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Randomuser

Major
Registered Member
The whole reason Japan is even relevant in the first place is due to western technology. Prior to that it was just some island far away stuck doing little for basically 2000 years. Having a large sea affects everything. Western tech allowed them to bypass a lot of restrictions. It even gave islands like UK and Japan immense power due to the navy meta at the time.

But that tech is a double edged sword. America bombed it without any issue because that sea is no longer a barrier. Likewise China can do the same.

While we look to the past for lessons, we have to recognize things change and may not be applicable today. Mongols had a huge advantage being on the steppes where they could just run away on horses whenever things got tough. With western tech today however, those guys are just sitting ducks used for target practice from either aircraft, missiles or tanks.
 

henrik

Captain
Registered Member
The Qing Dynasty objectively hindered the development of Chinese technology and expanded the original territory. However, from the perspective of the Chinese people, allowing Chinese civilization to lag behind the times was an unacceptable failure! This was the lowest point of Chinese civilization since its inception, so in the evaluation of the Chinese people, the emperors of the Qing Dynasty would not receive a very high score. When it comes to historical status, it would undoubtedly be Qin Shi Huang, Emperor Taizong of Tang, and another candidate whom I will not reveal.

Why won't you reveal that candidate? For what reason?
 

Iracundus

Junior Member
Registered Member
The golden period for all Chinese dynasties lasts at most 100-150 years. What was remarkable about the Tang wasn't purely their military conquests (ironically, early Qing nearly matched the Tang in terms of military success and territorial expansion) - it was the creativity, openness, and receptiveness to new ideas that characterized the first half of the dynasty. The only period in Chinese history that matched the Tang in creativity and the generation of new ideas was the Spring and Fall / Warring States period. The Ming and Qing by comparison were deserts of intellectual and philosophical development. Early Tang would have been the most likely Chinse dynasty to have been able to adapt rapidly enough to the emergence of industrialized Western powers.



A central and recurring challenge confronting successive Chinese dynasties was the management of local elite power: specifically, how to prevent the consolidation of regional bases of authority that might, over time, rival and ultimately undermine the supremacy of the imperial center. Successive dynasties had the tendency to overcorrect based on the experiences of the previous dynasty, yet no dynasty ever managed to find a lasting solution to the problem. The solution adopted by the Song/Ming and later the Qing was the keju and elevation of Song-Ming rationalism - which not only ultimately failed, but also hamstrung intellectual advancement.

The reduced open-ness of Song and Ming were both direct reactions to experiences from the preceding dynasty. The experience of the An Lushan rebellion led to greater distrust of outsiders since An Lushan was Gokturk and Sogdian, while Ming came after the Mongols. The emphasis on civil control of the military from Song onwards was a direct reaction to the jiedushi and turmoil of the second half of Tang and the successive coups of the 5 dynasties period, culminating in Song Taizu and his ending of the cycle by stripping his jiedushi of military power.

The recurring challenge was never solved because dynasties relied on local elites to implement their policies and do basic administrative functions, such as taxation and resolving legal disputes. Piss them off too much and your local administration falls apart from passive aggressive resistance.

The elevation of the keju elevated civilian management of the military and of civil virtues, but I agree that Neo-Confucianism led to an inward spiral of intellectual philosophical navel gazing to the neglect of practical material inquiry. However we must remember that it was a reaction and counter to the religious mysticism from the rise of Buddhism.
 
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Xiongmao

Junior Member
Registered Member
Japan is a very resilient civilization throughout thousands of years like Jiang said. China cannot control, blockade, defeat or get rid of Japan. History similarly repeat and rhyme itself in the past and future. The biggest threat to Japan is the Mongol empire which had failed twice trying to conquer them.

China biggest power move is to sanction Japan but Japan doesn't perceived that as the biggest threat to them. In conclusion Japan and China will live co-existentially as major powers.
Yeah but it's enough for China to relegate Japan more back to historical times, so in the Tang dynasty at the height of Imperial China, Japan was a nation of farmers and villages.
 

Chevalier

Major
Registered Member
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This is why China including Taiwan nationalised all petrol stations

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If I were any of the PLA black ops “instructors” in Iran, I would be aiming those Iranian ballistic missiles at Pine Gap in Australia, use Iran to knock out American intel apparatuses the way the U.S. used Ukraine to take out Russian strategic bombers.
looks like Russian, Chinese or Iranian black ops have been busy, dealing payback for CIA assassinations of their own scientists.
 
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