If they failed to complete his task, they would be sold into slavery. But registration meant freedom, and throughout the Republican era, census registration was the only way a man could secure his identity and status. Now in our society today we have a census that is distributed and advised by the government to be compiled so that there is a count of how many people live in a certain city, town, state, country and even in our world. However, if someone doesn't fill it out and doesn't send it, it's not a serious consequence, in fact nothing happens to you at all. So my question is: why was this such a big deal in these early days? Well, for the Romans the census made them more than a small crowd of people, but more of a "populus" of people. Capable of collective action and great decisions. It was said to be one of the cornerstones of their civilization. We obviously evolved from the way they did the census, but we got ideas from it that are still used today. Now there are things from Han China that might still be slightly relevant in our society, but I don't feel like I've found anything that's huge and stands out. However, something from the Han China era that was said to be an important part of their civilization, just as the Roman Empire was with the census, the ideas of Confucianism were huge in Han China. Almost all culture and society was based on this topic. If someone aspired to hold public office, they had to receive an education based on Confucianism. Confucianism was an important part of Han China and was obviously something they felt strongly about being part of their society. While Confucianism still exists and probably plays an important role in the lives of many people around the world. It is not an important part of most people's daily lives and in our modern world