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The entire History of China is a lengthy, complex yet unfortunate and tragic story of a people long removed from the former heights of their ancestors’ achievements, now in this modern day and age seeking to reclaim their ancient heritage.Although many sinologists and other experts cannot come to a consensus on just how old Chinese civilization is, whether it be 3,500, 4,000, 5,000 or 6,000 years old, this is indeed the main “TL;DR” of China’s long history: that the Chinese people today are fundamentally survivors, and that China is only a mere shadow of what it used to be relative to the rest of the world.By far the most important part of China’s History is the recounting of its decline from power as one of the greater civilizations of Humanity, and also its long and vexing attempt today to finally reclaim this former glory, in order to once again re-establish China as a “Great Power” of the East Asian periphery.Thus China’s journey today, and all the progress which it has done whether it be in the realm of technology, economy, culture or science, is all geared towards a journey of reclamation first and foremostly. And to be precise, it is a reclamation of not only its identity as the legitimate successor to the old dynasties of China, but also of China’s former historical status in the world.Indeed, it is extremely important especially for those unfamiliar with Chinese History, to understand that despite the existence of such stunning and glistening cities as that of Beijing (pictured below), China has yet to re-attain all of what it has truly lost. And not only that, but also of how China’s long history, motivates it today.Standard message from me here as usual, don’t read on if you don’t like long answers.Spoiler alert (or actualy really just common sense), as I’m covering such a huge part of China’s entire history, this will be my longest answer ever to date.There are a total of 12,900 words, so make sure you take the adequate breaks required, otherwise you’re going to suffer a lot.Here are the contents of my answer for ease of navigation:Chapter I: “Second to None”: The Pinnacle of Chinese Power and ArroganceChapter II: “On the Edge of Death”: The Beginning of the Decline of Chinese CivilizationChapter III: “A Point of No Return”: The Fall of Chinese CivilizationChapter IV: “The Age of Disunity”: The Republican Period and End of the Century of HumiliationChapter V: “Brave New World”: The People’s Republic and the Return of 5,000 Years of Chinese CivilizationFinal Summary and Author’s Personal Message (to tie up any “loose ends” and conclude the answer)Chapter I: “Second to None”: The Pinnacle of Chinese Power and ArroganceTo understand how and why Modern China came about, having been born from the ashes of “Old China”, it is extremely crucial that one understand just exactly what it is meant, by the title “former historical status in the world”, as was claimed at the end of the 4th paragraph above.As I’ve previously already written extensively on the subject matter (the likes of which you can find on my Quora profile description listed in chronological order), this chapter will of course be very highly summarized, and frankly it will feel very “rushed” no doubt.Long ago, in a time when the Chinese knew nothing of anyone but themselves, there was a rumour, that to the western regions at the “edge of the world”, existed many a great flourishing non-Chinese civilizations.It was a rumour which could not be possible the Chinese thought due to the widespread existence of deserts and mountains, which would make life for any potential civilizations greatly inhospitable. Yet in time, necessity finally saw to it that the Chinese would finally journey west, and when they did, they indeed found the civilizations they were looking for: a plethora of non-Chinese yet highly civilized Indo-European societies.There was the Hindu Kingdom of Shendu in the Indus Valley, the Central Asian Kingdoms of Ferghana and Sogdiana, and finally the Middle-Western Empires of Seleucia and Parthia. In time, the Chinese established embassies with all the aforementioned entities, trading with each and everyone of them.Such a phenomena eventually led to the creation of the famous “Silk Road”, the world’s first system of Globalization, facilitating not only the transfer of goods and services from East to West and back, but also the flow of ideas and inventions:It was here that China under the Han Dynasty (206 BC–220 AD) first saw how much larger and more powerful their empire was compared to the rest of the world. Long unchallenged, and with no rival in sight, a notion of Chinese superiority was on the rise. This was the beginnings of the infamous Chinese Tributary System, a defining relationship which established China as the “Middle Kingdom”, the sole master of the known world.All other empires and kingdoms which were not part of the empire meanwhile, were considered to be inferior. And to prove that they were inferior, the Han demanded each and every year that the submitting nations send their annual gifts to the Imperial Court, to show that they recognized the legitimate notion of Chinese “superiority”.It was a relationship which would shape China’s relationship with the world for the next 2 millenia. It was also one which did not improve, but only got worse as time went on, exacerbating Chinese arrogance to such an unbearable standard under the succeeding Chinese “Golden Ages” of the Tang and Song Dynasties (618–907 and 960–1279 AD respectively).The Cosmopolitan Tang brought China to its greatest extent relative to the rest of the world, in all of Chinese History.Under the wise rulings of such a relatively open, free and progressive dynasty as that of the Tang, China flourished. Buddhism was adopted, Chinese culture spread to Japan, Korea and Vietnam, China’s cities became the largest in the world, and under the Tang, tributes from as far away as the Byzantine Empire came to the Middle Kingdom to show their respects:The Tang was internationalized to such an extent, that the renowned southern port city of Guangzhou, had a population of 200,000 people, 2/3 of which were immigrants and expatriates from Persia and Arabia alone.Even Chang’an, the capital of the Tang Empire was filled with expatriates and traders from a variety of ethnicities including, but not limited to Arabs, Persians, Indians, Jews, Japanese, Koreans, Vietnamese, Malays, Turks, Tibetans and Byzantines. Entertainers would also commonly journey from distant lands as far as India and Afghanistan in order to find work in China.Sometimes, foreigners even travelled to China to join its renowned Imperial Army. This was a fact which made Chang’an the largest city in the world at 2 million people, and arguably also the greatest, with only Abbasid Baghdad able to match it at its heights, if even then.An artist’s impression of Tang Citizens visiting a Buddhist Shrine (the Tang being as open minded as they were, readily accepted foreign ideologies including Buddhism from India):Yet even under the Song which is often denigrated in China today for being militarily inferior, a great period of civilized rule begun, whereby the precedent of the relatively free and open society inherited from Tang was allowed to continue.This incentivized the Song to invent Movable Type Printing, the Mariner’s Compass, Tea, the Restaurant, Advertisements, the Mechanical Clock, Gunpowder, Multi-Stage Rockets and even Paper Currency. All of which were used to improve Agricultural, Industrial and other Economic Productions to unprecedented levels, seen only in Europe centuries later, during the Industrial Revolution.Under the Song, China’s Economy signNowed its almighty zenith, accounting for 50% of the world’s wealth, unlike the Tang before it which had held only 40%, it was a fact which ensured the prosperity of Song citizens from 980–1120 AD at least:So prosperous in fact was Song, that the Chinese Government were even able to support the funding and establishment of retirement homes, public clinics, and pauper’s graveyards. Even a national State funded school and Welfare System for the elderly was proposed.Thus under the wise rulings of Tang and Song, China entered what Historians identify today as and rightfully so “The Chinese Millennium”, a 900 year long period from the 600s to 1500s. It was a period in which Chinese greatness and therefore arrogance was the dominating force of the world, skyrocketing in comparison to when it had only been slowly accelerating, under the preceding Han Dynasty.During this time, China reigned supreme, rarely unchallenged by anyone anywhere in the world, for the vast majority of those 900 long years.So of course, when the Mongols came and razed Song China in its entirety to the ground, killing 60 million people in the process, the Chinese were annoyed. For in their eyes, how could such a powerful and wise peoples as them have been overtaken by such an “uncivilized” peoples as that of the Mongols?An artist’s impression of the Mongol Invasion of China:This was a question which would soon be “answered” however, when the Chinese Tributary System finally peaked under the newly established, Ming Dynasty of China (1368–1644), which had just overthrown the Mongols, re-establishing Chinese rule over the Middle Kingdom.The Ming, perhaps seeking to also restore Chinese superiority funded an extremely expensive Tributary mission, popularly known today as the “Seven Voyages of Zheng He” (1405–33).For a period of 28 years, a Fleet composed of 317 ships holding 27,500 men (the equivalent of 50% of London’s 15th Century population) were sent on a total 7 voyages around the world from 1405–33 AD, in order to spread the glory of the Ming Empire:In the Early 15th Century, China emerged as the most advanced empire on Earth. Its might at sea and on land was unparalleled, and it appeared as though China was destined to continue its glorious journey throughout history, with its dominance in the world secure. Of course, such a vain and arrogant mission, which seeked only to increase the prestige of China in the eyes of the international community, could never last.Indeed in 1433 AD, the ruling Xuande Emperor examined Ming China’s vast financial records, and observed that whilst the Ming Voyages had successfully fulfilled his predecessor’s wish of increasing the prestige of China in the eyes of the International community, it was extremely unprofitable, and brought little material gain to the Celestial Empire.An artist’s impression of the Muslim Eunuch Admiral Zheng He, on his Imperial sponsored voyages:This was at last, where hundreds of years of Chinese arrogance, which had at first slowly accelerated under the Han, then skyrocketed under the Tang and Song, and now peaked with the Ming, finally begun to actively affect Chinese Foreign Affairs. It was something, that was most evident in the actions of the Ming Emperor.This arrogance affected the Emperor in such a way, that he now thought that despite the voyages going on 28 years, the Ming had nothing to show for it because the outside world was extremely poor, thus they could give nothing of extreme importance to China. And if they had nothing to offer the Heavenly Kingdom, then was there really a reason that China needed to keep in touch with them? There was none he thought.The Voyages, a complete waste of money he thought, should be stopped as to save much needed financing to further fund both physical fortifications and the Imperial Military, in preparation of an “imminent” Second Mongol Invasion. Instead, the Ming Voyages were abandoned, and China turned its attention inwards.Thus unlike the Han, Tang and Song before it, which had been relatively free, open and progressive societies, the Ming was totalitarian, closed minded and deeply xenophobic.Instead, all the resources of the State were poured into projects such as the Renovation of the Great Wall of China (costing the modern equivalent of $360 Billion, utterly spending all of the limited resources of Ming China). The Wall itself despite stretching for 8,850 km, and despite being equipped with 5,723 beacon towers, 1,176 defence fortresses, 3,357 watch towers and 7,062 defence towers, and guarded by 100,000 soldiers kept on 24/7 alert, was also extremely useless:The issue here essentially, was that China had been a powerful country for far too long. Beginning with the Han, then exacerbated by the Tang and Song, notions of Chinese superiority were in full swing. Long unequalled by anyone in the world, any notion that China somehow was not the greatest any longer, was frankly offensive to such a mighty people as that of the Chinese.And of course when the Ming finally did end Zheng He’s Voyages, it begun a long period of relative isolation from the rest of the world. And this isolation, combined with the totalitarianism and backwardness of the Ming Emperors led to the scientific and technological stagnation of “Merciless Ming”, which would prove to have only the most disastrous of consequences hundreds of years later.Thus ended the “Chinese Millennium”, which begun with the Tang Dynasty in the 600s, finally concluding with the Ming Dynasty in the 1500s. China, long the most powerful “nation” on Earth, was powerful no longer. This became especially true when in 1492, Christopher Columbus begun the European Age of Discovery, with his own discovery of the Americas imminently ensuring the rise of non-isolationist Europe, at the parallel expense of the isolationist Celestial Empire.Chapter II: “On the Edge of Death”: The Beginning of the Decline of Chinese CivilizationThe Ming precedent of relative Isolationism from the rest of the world carried on even after the dynasty had fallen. When the last Imperial Dynasty, the nomadic Manchu Qing Empire (1644–1912) came to power, it still refused to model itself on the Cosmopolitan Tang Empire, and instead copied the previous Han Chinese led Ming Empire, and kept its borders relatively shut.It was not just Ming’s isolationism that Qing inherited however, but also its arrogance and the millennia old Chinese notion of Sino superiority. It was a notion which would ultimately lead to the decline of Chinese civilization, and would usher in many countless and needless years of suffering.Even the first clue to China, that there existed “bigger” and worse “barbarians” than the traditional nomadic hostiles of the north, were all but ignored by the Qing. The prime example of this was exemplified in “The Macartney Embassy” of 1793.To make matters worst, China had by this time also expanded to its greatest heights under the Qing Empire, weighing in with an area of 14.7 million km^2, making the Qing the 4th largest Empire by area ever in Human History, which would of course only further increase the arrogance of the Chinese by then:Anyway, in 1793 George Macartney the First Ambassador to Qing China from the rapidly ascending Western Superpower of the British Empire, visited its Chinese counterpart.Bringing along with him many notable gifts for the ruling Qianlong Emperor such as that of a model of the “Royal Sovereign” (a British “Man of War” class battleship), Macartney stressed that the gifts were given in good faith based upon a relationship of equality of nations, as had long been practiced by the Western Empires based on the notion of “Westphalian Sovereignty”.In the Emperor’s mind however, the Treaty of Westphalia was not only invalid, but also inferior to the traditional notion of Chinese superiroity, as had long been the advocated case under the Chinese Tributary System.According to Qianlong, China was still the greatest civilization in the world, thus the act of giving gifts to him should have been a given, and done regardless of this foreign concept of “equality”. For why shouldn’t the ruler of “all under Heaven” be given gifts? No, just as it was right for the Emperor to sit at the glorious apex of Chinese society, so it was also right for China to sit on top of the world.Thus he viewed the British as merely another “tribute nation”, a country submissive to Imperial authority and though he was pleased with Britain’s gifts (and from a country so far away too), stressed that:“We have never valued ingenious articles, nor do we have the slightest need of your country’s manufactures…Curios and the boasted ingenuity of their devices I prize not.”An artist’s impression of The Macartney Mission to Qing China:Then came the part which angered the Qianlong Emperor most: Macartney not only insisted that China open up its borders to trade, borders which had long been closed since the end of the Ming voyages in 1433 AD for 360 years, but refused to “Kowtow” to the Emperor, thereby refusing to acknowledge Chinese superiority regarding tributary gifts, or even by physically showing the ultimate sign of submission.For reference, and just in case it is in anyway unclear, the following is a Kowtow:Macartney’s unwillingness to submit (as he reasoned that no good Christian could bow to a King other than his own), angered the Qianlong Emperor greatly, who then of course furiously sent him away. China, long isolated from the rest of the world, under Qianlong’s vision, was to remain isolated thus “pure”.Annoyed at his failures, in response Macartney directed one last comment towards the Qianlong Emperor, prophesying about the imminent fate which would soon befall upon the Qing according to his observations:“Your Qing Empire is a crazy, first rate man of war, able to overawe her neighbours merely by her bulk and appearance, which a fortunate succession of able and vigilant officers have contrived to keep afloat for these hundred and fifty years past. She may drift sometime as a wreck and then be dashed to pieces on the shore.”It was unfortunately for China, a prophecy which would only prove to be too true. For Macartney having the fortunate privilege of being an observing, and uninvolved third party could accurately see just how truly vulnerable Qing China really was, something which the closed minded Qing Emperors and citizens could never ultimately realize.Truly, it was Imperial China’s last and arguably greatest mistake. For not only were the British the first true superpower of the world, in the true essence of the word unlike the Han or even Tang which were only superpowers of the “known” world, the British were also the first Human society on Earth to have industrialized.An artist’s impression of the Industrial Revolution in Britain, an event which made the British Empire the world’s first true Superpower:This was a serious matter, for the Industrial Revolution had according to German Philosopher Karl Marx allowed the British to become unimaginably wealthy, and according to him saw wealth creation “on a scale larger than all of Human History to this day (mid-1850s) put together”.Indeed, none of the “Classical” Western Economists, even the famous Adam Smith, the so called “Father of Modern Capitalism” had even considered the vast wealth resultant from Industrialization, to have even been a theoretical possibility.Thus by the time the British finally returned to China in 1839, merely 46 years after the failure of the Macartney Embassy, the differences between Industrial Britain and Agricultural China, initially already clear, were now further exacerbated.On one hand was the modern, industrialized, technologically advanced, and globe spanning superpower of the British Empire. And on the other hand, was the ancient, agricultural, technologically stagnant and regional power of the Qing Dynasty.An artist’s impression of the world renowned Royal Army (during the peak of the Industrial Revolution, Britain’s infamous military armed with only the latest and most sophisticated of firearms was also the greatest, and best trained martial force in the entire world):It was not a healthy comparison as such, but instead one in which the superior party was self-evident, an obvious fact which still eluded the Qing Administration even leading up to the return of the British.And of course, as a direct result of the consequences of this failure to realize the very real threat which the British now posed to the Empire, Chinese civilization was going to receive its biggest, and most violent wake up call yet.For in the time leading to that crucial year of 1839, the Qing had been faced with 2 immediate pressing issues: an accelerating domestic demand for Opium on one hand, and on the other hand; the increased demand from the West for exclusive Chinese products such as Silk, Porcelain and Tea.The Qing Government desiring neither since they were not only an isolationist nation, but also acutely aware of the negative effects of such a harmful drug as that of Opium, sought to limit International Trade officially under the “Canton System” of 1756, by permitting trade to only be permitted in what is today the city of Guangzhou (Canton).It was something which would not last long however, for despite the existence of the System, domestic demand for such a highly addictive drug as that of Opium, was still on the rise and rapidly so as shown by the following graph:The powerful multinational corporation of the British East India Company, seeing that the demand for Opium in China was strong and growing, increased its Opium Production in Bengal, India. The reason behind this was in order to auction off the Opium grown in the Subcontinent to independent foreign traders in exchange for silver, in order to strengthen its economic influence throughout all Asia.To make matters worst, Qing “middlemen” inside the Celestial Empire often made massive profits reselling the drug inside Qing China itself.Up until then, the Chinese Economy was extremely prosperous, and held an extremely huge trading surplus with the rest of the world. As a consequence, it had allowed China to expand Foreign Trade at 4% per annum, grow its population from 135 to 300 million people in merely 146 years, and account at its peak in 1820 for 35% of the world’s wealth:But when the East India Company flooded Chinese markets with Opium, this not only severely decreased its formerly huge trading balance, but also drained the economy of Silver (which was used exclusively in Chinese Foreign Trade), and also increased the number of Opium addicts within the country, severely undermining non-material living standards.Clearly furious, Daoguang, then the ruling Emperor of Qing China, appointed to the office of Viceroy, a man by the name of Lin Zexu who he then commanded to impose the iron fist of the Imperial Court onto the Opium Trade, declaring that Opium henceforth was to be permitted no longer.Adhering to the commands of the Emperor, Lin not only closed the Port of Canton off to any foreign trade, but also managed to confiscate 1.21 million kilograms of Opium in 1839 without any compensation.The British meanwhile, viewed China’s actions as a direct challenge to the prosperity of not only the British Empire, but also that of the Freedom to Trade, which China had so surely made clear through its actions, that it would not play according to the rules of such an oppressive (at least in its eyes) foreign power as that of the British.A portrait of Emperor Daoguang, the man who sought to criminalize the sale, possession and use of Opium in the Qing Empire:And unfortunately for China, this represented the beginning of the decline of Chinese civilization, and the end of all things good.For in the following June of 1840, the inhabitants of the renowned port city of Canton, caught a small glimpse just beyond the horizon, of what was truly a horrifying sight. A vast, and fully modern army of the industrialized superpower that was the British Empire was spotted, sailing ever so closer to the city.19 thousand troops, including a retinue of 5,000 British Soldiers, 7,000 Indian Infantrymen, and 7,000 Royal Marines were on board the fleet of 37 fully modernized war vessels. Taking the city of Canton by surprise, they then proceeded to set up a base of operations there, in preparation of what they thought would be a long, brutal and all out war.An artist’s impression of the British steamship “Nemesis” in the process of decimating a Chinese War Junk:They were wrong. In fact, it only took a total of 2 years for the Royal Army to bring the entirety of the Qing Empire to heel. To make matters worse, in the aftermath of the wars, it turned out that only 69 British Soldiers had actually died directly because of Chinese efforts during the wars. In contrast, 20,000 Qing Soldiers lost their lives in the same 2 year timeframe.China, even up until that very moment of their humiliating defeat, had considered themselves to be the supreme master of all under Heaven. The undeniable fact thus that it had lost to a “tiny” country on the other side of the world, on their own home turf, was an absolutely and horrifically unbelievable nightmare for such a proud, and formerly mighty peoples.In its long and proud history, China had defeated the “barbarians” many a times prior. The Han Dynasty had crushed the Xiongnu Empire, the Tang Court had decimated the Gokturks, and even Ming China had overthrown the Mongols, so why could the Qing then not defeat the British? It was truly a very confusing time for them indeed.The confusion didn’t just end there however. In what must have seemed like a dystopian nightmare come true for the Qing Administration, the ultimate act of humiliation was finally proposed by the British.The embarrassing surrender of Qing, already “hilarious” in its own right, was further exacerbated when the British demanded from China war reparations, the full surrender of Hong Kong over to the British, and also the full opening of the Ports of Canton (Guangzhou), Amoy (Xiamen), Fuchow (Fuzhou), Ningpo (Ningbo), and Shanghai, in what is today remembered as the “Treaty of Nanking” (1842).An artist’s impression of the signing of the Treaty of Nanking between the Chinese and British Empires on board British naval ship HMS Cornwallis:Unfortunately for the Qing, the Nanking Treaty was only the first amongst many in the series of the“Unequal Treaties” which were imposed onto it. The treaties were so called, because it was essentially one sided and only China was obligated to give what they were promised, the invaders meanwhile had no obligations, and instead only received from the Chinese.Most importantly, the result of the Opium Wars exposed to all China the bitter truth: that not only was the Chinese Navy severely outdated, fighting modern British steamships with wooden junks barely even appropriate enough to fend against a Chinese pirate invasion, but the Qing Army also, was just as incompetent.British soldiers, using advanced muskets and artillery, had easily outmaneuvered and outgunned the Qing Imperial forces in ground battles during the Wars, further exposing the weakness of Imperial China.And not just that, but the Chinese often fought on land with sword and bow against the Musket armies of the British:In this way, the Opium Wars was a turning point in China’s already long history, marking the beginning of the “100 Years of National Humiliation”, and thus the decline of Chinese civilization into the “dustbin” of history for the rest of the period.Chapter III: “A Point of No Return”: The Fall of Chinese CivilizationEven in the aftermath of the Opium Wars, peace continued to elude China. In fact, things not only didn’t get better, but in fact got worse, much worse.Though the British were the first Western power to have invaded the Middle Kingdom, it was certainly not the last. One by one, the nations of France, Russia, the United States and even Sweden and Norway imposed their wills onto the rapidly decaying Qing Empire, in the forms of further unequal treaties akin to that of the Treaty of Nanking.In this way, the Qing managed to lose hundreds upon thousands of km^2 of land to the various European Empires. The most noteworthy loss of land came with the unequal treaties of Aigun (1858) and Peking (1860), in which the Qing was forced to cede the entirety of Outer Manchuria (land with an area of at least 600,000 km^2) to the Russian Empire.A map of the land surrendered to the Empire of Russia. In olive-brown is the territory ceded under the Treaty of Aigun, in pink is the land lost to the Convention of Peking:Indeed, Qing China ended up losing so much land not only to Russia, but also to many other industrialized nations, that the People’s Republic of China today only has 2/3 of the former land the Qing Empire once had at its heights. For reference, here is the territory of Qing China at its heights in 1820, superimposed onto the borders of the nations of the 21st century:In stark contrast, here is the Qing Empire in 1908, merely 4 years away from being replaced with the Chinese Republic, having lost Hong Kong, Macau, large portions of Western and Northeastern Qing China, and of course the Island of Taiwan most notably:The final straw however, actually came 4 years prior in 1856, a year in which Qing authorities, intending to search for a notorious Chinese pirate, unknowingly boarded a British ship which went by the title of “The Arrow”. Annoyed at what they interpreted as an act of Chinese aggression, the British enlisted the help of the French Empire and in doing so begun the Second Opium War (1856–60) against the Middle Kingdom.It was a conflict in which the Chinese emerged once again in tatters, as this time the unequal treaty of Tientsin (1958) was imposed onto them. It was a completely one sided agreement which contained clauses deeply insulting to the Qing, including a demand which required that all official Chinese documents be written in English henceforth, whilst also accommodated by an edict which granted British warships unlimited access to all navigable Chinese rivers.An artist’s impression of the French Army in the process of routing its Qing counterpart during the Second Opium War:And not only that, but it lead to the opening of 80 more “Treaty Ports” against the will of the Chinese. The ports of course allowed the invaders to exclusively benefit at the expense of the Qing Economy. At last, the Chinese finally understanding that firstly, the invaders would never stop meddling in China’s domestic affairs, then also recognizing that their beloved country was no longer the greatest in the world, opted for change.And thus in 1861, the Qing Government decided to enact the national policy known today as the “Self-Strengthening Movement” (1861–95) in which it desperately attempted to adopt in full, the ways of the West in order to re-invigorate the dying Qing Empire. It was as one scholar put it, the act of “learning barbarian methods in order to adequately combat barbarian threats”.To this extent, the Qing attempted to replicate all of what they thought had made the West successful. First they examined Western Military and Economic practices, then they set out to study the way in which the West conducted their trade and innovated, and finally they encouraged the act of learning Western languages in order to communicate with the European Empires.Embassies were of course also set up in the West. In this way, they hoped to successfully reform Qing China.China’s “Jinling Arsenal”, one of the many modernized ordinance armouries of the Sino Military, established by the renowned Qing General Li Hongzhang :Though the idea for change was correct, the way in which they intended to execute it, was not.Instead of entirely reforming the Qing’s Social and Political systems, the reformers instead wrongly suggested that they should strengthen the nation by preserving Imperial rule, whilst maintaining traditional Confucian values, values which more and more seemed obsolete in the face of an ever changing world.This was the great failure of the Qing, as Historian Valarie Hansen recounts:“The educated reform faction joined the Self Strengthening Movement with the motto ‘Confucian ethics, Western science’. China, these reformers said, could acquire modern technology, and the scientific knowledge underlying it, without sacrificing the ethical superiority of its Confucian tradition.As one of their leaders stated: ‘What we have to learn from the barbarians is only one thing: solid ships and effective guns’.”Apparently, even in the last days of the Qing Empire, the national notion of Chinese superiority had still not withered away. The Qing who still thought ever so highly of themselves, insisted that the amount of knowledge they could ever obtain from the West, was surely undeniably limited.Thus, it should not come as a surprise to anyone that despite the Movement lasting for almost 3.5 decades, the only accomplishments which the Qing saw, were mostly superficial in nature. Yes, the Modernization of the Imperial Military including the formation of 4 modern Naval Fleets was a step in the right direction.A photograph of Chinese Battleship “Dingyuan”, the Capital Ship of the “Beiyang Fleet”, 1 of the 4 Modernized Chinese Fleets of the Qing Navy:However, the fact remains that no real change especially in the realms of the Economy or Military could ever take place, without an equivalent reform in the Social or Political spheres. And to make matters worse, the Qing Administration was not only severely incompetent, and slow to respond to threats, but also severely corrupt and unwilling to co-operate with each other.So of course when the First Sino-Japanese war begun in 1895, it was already over long before it had even begun. It was in fact a war which further showcased the failures of Qing China. The difference this time however was that the prevailing view in the West, was one which was entirely biased in favour of China.William Lang to cite one example, praised the sophisticated training techniques of the Qing Empire, and greatly commended also the 4 modernized Qing Fleets, noticing that they were equipped with the latest advances in both guns and fortifications. In fact, he even famously claimed prior to the Chinese-Japanese War that:“…in the end, there is no doubt that Japan would be utterly crushed”In no way was Lang speaking for himself either, this was the overwhelming consensus of the West, that should a war arise between the Qing and Japanese, China would surely prevail, being the mightier of the 2 nations.Instead, at the decisive Battle of Yalu River (1894), 5 out of the 14 ships of the mighty and modern “Beiyang Fleet” were sunk. This was in stark contrast to the Imperial Japanese Navy, which despite having not a single Battleship class war vessel, lost a total of 0 naval ships.An artist’s impression of the humiliating Battle of Yalu River (note that all the ships on fire down below in the background, belonged to the Qing Navy):The humiliation of China was thus complete, as Japan traditionally a country once subservient to the Middle Kingdom from the times of the Cosmopolitan Tang onwards, now proved to China that it wasn’t even the most powerful country of Asia, let alone the entire world.A mocking impression of the victory of “small” Japan over “large” China, as was depicted by the Western Political Satirist; “Punch”:This was a fact which forced China to reluctantly agree to the unequal “Treaty of Shimonoseki” (1895), in which the Island of Taiwan was ceded to the Japanese, a gift which they gladly kept for the next 50 years.In the wake of the Chinese defeat at the hands of Japan, and also the realization that the Self-Strengthening Movement had at last failed, the Qing Administration realised exactly to what extent just how utterly the Chinese had failed to reform the nation.Many Chinese, impressed with what they saw in Meiji Japan as a successful attempt to reform, desired to copy their successes. For the fact remained that only 40 years prior in the 1850s, Japan even more so than Qing China, had been a backward and Feudal society, with only a subsistence led Economy on which to rely upon.Yet, in only 2 generations, the Japanese now had a Constitutional Monarchy with an Industrial Economy, and also the most powerful military in all of Asia, despite being merely a tiny island nation, one which was up until then to bluntly put it, was mostly of historical insignificance.A 19th century artist’s impression of the Satsuma Rebel Samurai’s final surrender to the Westernized Imperial Japanese Army, and therefore also to the Modernization efforts of Feudal Japan, which then swiftly allowed the Japanese to further rapidly modernize:It was an achievement which contrasted the Self-Strengthening Movement in every way possible, as a prime example of what Qing China should have looked like after the reforms, and not the black hole which it found itself spiralling down inside. With no common