT ANCIENT INDIANS AND MIDDLE EASTERN NATIONS HAD ACCESS TO THE DAMASCUS STEEL TECHNOLOGY!
So no Ancient China WAS NOT MORE ADVANCED THEN ANCIENT INDIA, AND IT WAS NOT THE MOST ADVANCED ANCIENT CIV AT ALL, as sinophiles,
到了中世纪，古印度人已经比别人率先学会了微积分和数学！古印度的数学文明在中世纪时期是全世界最先进的！在中世纪，古印度人发明了碳纳米管技术和伍德兹制钢，这是中世纪最强的优质钢；这种技术后来被称为“大马士革钢”，在世界上被认为是当时市场上最优质的钢，除了古印度和中东国家，没有人掌握大马士革钢技术！
所以古代中国并不比古代印度更先进，它也根本不是最先进的古代文明.
Stuart
Yes, 100% agree.
First there was no India civilisation at all, it was a fake civilisation as Indian media put it.
All the Indian histories were recorded by other languages including Chinese.
Iron metallurgy and Brass etc. were first innovated and discovered by Chinese
是的,100%同意。
首先，根本就不存在印度文明，这是印度媒体编撰的虚假文明。
所有的印度历史都是用包括汉语在内的其他语言记录的。
中国最早发明和发现了铁冶金、黄铜等。
Suman Smith Adhikari, Living in a developing free India. 苏曼·史密斯·阿迪卡里，生活在一个发展中的自由印度
Both were equally advanced.Chinese however discovered many essential items like compass,paper,gunpowder etc.But Indians were no less.All know about the great forbidden city,the great wall of China and many more wonderful architectures but many do not know about India(especially the Chinese judging by their answers).Many people in the west also live in their little bubble never exploring outside their “great” Roman or Greek civilization
两者都同样先进。中国人发明了很多东西，如指南针、纸、火药等。所有人都知道伟大的紫禁城，中国长城，还有更多的绝美建筑，但是很多人不知道印度(尤其是中国人)。许多西方人生活在他们的小泡泡里，从未探索过他们“伟大”的罗马或希腊文明之外的世界。
Lakshay Negi
YES!!!!
Don’t you know they were the greatest of all time.Their inventions changed over life for ever.We all today are alive because of ancient China.What do you think Ancient China was just limited to paper,compass etc?
Ancient India was nothing but some black monkeys fighting each other.Infact Ancient India was not even India.They we were just some naked tribal people.T hey just have some make up stories of their not real God who teach us that even God have to face their good or bad karma(In Ramayan and Mahabharat).They did not invented Flush toilets that’s why you can see why Half of the India’s population don’t have them
It’s all a lie that they invented WOOTZ steel,ironpillar,buttons,rulers,cotton,numericals,zero,binary,shampoo, 10k+ languages etc.If they could be civilized any close to Chinese then Europeans would not be able to rule India。China was,is,will be Number 1 forever.They were always united.
是的! ! ! !
难道你不知道他们是有史以来最伟大的文明？他们的发明在生活中永远地改变了。我们今天还都因为古代中国才得以存续。你认为中国古代仅仅局限于纸、指南针这些东西？
古印度不过是一些猴子在打架。事实上，古印度压根不是现在的印度。他们只是一些赤身裸体的部落人。他们只会编造故事，告诉我们即使是神也要面对他们的善业或恶业(在《罗摩衍那》和《摩诃婆罗多》中)。他们没有发明出抽水马桶，这就是为什么印度现在仍有一半人口没有抽水马桶的原因。
他们发明了木头、铁柱子、纽扣、尺子、棉花、数字、零、二进制、洗发水、1万多种语言等等，这都是谎言。如果他们能在中国附近得到开化，那么欧洲人就无法统治印度了。中国过去是，现在是，将来还会永远是最伟大的文明。他们总是团结一致。
