The civilisations in Age of Empire come in several flavours. Every civ has some bonus, apart from that the technology tree and the period in which the bonuses matter decide how strong civilisations are. Some civilisations get economic and military bonuses, others only get the military ones. As a consequence there are fast civilisations and slow civilisations.

Fast civilisations have economic bonuses that can be used right from the Stone Age. This group includes Shang (cheap Villagers), Assyria and Yamato (fast Villagers), Minoa (cheap FBs). Some include Phoenicia (gather wood faster and can carry more).
Gold dependent civs are all civs that don't get chariotry and therefore can't get any advanced units once they run out of gold.