consensus on how to accurately reform Qing society, China suffered dearly for the rest of the dynasty’s miserable existence.In spite of this clear trend towards what people now believed was the imminent collapse of the Qing Dynasty however, China was still determined not to give up at least without a fight. For in the time that the Western Empires had been harassing the former Middle Kingdom, anti-Colonial and more specifically anti-Western yet pro-Chinese attitudes in the Empire, were on the rise.Ultra-Nationalistic sentiments, rising to an all time high with the creation of a secret Chinese sect known as the “Society of the Righteous and Harmonious Fists”, led the Qing’s last major rebellion against the invaders.The “Boxers” as they were known in the West, initially unsupported by the Qing Government, first caught the attention of the Europeans when they specifically targeted both non-Chinese, and Chinese alike in a series of routine and methodical executions. Besieging the entire foreign district of Peking (Beijing) for an entire 2 months from June to August 1900, their actions earned them the wrath of the entire Industrialized World.An artist’s impression of the Boxers in the process of specifically targeting foreigners (in this case Christian Nuns) with the intention to torture and murder:To this extent, the “Eight-Nation Alliance” formed swiftly in response. Represented by an alliance of 50,000 soldiers formed from the nations of the United Kingdom, France, Russia, Japan, Germany, Italy, Austria-Hungary, and the United States. Together they marched on Peking and fought against the populist “Boxer Rebellion”, which now had the full support of the Qing Government.Over the course of several weeks, the Coalition and the Chinese Boxers and Imperial Army clashed, with the foreign alliance emerging victorious at last, in what was a Pyrrhic victory however. For unlike the Opium Wars in which the British had systematically decimated the Chinese, the Boxer Rebellion had been more disastrous in terms of casualties for the non-Chinese, than for the Qing forces.The victorious Army of the United States of America, triumphantly raising the “Star-Spangled Banner” over the walls of Peking:The aftermath however as was usually the case, proved to be the worst part for the Chinese, further humiliating an already by this point in time, clearly broken nation.On September 7th 1901, the Boxer Protocol was reluctantly signed by the defeated Chinese, providing for the execution of all Qing officials who had supported the Rebellion, the right for the foreign powers to station their troops in China whensoever they pleased, and the payment of the 2017 Silver prices equivalent of $10 billion (more than the annual National Tax Revenue collected), over a course of 39 years to all the victorious parties of the 8 Nation Alliance.By this point in time, the Chinese only ruled over a small amount of the land they formerly owned. Semi de facto rule and control meanwhile, of the spheres of influence, was in the hands of 5 industrialized entities: the Empires of Britain, France, Germany, Japan and Russia. The wealthiest regions of China, especially along the coast or along the Chang Jiang (Yangtze) River, were carved up amongst the 5 powers as is evident down below:It was fortunately however, the last of the humiliating events which Imperial China would ever again be faced with.The truth was that the Qing Empire’s time to collapse had at last come forth. After decades of tyranny, xenophobia, backwardness and mismanagement under Manchurian mis-rule, Chinese society was at a tipping point, one which only ensured the imminent coming about of the fall of 5,000 years of Chinese civilization from the centre of the world stage.It was then during such a turbulent time, that a Qing dissident living aboard in Hawaii sensing the imminent collapse of the Imperial Government, rallied together a small group of dedicated followers on the island. He argued that the Qing; brutal, corrupt and long destined for collapse needed a final push in the right direction to further seal its fate.Famously declaring in 1904: “expel the Manchu barbarians, revive China, establish a republic and distribute land equally among the people,” Sun Yat-Sen (Sun Yixian) the soon to be “Founding Father” of Modern China cursed the Qing Empire as the main catalyst for China’s backwardness.A portrait of the future founding father of the Republic of China, Dr. Sun Yat-Sen:He instead advocated for a Republic as the most suitable substitute, to replace the outdated Government of Imperial China. An intelligent man, he further established major political groups such as the “Revive China Society” and the “Tongmenghui”, which not only argued in favour of a Republic, but also in full support of an armed revolution if needed, in order to violently overthrow the Qing.Such was the case for a populist movement as that of Sun’s, that when all of China was finally ready for a Revolution by 1911, it happened spontaneously, rather than solely relying on the command of Sun.A frieze commemorating the righteous “Wuchang Uprising” (October, 1911), a major milestone in the Chinese Revolution of 1911:The Xinhai Revolution as it was called, ultimately not only ended the Qing Empire but also ensured thus the fall of the Middle Kingdom. And therefore into the dustbin of history with it also, went 2,133 years of Imperial China, ensuring what was also fundamentally the official fall of China from the world stage of power.Thousands of years of Chinese civilization thus, in what was easily one of the most embarrassing events of the Century of Humiliation, was discarded willingly, an action which not only gave the Chinese a huge identity crisis, but also an unquantifiable, yet massive inferiority complex for the next couple of decades, ultimately weakening the resolve of the Chinese for years to come.Chapter IV: “The Age of Disunity”: The Chinese Republican Period and the End of the Century of HumiliationWhen the Chinese Republic (1912–49) finally managed to extend control over all of China after overthrowing the Empire, it sought to destroy any traces of the old world.Apart from obviously adopting Western ideas, hairstyles, clothing and institutions including the abolition of the Imperial Examination System, and its subsequent replacing with a more Western form of education, the most notable rejection of the old world was self-evidently physical.Having long been forced by the Manchurian ruling class to adorn a “Queue” on pain of death, Han Chinese men especially were relieved to be liberated of this shameful hairstyle, which marked subservience to the Qing Empire.Shown below thus, is an artist’s impression of this simultaneous physical and spiritual liberation of China by the Republican Army, at last free from the last vestiges of the Qing:Instead, Western hairstyles were adopted (shown on the far right, the consequence of a failure to adopt a Western haircut, would only earn you scorn amongst the citizens of the Republic for your backwardness, or perceived loyalty to the former Imperial Government):Apart from that however, the response to Chinese Republicanism from the International Community (by which I mean the West) was unsurprisingly one of hope, optimism and support.The American Reverend, Dr. George F. Pentecost was one of these many such optimistic individuals, and he asserted the following:“As for the Chinese, I have the highest opinion not only of the Chinese character, but also of the Chinese fitness for self-government. I think they are eminently fitted to make a republic successful. China, for instance, is infinitely better fitted than is Russia for development along republican lines.In fact, China has always been practically a republic. It has had its dynasties of rulers, but the political unit of China has always been the village. The village people have always had their influence upon the Government. What is more, the average Chinaman is intelligent.”Like popular Western views many years earlier regarding China’s supposed overwhelming ability to crush Japan (before the First Sino-Japanese War proved otherwise), Pentecost’s and therefore the West’s view was like before, also extremely inaccurate in the exact same way.In reality, China had never, not once in its history ever had a Democratic government, or at least the Multi-Party Western Style Liberal Democracy which the West so advocated even 105 years ago. It was in reality, an overly idyllic and therefore unrealistic view of 5,000 years of Chinese culture.No, instead in China’s lengthy and equally proud history, the Chinese prided themselves on having a well trained, highly efficient (up until the Late Qing) and highly qualified Government, chosen via the Imperial Examination System:And thus in time when Western Democracy in China unsurprisingly failed after 1 proper and fair election, the West was once again taken aback, surprised that such a “perfect” system of governance, could have failed. In reality, as Historian Michael Dillion explains it:“… there was no common understanding of what that (a Republic) would involve in practice, how it should be implemented and, of more immediate importance, who should be in power.”And the reason for this was of course simple, China for 2,000 long years of its existence, ever since the times of the Han Empire, had instead practiced Meritocracy, a system based on Confucianism and therefore Chinese culture. It had no experience with such a foreign, and “weird” form of governance, and thus Western Democracy of course failed China for the first and last time in its long history.The famous “5-Coloured Flag” of the Newly Proclaimed Republic of China (the 5 colours represented the 5 main ethnicities which united China: Han, Manchu, Mongol, Tibetan and Uighur. The flag was so made to promote racial integration in the new society, in order to promote China as a multi-ethnic society which did not only just belong to the majority Han Chinese ethnicity):Furthermore in the meantime, the Chinese people sick of the archaic and outdated notion of the Qing Empire, and also of Traditional Chinese culture which they had blamed (and not completely unjustly so) for the demise of Qing China, refused to revert back to the “old ways”, and was instead left in limbo; and thus the fate of the nation was left hanging in the balance along with it.The Chinese people, were a mere shadow of what they used to be. They were broken, defeated, humiliated further and now also without an identity and purpose, due to their willing rejection of Confucianism and Traditional Chinese culture.Perhaps realising that the Chinese needed an ideal behind which they could rally-something to fight for and be proud of- Dr Sun, promoted as an alternative to Chinese culture; the “Three Principles of the People”. It was a nationalistic idea which he hoped would inspire and reinvigorate the Chinese to the best of their abilities. It could be summarized in 3 concepts as Nationalism, Democracy, and the People’s Livelihood.To cut a long story short, it did indeed re-invigorate and inspire the Chinese, but it ultimately failed to keep the country together, and worse, it failed to strengthen or change China for the better. The fact remained that Chinese Republicanism in all its inglorious failures, exacerbated a state of rising Provincialism which had first begun during the Late-Qing period, but now skyrocketed in response to the well known weakness of the new Republic.The end result, was a land divided, separated into regionalism during what is known in history today as the Warlord Era (1928–37), with the ruling Kuomintang (KMT) Nationalist Government formed by Sun, only having proper control over the regions highlighted in blue, of which most notably Guangdong Province in the far south (Sun’s home) fell under KMT rule :Having fought so hard and for so long to not only rid China of Qing backwardness, but also to strengthen the nation in such a way as to ensure its prosperity, it now seemed as though all these past efforts, had all but been wasted and in vain.China, now having truly descended into the dustbin of history entered an age of disunity, and though this was not the first time that Chinese civilization had entered such a chaotic period, the drawbacks of such a period were further exacerbated by an ever increasing population unprecedented in Chinese history, and the resulting chaos which ensured, brought about by the terrors of modern technology.It was also during this time that the ruling Kuomintang Nationalist Party also underwent a split from the inside into two separate rivalling factions, who in the wake of its founder; Dr. Sun Yat-Sen’s death in 1925, had emerged clearly into the spotlight.On one hand, was the Right Wing who now was led by a man who rejected Sun’s efforts to create a Western Democracy. He instead advocated Traditional Chinese Morality, and Cultural Reform. Chiang Kai-shek, formerly a soldier of the Imperial Japanese Army (IJA), took control of the Right Wing of the Kuomintang Nationalist Party. He is pictured below on the left next to China’s founding father:Meanwhile, coming to life in 1919 from the anti-Imperialist development that was the “May Fourth Movement”, was the Left Wing of the Kuomintang led by the rapidly rising Communists. Initially it only composed of 50 members back in 1921, but in merely 4 years time, had come to dominate the entire Left Wing of the Party, with members in the tens of thousands all across China.A portrait of the young future Chairman Mao in 1927 (though he was still relatively insignNow at this stage, a young idealist by the name of Mao Zedong who had always been interested in Leftist Politics as a child, having experienced the great sufferings of the Chinese people himself, co-founded the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in 1921):With neither side having much affection for the other, a Civil War erupted between the two factions with the precipitation of two noteworthy events. The first took place in April 1927, whereby the Kuomintang massacred 15–20,000 Communists altogether in the city of Shanghai, and the province of Wuhan.The second noteworthy precipitant meanwhile came in July, 1927 when the provincial Government of Wuhan, also forcibly expelled the Communists from the Kuomintang. And in response, the Communists not only officially declared their own “Communist Party of China”, as a separate and independent alternative for China’s future, but also formed the “Workers' and Peasants' Red Army of China”, better known in History plainly as the Red Army (not to be confused with the Soviet Red Army).And when that occurred, the all out, and full scale conflict known as the Chinese Civil War (1927–49) was in full swing. Unfortunately for both the KMT and CCP parties however, a force more unimaginably dangerous, and infinitely more powerful than either sides had set its eyes out on the vast Chinese Republic, with the sole intention to conquer it in all its entirety.Long having had the ambition to conquer China even since the times of the Ming Dynasty 300 years prior, the Empire of Japan under the excuse that the KMT’s Nationalist Armies, had fired upon them at the Marco Polo Bridge Incident in 1937, returned to China in the form of a full scale invasion.An artist’s impression of the 100 man strong Nationalist Army rallying together during infamous Marco Polo Bridge incident, faced against the invading 5,000 strong Imperial Japanese Army. All but 4 men perished heroically defending their beloved country from an unjustified Japanese incursion (it was true that the Nationalists had fired upon them, but only after the Japanese were spotted illegally taking over a Chinese Railway Station):In the aftermath of the Chinese defeat at the Marco Polo Bridge, and the seizing of the former Ming and Qing Imperial Capital of Beijing, the beginning of the 8 year long unofficial, and undeclared “Second Sino-Japanese War” which lasted from 1937 all the way up until the end of World War II (1939–45) in 1945, was now in full swing.Despite China already having suffered so much up until now during their “Century of Humiliation”, only now near the very end of the period, was the heights of Chinese suffering about to occur under the wrath of the Japanese Empire.The Empire, who did not appear to understand the concept of “mercy”, pushed relentlessly down south from Beijing, conquering city after Chinese city, showing not the slightest hint of humanity nor mercy, not to men, not to women, and not even to children, Wherever they went, death was the order of the day.The greatly infamous “Massacre of Nanking” or “Rape of Nanking” was just one of the many events, which perfectly showcased the brutality of the Empire during the Second Chinese-Japanese war. Here is a photo of such a horrific event, depicting the Japanese preparing to bury alive the citizens of Nanking:In the weeks leading up to the Nanking Massacre, the Japanese having defeated the Republican Army in Shanghai, turned their attention to the former Early Ming Capital. Chiang Kai-Shek, fearing for the full decimation of some of China’s bravest men, ordered the full withdrawal of all official military garrisons at Nanking, virtually leaving the entire city at the mercy of the coming Imperialists.Commanding the citizens of Nanking to fight to the last man, the cowardly Chiang likely knowing the imminent fate which was to soon befall upon the city (as by now the reputation of the brutality of the Japanese had unfortunately become well known), left only a handful of untrained Auxiliary units, to defend the city against a Japanese assault.Many unsurprisingly ignored his orders, and fled the city as soon as they could. The rest, falsely reassured by the “neutral zones” which a small group of Western businessmen had set up, to ensure the safety of the Nanking’s citizens, instead foolishly remained behind. In doing so, they had hoped that the areas (namely private property which belonged to Western nations), could surely never be bsignNowed by the Japanese.A Map of the Nanking’s Safety Zone (the area of such a zone was the equivalent of New York’s Central Park, with the ability to house more than half a dozen safety zones):History would prove them to be so very wrong of course. The Japanese came on December 13, and unintimidated by