Bureaucracy arose originally in China, specifically from the Qin Dynasty (221-202 B.C.E.) and evolved throughout the succeeding Han, Sui, Tang, and Song Dynasties and continued throughout the entire history of China. Originally the bureaucracy was run by the well-to-do aristocrats of Chinese society. Yet under the Qin Dynasty, and throughout the history of China, the Emperors were notoriously distrustful of the powerful aristocrats and people from the middle-class were taken and tested to become scholars of the bureaucratic system. This attributed to the eventual counterbalance of the aristocratic power against the scholar-gentry class during the Tang and Song Dynasties (632-907 and 960-1279 respectively). In China the bureaucracy was based on the Chinese belief of Confucianism, and the ideals of such were shown in the testing of prospective bureaucrats on Confucian ideas and philosophies in order to decided on how high of a position they received in the bureaucratic system.
Since bureaucratic systems were a feature of all Empires, a strong bureaucratic system was needed to run any large land mass. In Rome, the bureaucratic system was centralized around the capital and officials were placed throughout the Empire to run different sections. This system was copied by the Roman Catholic Church after the collapse of Roman society during the Dark Ages, and was basically used as the most powerful form of bureaucracy and government during the Middle Ages.
Overall bureaucratic systems were needed to run a stable government, pass laws, and collect taxes and census of the people. Without a strong bureaucratic system the funding for public projects, such as roads, buildings, and irrigation system would not have been collected and the economy would therefore be "in-the-toilet" so to speak. So for a powerful Empire bureaucracy is a necessity.