the so called “safety zones”, the massacres soon followed. In a course of 6 weeks, 300,000 people were killed, leading to the massacres of entire families, all the while even the elderly and mere infants were targeted for systematic execution.A period photograph depicting the imminent beheading of a Chinese Prisoner of War (POW) by an Imperial Soldier:And it was even worse for women, of which 80,000 were brutally raped by the Imperial Japanese Army. As for the city of Nanking itself, 1/3 of the city’s buildings were either looted or incinerated to the ground.The Rape of Nanking, was so damaging and inhumane in the way in which it was carried out in fact, that the commanding Japanese General “Iwane Matsui” had even condemned the event upon being informed of its existence on December 18th 1937:"I now realize that we have unknowingly wrought a most grievous effect on this city. When I think of the feelings and sentiments of many of my Chinese friends who have fled from Nanking and of the future of the two countries, I cannot but feel depressed.I am very lonely and can never get in a mood to rejoice about this victory ... I personally feel sorry for the tragedies to the people, but the Army must continue unless China repents. Now, in the winter, the season gives time to reflect. I offer my sympathy, with deep emotion, to a million innocent people."A photograph of Japanese General Iwane Matsui entering the City of Nanking:The Rape of Nanking to make matters worst, was only the first of many such events, in the beginning of a series of great misfortunes for China, in their 8 long war against the Japanese. This was such, that by the end of the war in 1945, according to Forbes contributor Gordon G. Chang the effect on China was one which was indisputably negative:“Between 14 million and 20 million Chinese died in the “war of resistance to the end” against Japan last century. Another 80 million to 100 million became refugees. The conflict destroyed China's great cities, devastated its countryside, ravaged the economy and ended all hopes for a modern, pluralistic society.”And to make matters worse, throughout the entire course of the war, the Japanese had actually actively mocked the entire Chinese Nation, by claiming that in fact, the Chinese should actually be grateful for the entire invasion (and all the death and sufferings which came along with it), because the Japanese were in fact not actually “real” invaders.No, according to their own twisted world view, the Japanese were only here to “free” China from the chains of backwardness, and instead presented the Empire as the Republic’s only hope to fend against Western Imperialism and Soviet Communism.All this was asserted whilst the Japanese also insisted that only a strict adherence to their honourable ways, could bring about a new era of mutual peace, cooperation, and development among all the countries of East Asia. Thus, the Japanese presented themselves in fact as the “good guys”, whilst insisting that the Chinese merely refused to “co-operate”.And thus under the guise of promoting Anti-Western Imperialism, and pan-Asian co-operation, the “Greater Asian Co-Prosperity Sphere” was established. In reality, it was a false justification in favour of the imperialism of the ever expanding Empire of Japan, which now had dominion over all of Asia, and not just China:Thus it should come as no surprise to anyone then, that the Japanese Invasion was easily, by the far the most embarrassing event of the entire 100 Years of National Humiliation. And that was also saying a lot, since the entire Century was already composed of nothing but death, suffering and misery.The fact that the Second Sino-Japanese War was the very pinnacle of this angsty desolation, was a fact which spoke for itself. In fact, as is evident down from the graph below, the Chinese Republic’s contracted casualties was surpassed only by the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (1922–91). As is evident, the vast majority of deaths were derived from Civilian casualties and the murder of innocents, rather than that of belonging to the military:On the other hand, the war brought a swift halt to the ongoing Chinese Civil War, and for a brief time period, the KMT and CCP agreed to a truce as they fought together against the endless hordes of the Japanese, who fanatical in all their splendour, appeared as though they would never stop.Unfortunately, this unity was not only short lived, it was also a purely superficial one, biding time for both sides as they not only fought against the Japanese, but also secretly conspired against each other, with neither side willing to back down without a proper fight first.As such, when the Japanese finally surrendered in 1945 directly as a result of the Atomic Bombings of the United States of America on the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the Chinese Civil War immediately resumed.Perhaps simultaneously weakened from the victory of their war against the Japanese, and therefore also arrogant to such an overwhelming extent, Chiang Kai-Shek’s Nationalist Kuomintang eventually lost the war against the Chinese Communist Party, in a conflict which claimed 8 million lives and lasted 4 years.But finally, at last after hundreds of years of death, suffering and misery, the current ruling “dynasty”; the People’s Republic of China was finally proclaimed by Mao Zedong on October 1st, 1949, merely 68 years prior to present day:And at last with the establishment of the most powerful Chinese political entity since the time of the Early Qing Dynasty under the Kangxi Emperor (reigned 1661–1722), the embarrassing stain on China’s 5,000 year History that was the Century of Humiliation, at last ended finally after 110 years of nothing but starvation and desolation.Chapter V: “Brave New World”: The People’s Republic and the Return of 5,000 Years of Chinese CivilizationOf the 400 million people which lived throughout Mao’s New Republic, 50 million were drug addicts. 320 million were illiterate, neither having the capability to read nor write, and the national life expectancy was estimated only at 35 years of life on average.The Chinese Economy was virtually non-existent, and the oppression of women despite laws which had outlawed otherwise, failed to eradicate both polygamy, concubinage, child betrothals, and the barbaric practice of footbinding.Footbinding, was by far the most revealing sign of the traditional status of women in Imperial China (only from the Song Dynasty onwards 1,000 years ago however and not before); as one of total inequality. It was a cruel practice, which had traditionally advocated in favour of forcefully snapping the bones of a woman’s feet, in order to artificially force them to be smaller than what it otherwise would be.An image comparing the sizes of modern footwear, in comparison to that of a footbound shoe, dating from hundreds of years ago during the times of Imperial China:Unsurprisingly, the practice resulted in lifelong disabilities and ensured that any woman unfortunate enough to fall victim to such a barbaric practice, could never again walk properly for the rest of her life.This was a phenomena which deeply implied the inequality of women, especially as the practice was primarily carried out in order to please the men of Imperial China, who considered the practice to be sexually arousing, who longed to see the “dainty” way in which the women would struggle to walk.An image comparing the physiology of a normal foot on one hand, and that of a bound foot on the other:As such, faced with such a myriad of problems, including issues which concerned the spheres of Economics, Socio-Politics, and the “Great Rejuvenation of the Chinese Nation”, Mao Zedong, the “First Emperor” of the “Red Dynasty”, went swiftly to work.He was determined to create a modern, industrialized nation which could in time ensure the imminent return of 5,000 years of Chinese civilization, to the centre of the world stage once more, as had long been the case under the Imperial Chinese Han, Tang, Song and Early Ming Dynasties.To this extent, the first reforms to take place thus were Economic, in nature. Mao begun by building en masse throughout China, a great many deal of infrastructure projects, overseeing the construction of Dams and Irrigation wherever it was possible.Though an ultimately devastating event known as the Great Leap Forward (1958–62) did however majorly set China’s Economy back a couple of steps in the wrong direction, Mao ultimately learnt from his mistakes and instead promoted the individualization of farms, greatly incentivizing Agricultural Production, which ultimately acted to strengthen the Chinese Economy.Mao however was an extremely intelligent man, who knew that in order to truly promote change, he had to capture the hearts of the people. As such, whilst the Economic reforms occurred, Mao also greatly attempted to inspire the people to labour through his various distributed posters which encouraged the Chinese Workers in this particular case, to “Produce more! Contribute more!”:By far the most notable reform which acted to simultaneously decrease illiteracy, whilst promoting Economic growth, was the simplification of the Chinese written language. This particular reform was ultimately successful and thus saw literacy rates at 84% by the time Mao at last finally retired in 1974.Promoting nation-wide the very real need for China to industrialize, in order to prevent what people thought was an imminent second Century of Humiliation, the Chinese people fought and laboured hard such, that their hard work all soon paid off.With

People often miss Kebabs and Clothes as soon as they take the name of Afghanistan. Or the terror of the Taliban but In this country there is a lot more to do than both these things.The border of Afghanistan meets with 6 countries. These countries are Iran, Pakistan, Tajikistan, China and Turkmenistan.The world's first oil painting was made in Bamiyan caves, not in Europe.Kabul is Afghanistan's largest city.Here's the national sport is Buzkashi. It is considered one of the world's dangerous games. In this game, the dead animal is placed in a field. The work of the players is that they take this animal with the help of their sticks and signNow the finishing point.Before 2001, there was the world's largest Buddhist statue. It was built before the 6th century.Taliban destroyed this idol.Here, 99 percent of the population is Muslim. Hindus, Jews and Christians come in 1 percent.The official language here is Dari and Pashto. Apart from this, people here also speak Uzbek, Turkmen and Persian.Afghanistan celebrates its independence day from Britain on August 19. However, Afghanistan has never been part of the British colony. Three wars between Afghanistan and Britain have surely come to an end.These were some general facts about Afghanistan.Before knowing about Afghan Hindus we must know;The Hindu History of Afghanistan:The Hindu History of Afghanistan:The rage of the Islamic invasion of Afghanistan, Punjab comes from the bong Samrang Gan Stan "King Jaya Pal Shahi”.Year 980 C.E. Sabuktagin attacked King Jaya Pal in Afghanistan when proper marks marks the beginning of Muslim invasion in India. Afghanistan is a Muslim country other than Pakistan by another Muslim country today. But in 980 CE was a place where the people of Afghanistan were Hindus and Buddhists.The name "Afghanistan" is in Sanskrit, which means "Sanprag Gan Stain" comes from "Habitat of Allied tribes".The Gandhari of this Mahabharata, whose King Shakuni came from Gandhara, was from the place. Pakthoons are descendants of Paktha tribe mentioned in Vedic literature. Jaya Pal Shahi - Sabuktagin attacked this from Ghajini and until the ruling Hindu king displaced up to 980 CE, this region was a Hindu majority area.Kabul's main mosque today is the site of the story from an ancient Hindu temple and its occupation is standing where the Muslim hero Sabuktagin who fought with a sword in every hand to defeat and destroy the place which is alive in the Islamic Afghan legend. Kept their temple placed over a mosque in its place.In the name given by Mahmud Ghazni, he died in his way, to describe the number of Hindus - the victory of Sabuktagin - Hindu Kush from Kabul is literally "killer of the Hindus" behind the Hindu Kush mountains to the Hindu state of Shahis The boundaries of imprisoned life imprisonment in Afghanistan After this shock, Shahis Udbhandapura was named Kubh (Kabul) (modern und in NWFP).From his capital transferred to Sabuktagin's son Mahmud Ghazni, kept on attacking Shahis and captured the und. Later, Shahis was taken to his capital Lahore and later for Kangra in Himachal.The importance of recovery and inscription of the Hindu ruler VEKA and his devotion to Lord Shiva was stated by the chief archivist and archaeologist professor Ahmed Hassan Dani of the law E. Azam University of Islamabad on the ongoing Indian, saying the history Congress here was the Congress.It shows the same era, if historians, 821-828 AD, the date of the 138 of the current inscription, before 843-850 AD, the date of Hindu royal ruler Kallar falls, like to amend, which corresponds to 959 E 'Presented to Congress during the reign of Bhimapala', 'Dani, year 138 dated a paper' Shahi inscription of the time of the imperial ruler VEKA said in Sharif inscription.Inscriptions with eleven lines written in the Western Sarda 'style' of the 10th century Sanskrit, were many spelling mistakes. 'A little above the stone breaks into the corner left', the first letter 'oh' is 'missing', he said.According to the inscription, "Eight-fold forces, the earth, the market and forts captured by the ruler VEKA. It was built in Maithasya by Parimaha (great) Maitya in the throats of Shiva with Uma that during his reign the benefits of self And for his son.The Danil inscription gives the name of King as King VEKA King and bestows the merit of `Iryatumatu Ksanginanka 'on it and (he) bears the name of Khingila or Khinkhila who appears to be the same King`` who said a royal Should be accepted as 'ruler'.The donor can be further '`he is an ancestor of VEKA Deva. His coins are found in Afghanistan and he is mentioned by the Arab ruler Yaqubi, he may be an immediate predecessor of VEKA deva. Evidence of both inscriptions and coins VEKA or Vaka should be accepted in an independent form The suggestion is the ruler of Northern Afghanistan."Thus, we find another branch of imperial ruler in the northern part of Afghanistan beyond Hindukush. VEKA should have achieved success against himself, suggesting that the earth, the market and its eight-fold forces have won over the forts. It is said that the 'Arab rulers of Southern Afghanistan.A branch headed by VEKA, headed by Jayapala, ruled in Lamaghan and Punjab, and was going to be another branch, ruled by the Dari conclusions that it was a break in the Bhimapala dynasty there during the rule of the Hindu royal ruler That observed in the northern part of Afghanistan.In the second half of the "northern branch tenth century AD" the victory of Alptigin would have come to an end.Now,facts about Afghan Hindus:There are very few people who follow Hindu religion in Afghanistan. Their number is estimated to be 1,000. These people mostly live in Kabul and other major cities of Afghanistan.Before the victory of the Islamists on Afghanistan, the people of Afghanistan were multi-religious. The followers of the majority belonged to Hinduism and Buddhism . In the 11th century most Hindu temples were destroyed or converted into mosques.India's history can not be imagined except Afghanistan and Pakistan. It should be said that he was a part of the unbroken India till the 7th century. The Afghan was a Hindu nation first. Later it became a Buddhist nation and now it is an Islamic nation.Until the 17th century there was no nation called Afghanistan. The special prevalence of Afghanistan was in the reign of Ahmed Shah Durrani (1747-1773). Formerly Afghanistan was called by the names of Aryan, Ayanumar Viju, Pakhtia, Khorasan, Pashulkhawah and Roh, etc., which had areas like Gandhara, Kamboj, Kumbha, Varnu, Suvasti etc.Here is a mountainous region called Hindukush also known as “Parijat Parvat” (Mountain) , which can be visited from Kazakhstan, Russia and China. This place was of Aryans until 700 BC. Until 700 years ago in the northern region, “Gandhara Mahajanapada” was found in which the Indian source is described in Mahabharata and other texts.The name of the biggest hotel chain of Afghanistan was 'Aryaana' and Hawaii Company was also known as 'Aryaana'. Before Islam, Afghanistan was called by the names of Aryan, Aryanumru Viju, Pakhtia, Khorasan, Pashtunkhwa and Roh.This plot was called Aryan-Vizo or Aryanumru VIS in the book 'Jindavista' written by Zardhrasht, the founder of Parsi Vote. Even today, in the villages of Afghanistan you will find Kanishka, Aryan, Vedas etc. in the name of children.The Balk Province of North Afghanistan has saved some of the most important historical heritage of the world. Some of its ancient cities are called the parents of all the cities of the world. This is the plain land of the valley of Balakh whose ancient trade route has attracted attention of nomadas, warriors, courageous people and religious psignNowers. These people left behind such mysteries that archaeologists have started searching for themselves.Last year, a 5,000-year-old aircraft was found in Afghanistan. This aircraft is estimated to be Mahabharat period.According to the report, an ancient Indian craft found in an ancient cave has been found. Now the question is how is it safe for so many years? Actually, this plane is trapped in 'Time Well'. This is why it remains safe. 'Time Well' is a protected area with electromagnetic shockwaves, and for this reason any person attempting to go to this plane disappears or becomes invisible due to its effect.It is said that this aircraft is of Mahabharata and its size-type description has been done in Mahabharata and other ancient texts. For this reason, many American seal commandos who have tried to evacuate them from the cave have vanished or killed.Nearly 3,500 years ago, philosopher Zoraster who founded the monotheistic religion lived here. The 13th century great poet Rumi was born in Afghanistan too. Dhritarashtra's wife Gandhari, great Sanskrit grammarian Panni and Guru Gorakhnath were the residents of the Pathan tribe of Afghanistan.Pathan is Pashtoon. Pathan was called the first person. In the 44th verse of the fourth section of the Rig Veda, the description of the Pashtoon comes from the name 'Pakakyakya'. Likewise, the 91st verse of the third volume refers to the Afridi tribe in the name of 'Aparishya'.In fact, the British who fought with the British in the form of pilgrims in the British rule, were especially Pathan and Jat. Pathan is a class of Jat community. Some people consider them a descendant of Israelis.The tribes of the first Aryans were populated in Afghanistan and they used to follow all Vedic religion, and after the promotion of Buddhism, this place became a Buddhist stronghold. All the people here started searching for meditation and secrets. After the arrival of Islam, a new revolution started here. Except the path of Buddha's peace, these people go on the path of revolution. During the Cold War, Afghanistan was demolished. The cultural and ancient religious symbols were erased here.Last Hindu Dynasty:In 843 AD, Kallar, the king founded the Hindu sovereign. The coins from the time came to know that before Kallar, there was a rule in the state of Gandhara in Rutival or Rathal, Spapolati and Laturman, Hindu or Buddhist kings. They considered themselves to be descendants of Kanishka.Hindu kings were called 'Kabulshah' or 'Maharaj Dharmapati'. Among these kings Kallar, Samantdev, Bhim, Ashtapal, Jaipal, Anandpal, Trilochan Pal, Bhimpal etc. are notable. For nearly 350 years, these kings gave a great deal to Arab insurgents and robbers and did not allow them to cross the Indus River and enter India, but in 1019, with the defeat of Trilochan Pal from Mahmud Ghazni, in 1019, the history of Afghanistan was reversed.Chinese traveler Yuwanchwang has written the history of Buddhism in Islam and Afghanistan. Gautam Buddha stayed in Afghanistan for nearly 6 months. In the Buddhist period, the capital of Afghanistan was Bamiyan. Sikander invaded 328 BC, when it was often ruled by Hakkhami Shahs of Persia. This region was part of Akhand India in Arya period. After partition between Iran's Parthian and Indian suspicions, Sasani rule came on today's land of Afghanistan.Rigveda, the world's oldest book, mentions Pashtoon people and Afghan rivers. The mention of 'Pashtoons' in the Dashrājya war between Sudas-Samparna has happened in the form of the supporters of Puru (the tribe of Yayati) as the clan of the tribe.The rivers which we know nowadays, by names like Amu, Kabul, Kurram, Ranga, Gomal, Hariarud etc., were known by ancient Indian people respectively as Vaasu, Kubha, Kurum, Rasa, Gomti, Hariu or Saru.It is surprising that the Arab and Persian historians of these lingering "Hindushi" kings have built a bridge of praise. Al-Berouni and Al-Ubbi have written that Muslims, Jews and Buddhists lived together in the realm of the Hindus. They were not discriminated.These kings run up to gold coins. The coins of the Hindus were so good that in the year 908, Baghdad's Abbasi Khalifa Al-Fukdir gave similar names to Devanagari coins on their name in Arabic and issued new coins.According to the Muslim historian angel, when the goods of the loot of the Hindus were displayed in Ghajini, the eyes of the neighbors' ambassadors were torn apart. There was a shortage of camels to bring the looted goods to Ghazni from Bhimnagar (Nagarkot).In addition to power and looting of Mahmud Ghazni, Islam's addiction was also seized, so he used to destroy the temples, educational centers, mandis and buildings of the living areas and make local people forcibly Muslims. Today all Afghani Hindus are now Muslims. It is also written by Muslim historians such as Al-Berouni, Al-Ubbi, Al-Masoodi and al-Maqdisi.Thank You.Hindus and Sikhs in Kabul – a Fact SheetHinduism in Afghanistan - WikipediaHindu Temples of Kabul - Wikipedia“Ancient Flying Machine” found in Cave? World leaders rush to Afganistan.The decline of Afghanistan's Hindu and Sikh communitiesThe Sikh, Hindu Exodus From Afghanistan That No One Is Talking Aboutकभी हिंदू देश था अफगानिस्तान | The Hindu History Of Afghanistan

Unfortunately, it isn't that simple.Modern medical education systems carefully parcel out residency positions, which are in tremendous demand as, if you complete a residency, you're looking at a substantial bump in income. However, hospitals also need residents to perform crucial patient care functions as, in most cases where a patient is in a hospital bed, for the majority of the time they are under the direct care of a resident and not a full attending physician.Depending on the speciality, a residency can take three to seven years to complete. Both the physician and the hospital want to (1) make arrangements well before the residency period starts so they can assure their future plans/have proper staff in place and (2) ensure that both sides are committed to the full residency terms as long as both go well. Think of a residency position as something like signing a sports contract with a "no-trade" clause.Most residency positions are finalized in the spring, even before residents complete their basic training for a physician. The newly minted physician takes a short time off after finishing their internship and then dives right into their new job.Now, hospitals will account for the loss of a resident or three and make plans to replace them the following spring. If someone isn't cutting it, they're usually told as early as possible. Sometimes a resident will quit because they find out they don't like the field. However, it's extremely rare for a resident to switch hospitals. Moreover, you can't just take a new resident and given them the same responsibilities as a more senior resident. So, here are the hurdles:- Anyone seeking a residency position has already made arrangements. - There aren't enough qualified people for the middle and high residency positions unless you poach them from other hospitals, and that would get you and the physician sued.- Any candidates that might be available fall clearly into the "second tier". There are lots of reasons why people who are new physicians might not be suitable for a residency position. You still have to screen these people thoroughly before you give them the extra responsibility.

There’s a lot of opposition to India not voting in favor of Israel. Most of this is unfounded and hasty. Many have gone to the extent of saying that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is ‘sucking up’ to the Palestinians, and that he is doing nothing different from his predecessors.The irony is that these same people were hailing Prime Minister Modi when he visited Israel. And now suddenly, he’s no different from the rest. Also, before I begin to explain the possible reasons why India voted against, I’d like to remind these odd-even supporters that for the first time in 2015 under Prime Minister Modi India abstained from voting against Israel on the issue of its ‘war crimes’. Israel had even thanked India for this.Now, I’m not saying I’m right, but I wish people looked at things with a broader perspective. These people should remember that in foreign policy and geopolitical matters there are no permanent enemies and no permanent friends, the only constant is self-interest and every nation searches for that.First and foremost, India not voting in favor doesn’t mean India is against Israel, just like when Prime Minister Modi visited Israel it didn’t mean India was against the Arab world. Each move is to be seen in a context, and such a vote can’t be taken at face value.Another point to start off is that diplomacy is what happens behind closed doors, not on national television. Hence, it is but near impossible that India didn’t convey its position to Israel beforehand and that Israel didn’t understand the situation India finds itself in. People may not understand, but Israel sure does.Prime Minister Modi visited Israel this year that sent the Arab world into a dizzy as he was the first Indian prime minister to do so. THAT was the single biggest boost to Indo-Israel ties. Next January, Prime Minister Netanyahu is coming to India. Now imagine that if amidst these two major events in a span of less than a year had India also voted in favor then how severely it would have affected our ties with many nations.It would have firmly set us in the US camp, something which India can’t afford let alone from an Arab perspective but even from a Russian perspective. India’s support would’ve not only been seen as pro-Israel but primarily as pro-US because this whole thing has been pushed by the US. Just think – would Russia have taken it positively seeing that New Delhi is almost working on the whims of Washington?What people fail to understand is that with Palestine come a host of other nations who’re very crucial to India, like Iran, Saudi Arabia or the UAE. It’s important to understand that this not just about Palestine. Had it only been about Palestine India would’ve supported Israel. But the other nations who attach importance to Palestine are very important to India economically, militarily and most importantly geopolitically.India’s biggest threats are Pakistan and China who need to be effectively countered. Take Iran for example. With the Chabahar Port, India has negated Pakistan-China’s Gwadar Port. China may well use this port for military purposes in the future, and it will be then that the Chabahar Port will be the only effective counter India will have. But what if Iran disagrees to cooperate then?Another area where Iran is a huge player for India is the International North South Trade Corridor (INSTC) that runs from Mumbai, through Iran, to Russia and Central Europe. This is said to be a signNow counter to China’s OBOR. Hence, angering Iran is neither in India’s short-term nor long-term interests, at least for now.Iran is having rising trouble with Pakistan and this makes it India’s perfect ally. Harm ties with Iran and you drastically risk losing support of probably your most important friend geopolitically in today’s times. China will swoop in to replace India and end up completely surrounding us. Not to forget that we depend for oil on Iran and the Middle East. A vote in favor of Israel could well have angered Iran.India wants to be an arms exporter that’ll help develop our indigenous defence industry and will create numerous jobs. One nation that is interested in greatly expanding defence ties with India is Saudi Arabia. It is interested in buying the BrahMos missile. It also wants to set up a joint venture to manufacture weapons in Saudi. For the first time, it is sending a team of 10 nationals to India for training to become officers at the National Defence Academy (NDA) next year. Not to forget Saudi is investing billions of dollars in India.The UAE may also purchase the Astra which is a 70-km range air-to-air missile. UAE too is investing heavily in India. Jordan is interested in buying the Kamov 226 T multi-utility helicopters to be built by India-Russia. It may also buy other hardware developed by the DRDO. Voting in favor could have jeopardized our rising military exports and economic ties.One has got to understand that India has a LOT more at stake here. Israel supports India on Kashmir because it has no ties with Pakistan. It doesn’t even have an embassy in Pakistan, and so, it does not have to weigh its gains and losses. On the other hand India has to do so at the time of such a vote because the nations tied to the Palestine cause have massive relevance for India.Economically, militarily and geopolitically India has a lot to gain by maintaining ties with the Arab world. On the contrary, Israel has no interests in Pakistan which is why it’s easier for Israel to support India. As Lt Gen Syed Ata Hasnain wrote today in one of his tweets – Far easier for Israel to vote for India than for India to vote for Israel.I’m surprised at some people saying, “We need Israel! What do we get out of Palestine?” True, we need Israel, and yes, maybe we don’t get much from Palestine. But we forget that Israel needs India equally, and that we have a lot to get from the nations supporting Palestine.India desired to obtain technology for the manufacture of Heron TP armed drones but it received a setback when the Israeli ministry of defense imposed several restrictions on their export. Does that mean our ties were soured? No. Israel thought that that was a move in its interests, and so be it.Remember this phrase Prime Minister Netanyahu had used when Prime Minister Modi had visited Israel? – “Ours is a partnership made in heaven.”He’d used the same phrase in front of Jinping for Israel-China a few months back. Why? Because he has to balance ties. India also has to do the same.Israel was silent on Doklam unlike Japan who openly backed us. Why? Because again, Israel has to balance ties with both India and China. That’s exactly what India is doing now.Even US’ allies like Japan, South Korea, the UK and many NATO nations haven’t voted in favor. But amidst all these countries, possibly no nation has to balance ties and sentiments more than India has to.To summarize – * India has to balance crucial ties amongst many countries. * India-Israel surely had backdoor diplomacy before this vote was made where India’s stand was conveyed. * Emotions shouldn’t influence such matters; eventually what matters for every country is personal interest. * Foreign policy isn’t one-dimensional or a zero sum game. * Our ties with Israel are possibly on an all-time high and will continue to improve.Counter Opinion – Why India Didn’t Vote in Favor of Israel?PS1 : thank you all for your beautiful words. But this is not my work. I read this article on news express. It’s arguments and reasons provided seemed plausible. But i verified all the facts first. They are all true as per my research according to the material available on youtube, wion news and defence news. The author was asking to spread the word and stop the negativity. So after verification i reproduced this on quora. So if you really want to thank then visit the link provided above and say thanks to vinayak for this beautifully articulated answer.PS2: Some people are asking as to why did india not abstain from voting. Well, only nine states – including the United States and Israel –voted against the resolution. The other countries which supported Washington were Togo, Micronesia, Nauru, Palau, Marshall Islands, Guatemala and Honduras. Most of these are small island nations with no relevance in international geopolitics arena.Twenty-two of the 28 EU countries voted for the resolution, including the UK and France (NATO Allies). Germany – which in the past has abstained on measures relating to Israel – also voted in favour. Thirty-five countries abstained, including five EU states, and other US allies including Australia, Canada, Colombia and Mexico.Ambassadors from several abstaining countries, including Mexico, used their time on the podium to criticise Trump’s unilateral move. So, the only countries of relevance which abstained from voting are Australia and Canada and the other countries that abstained from voting did criticise trump for his policies.> Remember when modi visited israel - one of the main clerics of iran supported the cause of kashmir. The visit had sparked an interesting reaction from Iran, which has enjoyed cordial relations with India, but is at daggers drawn with the Zionist state. Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei called for support for the “oppressed Muslims in India-held Kashmir”; he also referred to Kashmir in his Eid sermon. There is little doubt Ayatollah Khamenei’s response was triggered by the growing bonhomie between Israel and India. But israel won't mind india's diplomatic ties with Iran.> Further, Iran and saudi arabia don't want to see each others faces and iran has disputed territory with UAE but the irony is that India will fill half of the storage with 6 million barrels of Iranian oil while continuing talks with United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia for the remainder. India, which is seeking to hedge against energy security risks as it imports about 80 percent of its oil needs, is building emergency storage in vast underground caverns at three locations in southern India to hold a total of 36.87 million barrels of crude, enough to cover almost two weeks of demand. This is called diplomatic masterstroke.> Before Modi's visit to Israel, metaphor of a “mistress” was used by Israel to describe India’s attitude toward the Jewish state. Ties could be enjoyed but had to be kept secret. Under the table relations with Israel have always been sweet. "Indo-Israel relations are at their peak, especially after Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Israel. The Israeli PM will also visit India soon. We recognize that India has an independent foreign policy. India is free to establish relations with any country... even if the said country is not an ally of Israel," Finkelstein said in response to a question about India's ties with Iran.> India is one of the truly sovereign countries. Americans themselves agree to this. India refused to send their army to afghanistan. Why should we get involved in the mess created by the soviet and Americans. India could have got heron attack drone from Israel if behind the scene US had not objected to the transfer of technology clause. US has massive investments in Israeli Defence industry. Each country safeguards it's own interest and that is what India should do irrespective of the general emotional surge. The dutch disease will eventually kill the economies of middle east in a decade or two. And India in the meanwhile would have tripled or quadrupled it’s economy. Then India will be in a better position to deal with such situations. As of now it is deft diplomacy from India.references :WION Gravitas: India's vote stuns the world (WION NEWS - INDIAS VOTE STUNS THE WORLD)Top 3| DRDO ATAGS Update,India increa$ing 10 time it's uranium produ¢tion (DEFENCE DETAILS)Israeli media Discusses Modi's First Visit To Israel India Israel Relations 2017 Modi in Israel (ISRAELI MEDIA)Israel is no longer India's mistressIndia gets first Iranian oil parcel for emergency reserveshttps://timesofindia.indiatimes....

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Morocco: (I'll try my best to cover most of what I know about my country)Flag: ​Morocco is In Africa (North West corner).Capitol city is Rabat.Morocco is a ferry away from Europe, you can have breakfast in tangier and lunch in southern Spain without going through any airport checks!Morocco is one of the oldest sovereign country in Africa.Oldest cities are: Fez:Also Fez old medina is an engineering wonder for those interested in ancient Architecture and design. ​ Marrakech: ​ Fez, Meknes and Marrakech are classified Unesco World Heritage sites.First country to recognize the independent United States of America as sovereign country. Morocco was never colonized. It was divided between French and Spanish protectorates. Meaning that it stayed a sovereign state with foreign armies governing and protecting the citizens of the country.Casablanca Conference: was one of the most important meetings in the history of World War II, it was held in Casablanca (then called Anfa). Casablanca Conference​ You can be in 2 or more totally different geographical area in the matter of a day; 2 ocean sides, Mediterranean and Atlantic. 4 or 5 Hours drive from the ocean sides gets you to Atlas Mountains, Toubkal national park is one of the highest peaks in Africa, a natural wonder Toubkal. 4 to 5 Hours drive from there gets you to the Sahara. Depends on the destination you’re heading, there are numerous natural wonders along the way.Casablanca is the biggest urban area in morocco. And the movie Casablanca was made around a street in downtown Casablanca near the port. And there is a restaurant you can go to now in downtown Casablanca that is decorated around the movie theme. It’s fancy and if you’re a big fan of the movie you will enjoy the time there.Speaking about movies, you might have seen many parts of morocco in very big and famous Hollywood productions (Ex: The 10 Commandments, Gladiator, Kingdom of heaven, Babel, Game of thrones…Etc.)There was a Moroccan Formula 1 grand Prix held in Casablanca.​Gentlemen; Start your engines! ​ We never pay for the asking price, negotiation is a national sport and every one try as hard as possible every day to master it.In a specific type of cabs, 2 people ride in the passenger seat; four in the back, no special rule for the back seat but sometimes necessity requires exception but not in urban area.In Casablanca the cab driver is the one who decides where he is going not you. You always hope he’s going somewhere near or within walking distance from your destination.Casablanca or any big city soccer game or derby triggers a state of emergency in the city. You DO NOT want to be in the crowds way when leaving the stadium, more if the team they're supporting is the losing team. If you see the crowd run for your life (Dramatisation of the situation, but sometimes it's true).  Mercedes-Benz 240D is a national monument :) (Kind of cabs mentioned earlier)​Moroccan food is very exotic and we use a wide array of spices (And no we do not eat spicy food)​​​​​​Marrakech is the capital of nightlife: Many celebrities chose to celebrate something in Marrakech (Marriage, Birth day…).We learn to play Football (Soccer) before we learn to write.If you’re someone’s guest you can expect a royal treatment. We tend to go beyond the extra mile to make a guest feel at home.                                   Places to visit And what to do: Casablanca: See colonial european architecture downtown. Nightlife and clubs are one of the best. Exotic restaurants and live music. Rabat: Capital monument, Chella, Royal mausoleum.Larache: Small and calm coastal city with some nice spanish colonial buildings and architecture. Assilah: A coastal city full of art and a nice calm and cosy city to spend time and enjoy coastal breeze. Tangier: Beautiful vibrant city, Nightlife and clubs, a beautiful beach and nice food (Seafood especially)Tetouan: One of the major northern cities, historic sites and the beach.Chefchaouen: Small city snugged between mountains with beautiful nature and wonderful blue houses all over the city.Fez: Old medina markets, beautiful architecture and a city with a lot of history.Meknes: Ancient medina and central square.Ifren: nice small town near the mountains, one of the largest Ski station is near Ifrane.Imouzzer: A cosy small town surrounded with beautiful nature.           Southward:Marrakech: The city is full of monuments and historic buildings, the old medina market is full of history and you can get some best handmade goods. Place Jamaa El Fna. Mount toubkal national park, and Oukaimeden Ski station.Essaouira: Wind city, visit historic Squala and enjoy seafood in the fish market. If you're into windsurfing this is your heaven.Agadir: Beach seafood and nightlife are among the best in the country.Tiznit: Beach, and surfing, you can also have some high quality handmade sterling silver jewelry Dakhla: Beach seafood and surfing, wonderful natural views where sahar send meets beach send.            Eastward (From Marrakech)Ouarzazate-Erfoud-Tinghir-Merzouga: Visit atlas studios. Sahara expeditions and and surrounding nature will keep you busy for sometime.

Why didn't China and India have a racial superiority complex when they were in power for the last 2,000 years?What is this? A question about why these two races are not racist? The incongruity of it is rather blatant, imho!Well in China’s case, it’s because China has been an empire for a long time. Like 2,000+ years. And empires don’t do racism, generally speaking. Because racism, fundamentally, is an off-shoot of “populist” politics, and empires don’t do “populist” politics.Look, say you have Race A and Race B in the empire. Each contributes 50% to the empire’s overall strength. Now Race A and Race B fight. Race A loses 10%. Race B loses 30%. So Race A wins because it’s now twice as powerful as Race B. BUT, the whole empire is only 60% of what it used to be! Would it be better for the empire if you reverse the outcome, and have Race B winning over Race A? No. It doesn’t matter who “wins”. The empire is the SURE LOSER! So for its own sake, the empire will act to suppress race wars and racial conflict, and promote “harmony”, because fighting between any internal groups of the empire is not good for the empire itself.This is not a China-phenomenon, but pretty much all empires. The Roman empire, despite its brutality, had 400 years of non-Roman emperors. The Ottoman empire, with its potpourri of Turks, Arabs, Greeks, Armenians, Jews, Christians, Bulgarians, Gypsies, Circassians, Tartars, …, had remarkably few race wars in its history,with the Sultans themselves being randomly mixed hybrids of whatever races out there. Demographics of the Ottoman Empire The emperor of the Austrian-Hungarian empire went to great length to get the Jews, Protestants, and Catholics all get along with each other. 1782 Edict of Tolerance Because People were valuable assets and useful subjects. When they fight each other, it’s bad for the empire.People as Valuable Assets is ingrained in the Chinese political culture. In 1751, when China sent embassy to Europe and found out so many different races of people living there, the ambassador reported back to his emperor in glowing terms“The Swiss are strong and loyal. If you do them a favor, they will always pay you back. More than half the men practice martial arts, and are employed by other kings as guards. Their country is mountainous, and very cold in winter, so they get to be very good at building houses. The Swiss women are faithful, quiet, straight forward, and very dexterous. They can weave clothes by hand, without using a weaving machine.” https://upload.wikimedia.org/wik...This official set of Chinese government books covered over 300 races, both inside and outside of China, all in pretty positive terms. This was how the Chinese viewed “races” - like an old Chinese emperor casting an envious eye on “the emperors of the Great Western Ocean” having such useful and valuable subjects! When the Last Emperor was no more in China, communism became the dominating ideology, and communism is also very anti-racism. Up until the late 80’s, when China opened up. all the school textbooks treated Africans and Latin Americans as the “natural brothers of China”. The Chinese have been working with, for example, Tanzania, since the 60’s. Whatever racism the Chinese have right now, it is mostly a confused mimicking of the Western culture. Good and Bad. I mean, when Norway was giving somebody Nobel Peace Prize for saying “China should be colonized for 300 years to become a civilized country”, that kinda sent a powerful message that Racism is a highly prized character!India … is kinda complicated. It’s been colonized since the 16th century, and it’s almost impossible to avoid some kind of racism if one has been colonized for so long, when “it’s an honor to shake the hands of a white man” for 400 years. In the case of India, it’s taken the hue of a tragi-comedy, where although the British kept the Indian natives down, they also exported the Indians to other British colonies as labor and/or the armed police. So the Indian may be below the British, but definitely above the other natives! -/s.In response to the White League’s agitation against Indian immigration and the proposed importation of Chinese labour, Gandhi wrote in 1903: “We believe also that the white race in South Africa should be the predominating race.”In an open letter to the Natal Parliament in 1893, Gandhi wrote:“I venture to point out that both the English and the Indians spring from a common stock, called the Indo-Aryan. … A general belief seems to prevail in the Colony that the Indians are little better, if at all, than savages or the Natives of Africa. Even the children are taught to believe in that manner, with the result that the Indian is being dragged down to the position of a raw Kaffir.”* Gandhi wrote in 1908 about his prison experience: “We were marched off to a prison intended for Kaffirs. There, our garments were stamped with the letter “N”, which meant that we were being classed with the Natives. We were all prepared for hardships, but not quite for this experience. We could understand not being classed with the whites, but to be placed on the same level with the Natives seemed too much to put up with.”Source: What did Mahatma Gandhi think of black people?Basically, the Indians were exported by the British to other former colonies like Malaysia, South Africa, Kenya, etc., as the trusted helper of the British against the natives. They filled the spot between the high-and-mighty British and the lowly African and Asian Natives. Gun fodder and coolie for a bit of money and prestige. Sometimes a colorful ribbon for your life. Only Racism can make this a good trade! It’s an awkward spot, especially after these countries gained independence. This is the historic legacy, and it’ll take time to untangle the social impact from this kind of legacy, including the racism developed from this legacy.“Racism” was not an issue, historically, until the Age of Colonization. The issue with Colonization is this:“I want the land. I want the gold and the diamond. I want the good stuff buried under the dirt. I don’t want the people walking on top of the dirt.”You see, the native people are not viewed as assets or “valuable subjects”. They are just trouble. They need to go. And there needs to be a “moral justification” to get rid of the natives. Thus Racism was born, designed to fit the Utility of the robber barons at the time.The funny thing was how Racism diverged in its expression in the US vs. Europe. In the US, it’s most a black vs. white thing, because of the history of importing black slaves to the US. In Europe, a century ago, it was mostly Anglo-Germans against Eastern Europeans, Southern Europeans, and the Irish! When the Irish Weren’t WhiteIrish butt of English racism for more than eight centuries1836: Irish immigration into Britain "is an example of a less civilised population spreading itself as a substratum beneath a more civilised community" - parliamentary inquiry into the Irish in Britain.

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Because it was one of China’s biggest “what if” moments, the chance to possibly alter world history in such a way, as to even make it unrecognizable from what it is currently to this day.An artist’s impression of Zheng He’s Voyages:For the last 500 years, ever since Christopher Columbus discovered the Americas in 1492, we have been living in a Western dominated world, forged upon Western ideas, advanced by Western science, safeguarded by Western technology, beautified by Western clothing and most importantly also, intensified by Western culture, which is quickly becoming the entire world’s culture in a way.It was and still is a world in which the most advanced, richest and prosperous countries in the world are almost exclusively Western, at least for the time being. Even South Korea and Japan, which are the exception rather than norm, are usually considered to have mainly owed their prosperity to the American ideas of Market Capitalism and Liberal Democracy, summarized as “Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness”.It should be remembered always however, that this “Great Divergence” between the “West and the Rest”, only really begun in 1492, merely 59 years after the end of Zheng He’s voyages. And so thus, it therefore makes at least theoretical sense given the comparatively similar circumstances and timeframe, of Columbus’ and Zheng He’s voyages to at least ask:“What if Zheng He’s Voyages had been allowed to continue on? Would we be living in a Chinese rather than Western dominated world today?”And I will also of course briefly touch on this matter down below.An artist’s impression of one of Zheng He’s famous “Treasure Ships”:As Pieter Buis notes below however, the Ming Voyages are or at least might not be so universally well known, so some context will have to be given to those new to Imperial Chinese History, as to just what the Ming Voyages were first, which coincidentally is also relevant to the question here.Warning: Slightly long answer coming up ahead, but not as long as my usual answers, it’s only 7,000 words so please take your time and enjoy. I also talk a lot about Economics and Finance mumbo-jumbo here, so beware of that also. Google any terms you don’t understand or ask me in the comments below, I will always respond don’t worry.Here are contents of my answer before hand for ease of navigation:Chapter I: What were the Voyages of Zheng He? Why were they Considered One of the Greatest Accomplishments of the Ming Dynasty?Chapter II: Could China Have Colonized the World, and in Doing So Establish a Chinese rather than Western dominated world today? If So, Then How?Conclusion and Final SummarySourcesFootnotesChapter I: What were the Voyages of Zheng He? Why Were They Considered One of the Greatest Accomplishments of the Ming Dynasty?Over a course of 28 years, a total of 7 international state sponsored voyages were carried out by the Ming Dynasty of China (1368–1644 AD), with the aim of journeying to all the countries of the Indian Ocean, in order to spread and make clear the glory of China. [1]The voyages were led by Admiral Zheng He, a Muslim and a Court Eunuch, who was so chosen because of the fact that Muslims were required to journey to Mecca every now and then, on a pilgrimage as required by the teachings of Islam.Thus Zheng was a person who the Emperor deemed worthy enough to be China’s guide towards the “Western Oceans”, in this way, he was promoted to Admiral and thereby made Commander-in-Chief of the vast “Treasure Fleet”.The voyages were on a grand scale never before seen, 28,000 men (considered today as 50% of London’s early 15th century population) were packed onto 62 “large” ships, accompanied with 180 “smaller” ships as they made their journey around the known world.A map of the 6.5 million km^2 land area of the Ming Dynasty at its peak from 1407–28, and also of the routes utilized by Zheng He’s Fleet:There are a couple rumours as to why there was a reason in the first place, for the undertaking of such a large and implicitly expensive endeavor. The most prominent of these “reasons” was in regards to the supposed fact, that the ruling Yongle Emperor (reigned 1402–24) wanted to find and execute his predecessor, whom as rumour had it, had survived his first attempted assassination, by fleeing in the guise of a Buddhist Monk to Southeast Asia. [2]This is of course most likely false however. The most likely catalyst for the Voyages, was actually in order to universally restore the given notion, that China was still the greatest “country” in the world.The reason for this was simple, China’s status had long been secure for centuries in the world by the time of Zheng He, but was severely damaged with the advent of the Mongol Invasions of the Song Dynasty, which saw all of Song China burnt to the ground, and 60 million people decimated.China had “lost face”, and had therefore lost its honour. And one cannot gain this “face” back merely by words, but needs to actively prove it through one’s actions. Words are meaningless without actions, and actions most definitely speak louder than words.The Chinese of course already knew this, and they weren’t just going to sit around and insist that they were the best, with no evidence to back it up. For hundreds of years, the Chinese had demanded from all surrounding kingdoms within their periphery, to offer lavish gifts annually as tribute to the Chinese Empire, in order to show that they recognized the superiority of China over the world, and the Emperor as the only true ruler of “all under Heaven”. [3]The Byzantine (Eastern Roman) Embassy to Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty (618–907 AD) 800 years earlier, where the Byzantine Empire recognized the undeniable power of China, and thus gave their tribute to the Emperor as a result. Here is an image below which so depicts a Byzantine Emissary presenting Constantinople’s tribute to the Emperor:But ever since the Mongol Invasions, and China’s loss of face, who would ever send tribute to them now? Tributes are only sent to the greatest country in the world! And China was certainly not that greatest country of which they spoke of, if they managed to get massacred even by an “uncivilized” peoples as that of the Mongols! In fact, what made China greater than they who had also likewise been massacred by Mongolia?China was supposed to be this great land of miracles which could never be defeated, and yet they fell just like any smaller and insignNow kingdom, much in the same way. And thus, as a solution to this great issue indeed, Zheng He’s voyages were of course upheld as China’s only solution, a way through which they could regain face, and by extension their “rightful” place in the world as its sole hegemon.An artist’s impression of the Ming Fleet preparing to set sail:It was therefore directly as a result of this belief, that no expense was spared with regards to the number of naval vessels present, nor the presumed high expense of sponsoring such an endeavor using taxpayer’s money, for almost 3 decades. Yet even so most notably, the vast expenses of the Voyages was claimed by Historian Robert Finlay to have, “not overburdened the Ming treasury”.And so off all around the world they went, 262 ships with 28,000 men led by 1 Muslim-Eunuch Admiral all the way down to the Southeast Asian Kingdoms, then West to the Indian Subcontinent, further along the coast to the Middle-East and then at last down towards the Eastern African Coast.The Ming Fleet docked at the Port of Mogadishu (capital of Somalia today), on the Eastern African Coast:As a result of the voyages, they were able to bring back to China many exotic goods from the furthest corners of the Earth (at least in their eyes), here for example a Giraffe from the great majestic continent of Africa can be seen being brought back by the Ming Treasure Fleet, which was presented to them as tribute, upon being demanded so by the Chinese:The Giraffe was from Malindi, a city 120 km northeast of modern day Mombasa, a major city in Kenya today. The Giraffe was actually mistaken by the visiting Chinese for the “Qilin”, a Chinese mythical hooved creature, said to appear with the imminent arrival or passing of a sage or illustrious ruler.It was a good omen thought to signal prosperity and serenity. Thus, when Zheng He saw the Giraffe, he knew he had to bring it back to Beijing to present it to the Emperor. Unfortunately, when they finally did bring it back to the Emperor’s city and put it in a Zoo, the Giraffe which had adapted to the warmer climate of Malindi, died from the extreme cold of the Capital. [4]Many exotic goods were brought back to China in this way, the Giraffe was only one of them.As for the voyages themselves, it was mostly an uncomplicated and uneventful journey. The voyages were mostly peaceful for the most part, and conflict free, however on one occasion the Chinese did enter into a military conflict with the Sinhalese Kingdom of Kotte from 1410–11, before subsequently emerging victorious despite being far from home, and only having half as many men.An artist’s impression of Zheng He’s visit to the southern half of the Indian Subcontinent (note that the Fleet can be seen in the background):Due to the superior technology of the Ming Empire, China was able to emerge victorious over the Kingdom of Kotte in under 1 year. Such a victory, won by a Chinese expeditionary force has often led many to compare the later European voyages, with China’s own endeavors. And in doing so, time and time again, the question has popped up:“Was it possible for the Chinese to establish European style colonization of the world, and thereby establish a Chinese dominated world order?”This is the real question indeed, was it possible?China was definitely one of the world’s most advanced and richest (if not the richest and most advanced) countries at this point in time, surely they could have done it? That is the real question, and it is also why Zheng He’s voyages is considered one of the grandest accomplishments of the Ming Dynasty, and then also subsequently one of the greatest failures upon its cancellation later on.We’ll never know of course, for the voyages in our timeline were eventually cancelled. Though as I maintained before, the great Ming Treasury was not so affected by the cost of the Ming Voyages, but it was because it had brought back very little material gain to the Ming Empire, that it was thus discontinued.I am of course over simplifying things here, for truth be told no small element of xenophobia nor arrogance was involved. China had already sat on top of the world for the best of almost 900 years during what Historians call the Chinese Millennium (600s-1500s). [5]It was a fact which coloured the way in which China saw the world. Here they were asking the entire world to send them their most valuable gifts, and what were these said greatest gifts which they got in return? Exotic animals from Africa, Spices from India, Sapphires from Indonesia and Pearls from the Middle-East. [6]An Imperial Portrait of the man who commissioned the Ming Voyages; the Yongle Emperor:Exactly what did the world have that China couldn’t already equal and surpass in both quantity and quality? How poor the entire world outside of China must have been if these were the greatest gifts of all under Heaven. And if the world was much poorer than China, was there thus any real reason for the mighty Celestial Empire to keep in contact with them? There was none.And if the world was not poor, it was utterly brutal and barbaric. For there at the northernmost fringes of the Empire lay the cruel Mongols, who as widespread paranoia in China would have it, were secretly planning an imminent second “re-invasion” of the Middle Kingdom, thus in China’s view also, the voyages should be stopped immediately as to fund the necessary precautions needed, to either prevent or stop them from doing so.In doing so, the highest priority of Ming henceforth was not on the voyages, but on its National Security. To this extent, it could be argued that Chinese focus on defending its northern frontiers, further precipitated an inward rather than outward orientation, resulting in a 407 year long period of Chinese Isolationism from 1433–1840.The effects of course were immediate, as all the state’s resources were poured into its military, which all but eventually failed to contain Mongolia, during the infamous “Tumu Crisis” (1449 AD), where Chinese efforts to defeat their nemesis drastically ended in disaster, when a force of 20,000 Mongols, defeated a Chinese Imperial Army that was 25 times larger than it, causing the Chinese to contract a casualty count of 300,000 men. [7]As Chen Yankai has corrected me, the numbers as given by the source I used for the Tumu Crisis was incorrect. In reality, 500,000 soldiers would have been the entire Northern force of the Imperial Army. Only 200,000 Ming soldiers were actually present at the battle, facing off against an enemy force of 50–70,000 by contrast.An artist’s impression of the Ming Imperial Army setting to war against Mongolia:Thus a return to the Ming Voyages could certainly never again be on the agenda, as the Chinese were too preoccupied with the Mongols. To this extent, the famous Great Wall of China was fully renovated instead over a period of 80 years, as a way to deter a Mongol re-invasion of China, which eventually succeeded, but at a great cost.For despite the fact that the Wall was armed to the teeth with 5,723 beacon towers, 1,176 defence fortresses, 3,357 watch towers and 7,062 defence towers, and stretched for 8,850 km and also defended with 100,000 soldiers of the Imperial Army, kept on 24 hours alert, [8]still cost the modern equivalent of $360 Billion to have built,[9] further wasting what was left of Ming China’s vast resources.The Great Wall of China (which you can see today, in its current form was finalized during the Ming Dynasty merely 500 years ago, despite being 2,700 years old):Thus ended both the Ming Voyages, and the possibilities to ever again, financially make possible, another round of International Chinese led endeavors.And yet still, people ask (and rightly so), was there any chance for Ming China to have ever been able to instead keep the Ming Voyages alive? This is an interesting question, I suppose I will also make room for it.Chapter II: Could China Have Colonized the World, and in Doing So Establish a Chinese Rather Than Western Dominated World Today?This is a complicated question so I will split it up into 2 parts:Part I: How the Europeans Created a Western Led World OrderPart II: Could Ming China Have Initiated in a Chinese World Order?Part I: How the Europeans Created a Western Led World OrderUsually I don’t like answering questions like this, because they’re unrealistic and idealistic, this is in sharp contrast to my personality which subscribes to realism and pragmatism. I don’t often focus on “what if” so much as I worship the notions of “what is”. That’s just a fact regarding who I am. Sorry.However, let’s think about this seriously for a minute here. Just for once in my life I will allow myself to fall into this trap of overindulgence in the theoretical world.As a Finance and Economics student, I know as fact that the one thing the Europeans had, that the Ming did not was the “motive” required in order to take over the world. To colonize, there must be a motive, a sort of incentive to do so.Profit is this motive. The Europeans had the desire to colonize other countries as this was the state of Europe in the 15th Century (ignore the fact that the map is about Printing in Europe, just focus on the countries instead):You’ll note that the countries of Europe at this time, were all so evenly matched and enjoyed such similar advantages in geography and technology, and were so well balanced in fact that no one country could really have ever been defeated by another entirely.Spain could not beat France one on one ever, at least completely, and if completely at least not long term unless, and only unless it were somehow to acquire more resources in order to fund its military and economy.That was one of the incentives for European colonization in the first place. It has of course also been argued that the fall of the Eastern Roman Empire in 1453, with the Fall of Constantinople to the Ottomans, also served to further invigorate this incentive, by cutting Europe off from the riches of both India and China. As you can see, money and supplies was certainly one of the main, if not the main incentive behind European colonization.A map of Christopher Columbus’ missions to the New World:Then, there was the matter of funding. To finance a colonization mission, it can usually only be funded through the efforts of the State like with Columbus’ voyages, using taxpayer money, or more effectively by using the excess capital resultant of private trade.This was certainly an advantage in history that the Europeans had over everyone else, which allowed them to eventually take over a huge amount of the world, their missions were not completely state funded, but also eventually privately funded. And to be privately funded, one needs the economic system of Market Capitalism.The way that Capitalism works, is that it not only gives a financial incentive for things to actually get done in the first place, but also provides the means to do so.A basic Financial System is always required first and foremostly, and an efficient one even better so. The way that Capitalism works is that the Financial System operates as such, as to allow the flow of funds between savers and borrowers in such a way, free from government interference such, that the funds only (at least in theory) get allocated to the most efficient and profit maximising places available.And these colonization missions to the “New World”, which were said to be full of Native American riches, of course would have served pretty much as an indirect advertisement, of the implied Return on Investment (ROI) to be earned, should one decide to invest.Furthermore, was the Dutch innovation of Share Trading [10] on the “Open Market”, which further allowed the efficient flow of funds, towards the funding of extravagant colonization missions.Shown below, is an artist’s impression of the Stock Exchange in Amsterdam:The notion also of a “Joint Stock Corporation” (though already invented by Song China hundreds of years earlier), was also during the Age of Sail and Renaissance implemented fully, and was soon widespread throughout all of Europe, allowing profit maximisation to further occur.In fact just the mere existence of a Multinational Corporation as that of the Dutch East India Company, was already enough to ensure Europe would be adequately prepared to fund its many upon many trips all over not just the New World, but the Old World also. A Multinational Corporation gave Europe a massive advantage over the rest of the world, since they were separate legal entities and their structure was such, that it was only of limited liability for its owners: the shareholder.Everyone who was anyone with enough money, could now invest for a profit. And thus, the European advantage in this respect should already be self-evident.A Treasury Bond belonging to the Dutch East India Company, dated from 1623 AD:This was how and why the Europeans came to dominate the world, and thus also why we are living in a Western World today rather than an Arab, Persian, Indian or Chinese dominated world (thus far).For money and an incentive not only gave the Europeans the capabilities to aggressively and quickly subdue the world, but also spurred Economic growth in the meantime.And as for economic growth, one must understand that growth has been proven to be strongly correlated with innovation even to this day as one can see from this graph below, which clearly depicts a positive relationship between Innovation and GDP per Capita, as higher GDP per Capitas often lead to higher rates of savings, thus allowing for higher rates of Private Investment, thus scientific and technological invention and innovation.Thus explaining as to why the West are also the most dominant innovators today. And strong innovation as you may have already guessed, will in turn lead to even stronger growth, thus restarting the cycle all over again:It should be clear then as to why and how the Europeans took over the world.Part II: Could Ming China Have Initiated in a Chinese World Order? If So, Then How?Now let’s talk about Ming China on the other hand. Could China have done something similar?The “TL;DR” is yes, BUT it would have been extremely (and I mean extremely) complicated indeed, and since historically the Ming was filled with terrible Emperors unprecedented before in all of China’s 5,000 year History… that isn’t good news.Despite what I had asserted earlier regarding the Great Wall having taken its toll on Ming China, there can still be no doubt however that China was still the world’s most powerful civilization during the early half of its reign especially.Matteo Ricci, the Jesuit Monk who visited China and successfully converted (or so he thought) thousands of Chinese to Christianity once commented regarding the nation in which he was staying, the following testament to China’s prowess:"With its countless citizens, vast territory and rich and plentiful produce, despite the fact that it has a powerful army and navy, and could easily conquer its neighbors, neither the emperor nor the people ever think of launching an armed invasion. They are satisfied with their lot and have no ambitions of conquest. In this respect they are very different from Europeans who, dissatisfied with their own government, strive to seize the possessions of other peoples." [11]An artist’s impression of the Jesuit Matteo Ricci (depicted with Chinese clothing) in the Celestial Empire conversing with Ming Imperial Officials:Similarly, in a pamphlet titled “Circa 1492: Art in the Age of Exploration, a pamphlet of the National Gallery of Art, 1992”, the consensus regarding the Ming Dynasty was one which was in full support of the power of the Celestial Empire:“China in 1492 was the oldest, largest, and richest civilization in the world. Its command of science and technology far exceeded that of Europe. A strong agrarian economy ensured that its inhabitants were better provided for than those of any other society on earth. The emperors of the Ming dynasty (1368-1644) presided over a vast and stable centralized bureaucracy.In addition to a hereditary aristocracy, the governing elite was composed of scholar-officials recruited on the basis of merit through civil examinations open to all. Many Chinese painters of the middle Ming period were themselves officials, a situation unparalleled in the West. The idea of artist-officials arose naturally in China, where candidates for government were expected to practice calligraphy and compose poetry.” [12]And finally, the late British Economist Angus Maddison seemed to believe that China emerged as the world’s largest Economy during the reign of the Ming Dynasty [13]:So China as we can see, was indeed the largest economy in the world. So theoretically, it should have been able to fund China’s voyages right?The only issue however, is that it’s not as easy as I’m making it sound. Such a phenomenon in our history actually disincentivized any Chinese efforts whether state or privately funded endeavors, as China had then entered what Economic Historians call today the “High Level Equilibrium Income Trap”:“… pre-industrial economy had signNowed an equilibrium point where supply and demand were well balanced. Late imperial production methods and trade networks were so efficient and labor was so cheap that investment in capital to improve efficiency would not be profitable.” [14]Basically, it’s saying that China was so rich that they didn’t need to go overseas and colonize other civilizations, it had all it could ever need. This was actually China’s largest issue though. It gets slightly better from here.Indeed, the most notable thing about Zheng He’s Voyages, in case you hadn’t already noted were that they were state-sponsored, and not privately funded. Put sharp and shortly, this means that the financing was sourced directly from the Imperial Treasury itself, money which was supposed to improve the lives of people, just in order to fund Zheng He’s 28 year long voyages.Now exactly where does this money come from however? Of course, from taxpayers first and foremostly. For, in the event that the Voyages were to last “forever” rather than just 28 years, public funding is not a good source of finance to put it very bluntly, if one is to improve the lives of the people, which I assure you was historically Imperial China’s greatest primary goal, one could not use taxation as a long term source of financing, and therefore Zheng He’s Voyages could not be funded in the long term.The idea of even sustaining such a long endeavor thus, would in turn require a no small increase in National Taxation Rates, in order to fund such endeavors. This however, is not a good idea even to this day. The fact remains, that taxation damages the economy, by “driving a wedge” in between consumers and producers of an economy, thus undermining living standards, historically not the Emperor’s foremost desires.Why? Let’s take an increased rate of taxation on Goods and Services as an example. This is literally what happens if you were to do so:If you don’t understand what’s happening, I will briefly explain it now. You see that Triangle on the left, that is as long as the entire vertical “Price” axis, yet only half as wide as the horizontal “Quantity” axis? Before suffering from a tax increase, that entire area is completely blank, indicating a maximisation of Ming material standards of living.However, let’s say that in order to fund China’s Voyages, a tax increase is leveraged onto Goods and Services.Now, you see that area titled “Deadweight Loss”, well that’s how much wasted potential for getting richer, both China’s Consumers and Producers are losing, as a result of this tax. And finally, you see that area called “Tax Revenue”, well that all goes to the government… at the clear expense of the Triangle and therefore China’s material standards of living.You’ll note now, that the original large Triangle, formerly huge is now only left with two much smaller triangles, one at the top left corner, the other at the bottom left corner. That is the consequences of even a minor increase in a Goods and Services Tax.It is for this reason, that taxation is not a long term solution for China’s Voyages. Instead, if they were to continue in the long run, China would have no option but to leave such a large scale endeavor exclusively to the “Free Market” Economy, and therefore like Europe did historically, fund it using finances originating from private enterprises, rather than from the State’s Treasury.Therefore, the status of Capitalism in the Ming Economy must be examined. Historians have traditionally considered the Ming Empire to have seen the grassroots of Capitalism towards the later half of the Empire’s duration. As luck would have it, Ming rates of taxation were already extremely light relative to its predecessors, business taxes for example were merely 1.5% of income, yet this historically only lead to more issues.And of the 300 million “taels” of silver which the Ming earned each and every year resulting from foreign trade, only 40,000 of those taels actually went to the government, or to sum it up in a different way: merely 0.013% of Foreign Trade Revenue actually went to the government in the form of Income taxes.[15]A tael of silver from the Ming Dynasty (during the Ming Dynasty, the circulation of paper money was also halted in favour of coins, due to the effects of paper currency on hyperinflation):Such rates of low taxation as a result in fact led to the inability of the Ming, to pay the soldiers of the Imperial Army, leading to widespread protests, strikes, desertions and of course rebellion also.And yet, if one were to cut back on the size and scale of the Army, exactly how would the people feel secure from the paranoia of an “imminent” second Mongol Invasion then? You would risk rebellion from the citizenry itself for this “minor” oversight.It was a real dilemma indeed, and no Ming Emperor especially in the second half of the dynasty’s duration, could ever have hoped to have solved it, since they were for the most part either lazy, incompetent, unintelligent or all three. The fact that one of the Ming Emperors even died from exhaustion, from literally having too much sex, should say it all about Late Ming’s ignoble rulers.A portrait of Emperor Taichang, the man who died from illness contracted after having too much sex (with 8 concubines in a row if I recall), what a guy:This however does not mean that it was impossible for China to have created a Chinese World Order however. Though admittedly, it would have been extremely hard for yet another reason.Historically, Imperial China with the exception of one major dynasty, looked down upon the wealthy Merchant Class, as leeches who only acted to steal from society, giving nothing back in return:The Social Hierarchy of Imperial China: “The Four Occupations” [16]Under the Chinese dynasties, the “Four Occupations” (listed below from greatest to least) was the Social Order that prevailed in China:The Shi (士) or Gentry ScholarThe Nong (农/農) or Peasant FarmerThe Gong (工) or Artisans and CraftsmenThe Shang (商) or Merchants and TradersNote how the Mandarin Official was at the very top of the Societal Order, whilst the Merchants were placed at the bottom? This was a fact which hindered China’s development of a strong, Capitalist Middle Class (via disincentivization), which is needed as it is the Middle Classes which would be arguably the most inclined to invest, in overseas naval expeditions.An artist’s impression of Ming Era “Mandarin” Government Officials, the Upper Class of China:And thus as you can see, it is also a cultural issue. If one were to create a successful pro-Capitalist society, one must also change the entire social fabric of China. And if I remember correctly, Chinese culture is more keen on preservation than change, and is also one of the hardest cultures in the world to affect whether positively or negatively.You would have to rewrite all the books, distribute propaganda, and change the way you educated kids, if you wanted to change a culture, and a continuous one also at that, with 5,000 years of history, all the more reason as to why it would be so difficult! And don’t forget, this takes both time and even more money, neither of which the Ming had in real life towards its end.Ming China actually however did have an early version of “Laissez Faire/ Leave it Be” Capitalism, but didn’t have the European standard of the Multinational, this is the issue essentially. They did however practice minimal government interference regarding SMEs (Small and Medium Enterprises) especially, and even embarked on a massive privatisation endeavor, of which most notably the Salt and Iron Industries were delivered into private hands.However, historically towards the end of the Ming Empire, as a consequence of the Ming Government’s limited signNow regarding its power over China, the Merchants and landowners eventually held de facto control in the absence of the Central Government, and the people suffered accordingly.Thus, now that we know much of the circumstances and challenges the Ming faced, we should inquire as to how the Ming could have developed a Market Capitalist society, which in turn could make feasible the prospect of a Chinese rather than Western led world.The entire following analysis by none other than me, shall attempt to realistically (hopefully) ascertain and propose a solution to the Ming Empire’s issues:Capitalism is an economic system which requires an in depth knowledge and understanding of, the complexity of Market “mechanisms”. The said economic system thus needs to be officially developed before it can be practiced. And the idea of Market Capitalism, cannot be developed ever unless China were ready and willing to accept change.Historically China’s greatest eras of its history, were the periods from the Han to Song Dynasties (206 BC-1279 AD), these three dynasties all had one thing in common. They were all extremely innovative, under those dynasties came China’s Four “Great Inventions”: Paper, Printing, Gunpowder and the Compass, [17] and countless hundreds of other independent innovations in Mathematics, Science and Technology.The Four Great Inventions of China:By contrast, the Ming in our history only innovated the toothbrush, and the Deep Ocean-going Rudder. Even China’s cannons were improved upon by the Western Monastic Order of the Jesuits. And the reason and disparity for this is simple, the Han, Tang and Song Dynasties encouraged the free flow of ideas, the Ming did not.It did not necessarily matter if the dynasty was authoritarian or quasi-liberal, what mattered was the relative freedom to suggest and reject ideas, something which the extremely innovative Song was known for. It is for this reason that it was they who invented both the Joint Stock Corporation, and Paper Currency.Thus, the first step for the Ming to take, is to promote the free flow of ideas. This will assist in technological innovation, leading to accelerating growth rates, and thus rising living standards.The second step is for China to weaken the influence of Confucianism, and instead promote Buddhism and Taoism, in order to transfer power away from the Mandarin Officials, and to the other classes. This was what happened under the Song Dynasty, where such efforts in an attempt to balance the “3 Ways” led to the rising status of the Capitalist Middle Class, who now rivalled the Mandarin Upper Class in terms of Economic “purchasing power”.An artist’s impression of the newly prosperous Merchant Class under the “Early Industrialized” Economy of the Song, where the Capitalist Class grew under the rule of the Imperial Zhao family to even rival the power of the Mandarins:In a sense, a quasi true Middle Class had just started to form, and it became larger, more sophisticated, better organized and more respected than it had ever been before. Under the Song, the Merchant Class was unlike its predecessors and successors, seen for the first time not as leeches on society’s well being. And the Middle Class as you know, is one of the most “must haves” in developing a Capitalist society.The stronger status of Buddhism also during the Tang Dynasty, is often suggested today as a reason as to why they were so liberal and relaxed, promoting an environment of the free flow of ideas, in stark contrast to the closed minded Ming Empire. Regardless, the second step is still to weaken the power of Confucianism.The third step is not to adopt an isolationist stance, but an open minded Tang Dynasty style approach towards International Trade and Relations. This will be made possible due to steps #1 and #2. Religious groups like Matteo Ricci’s Jesuits should be welcomed and received, and rewarded for their contribution and knowledge to the Ming Empire.In this way, China can benefit from the latest developments from the international community, and also indirectly accept foreign ideologies like Christianity, further increasing diversity of thoughts, assisting the fulfillment of steps #1 and #2.The fourth step is to re-introduce the Song Dynasty notion of the “Joint Stock Corporation” and Maritime Silk Road, and this time implement such a development fully, and endorse it officially at the Imperial level, encouraging the rising Middle Classes to invest. The fact that step #3 has already ensured that China is no longer an isolationist economy, this should make it clear to Ming Capitalists that overseas trade will give one a high return on Investment.This was already the case during the previous Song Dynasty with the implementation of the Maritime Silk Road, allowing the Song to have developed:“… a notable increase in commercial contacts with global markets ... Combined with a unified tax system and efficient trade routes by road and canal, this meant the development of a truly nationwide market... these changes made China a global leader, leading some historians to call it an “Early Modern" Economy many centuries before Western Europe made its breakthrough.” [18]The Song’s Maritime Silk Road, which helped China to increase trade to an unprecedented 50 foreign kingdom during rule of the Song Dynasty:The fifth step meanwhile, is to temporarily increase tax rates, and use it to reform children’s education and introduce propaganda cementing a need to expand the Empire. Historically, Chinese Emperors often forged and falsified records in order to accomplish their hopes and desires.The great Emperor Taizong for example had killed his brothers and father, directly contradicting Confucian beliefs regarding respect for your elders and parents, yet still secured his reign by distributing propaganda which claimed that all who had been slain, were now “his celestial advisers”. And in doing so, ensured the continuation of his reign. [19]It’s not so far fetched then to easily make something up for example, to claim that the Emperor’s father or the spirit of one of the past great rulers had visited him in his sleep, and told him to expand overseas. Education meanwhile, will be used to further supplement this propaganda, stressing a need to expand, in order to outflank and defeat the Mongols for example. In this way, the Emperor can turn the people’s fears, into a motive to succeed.The final step does not exist, but is merely conditional in that it requires all of the above to have been completed first. The hope in the fulfillment of Steps #1–5 is that if China does not independently innovate the concept of “Share Trading” or the “Multinational Corporation” like Europe, then it will at least learn indirectly through its non-isolationist interactions with the international community.Operations of the Dutch East India Multinational Corporation:In real life, the Jesuits already did impart much knowledge onto the Ming Empire, but truth be told they did not know everything. The hope in being non-isolationist thus, is that this issue will be self-corrected by interactions amongst the Maritime Silk Roads, which in real life also transferred the flow of ideas and inventions from East to West and vice-versa. Buddhism travelled to China in this way, whilst similarly, gunpowder went West unto the world via the Silk Road also.With the fulfillment of step #6 however, the circumstances which existed in Europe, leading to its rise, would have been perfectly replicated in China. This would finally allow it to have a chance, to begin a Chinese dominated world.The only issue is of course, such a full methodical completion of the above steps, for the Ming Dynasty given the politics and government structure (which values centralization and dependence), coupled with the inability of most Ming Emperors to actually govern properly after the First and Yongle Emperors, would mean that actual fulfillment of the list criteria would be most improbable, yet certainly not impossible rest assured.In this way, one of China’s greatest “what if” moments, could have become a “what is” moment, as unlikely as it may have been.Conclusion and Final SummaryZheng He’s Grand Voyages around the world still to this day remain one of China’s greatest accomplishments. It is deeply regrettable thus, that such an awe inspiring event is little known around the world today.It may not be the greatest achievement of the Ming (especially after it was cancelled), but whilst it lasted it did give rise to the possibilities of an unseen, and unfulfilled vision, of a Chinese rather than Western led world order, which would have definitely been most interesting to have personally experienced myself.It was certainly one of not only China’s biggest “what if” moments, but also for the world. How would the world have changed if China had successfully changed in such a way as to prevent the tragedies of the post-Zheng He Chinese timeline? How would the world have remained the same?We’ll never truly know the answers to these questions unless we were somehow to successfully change the flow of time, but alas that is currently impossible.And so Zheng He’s Voyages remains immortalized meanwhile in the History of Man, still unscarred as one of the great events of the 15th Century AD most definitely.It was an act which was by no means insignNow, for not every country in the world can for 28 years, send the numerical equivalent of 50% of London’s Early 15th Century population, or 28,000 men, on a voyage off to explore the world on board 262 ships, without the National Economy completely ruined afterwards either.And it is for this reason, and more, that it is still to this day, considered to be one of the greatest and most grand achievements, of the Empire of “the Light”. And Zheng He meanwhile, still remembered today also as one of the many national heroes of China even to this day.A statue of Zheng He in Modern China today:SourcesEbrey, Patricia Buckley; Walthall, Anne; Palais, James B. (2006), East Asia: A Cultural, Social, and Political History, Boston: Houghton Mifflin, ISBN 0-618-13384-4Chang, Kuei-Sheng. "The Maritime Scene in China at the Dawn of Great European Discoveries". Journal of the American Oriental Society, Vol. 94, No. 3 (July–Sept. 1974), pp. 347–59. Retrieved 9 November 2017.Footnotes[1] The Ming Voyages | Asia for Educators | Columbia University[2] Learn About the Seven Voyages of the Ming Treasure Fleet[3] tributary system | Chinese history[4] Treasure voyages - Wikipedia[5] http://ccnmtl.columbia.edu/servi...[6] Zheng He - Ages of Exploration[7] Tumu Crisis - Wikipedia[8] Ming Dynasty Great Wall[9] How Much Did It Cost to Build the Great Wall of China? (Infographic) - Latest News[10] Economic history of the Netherlands (1500–1815) - Wikipedia[11] Senses concerning the revival of the Chinese civilization[12] 1000-1450 CE: China's Golden Age: The Song, the Mongols, and the Ming Voyages[13] List of regions by past GDP (PPP) - Wikipedia[14] High-level equilibrium trap - Wikipedia[15] Economy of the Ming dynasty - Wikipedia[16] Four occupations - Wikipedia[17] Paper Making, Gunpowder, Printing, Compass[18] Economy of the Song dynasty - Wikipedia[19] Taizong

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