When an American quotes a Historical event, he quotes a date

When a Chinese quotes a Historical event, he places it within a Dynasty

Americans have history
Chinese have civilisation

A Thread on how the Chinese think >>>

The Chinese like the Indians are born out of Myth.

They trace their civilisation to the mytho-historical emperor Huang Di

They even have an exact date 2704 BC, making the Chinese civilisation 5000 years old

If you want a parallel, think Ram and Ram Rajya

However the first 2500 years was spent in disarray, culminating in the warring tribes period of 403-221 BC, when numerous small and large states fought endless wars

Remember Sun Tzu and the art of War? Its from this period

China became one in 221BC, under the Qin Dynasty.

It has unlike any other country been "One" since that day, with an steady expansion of its civilisational state boundaries, spreading itself amongst people who it considered both racially and culturally homogenous

Even in the periods, where China has been ruled by either the Mongols or the Manchu, the rulers have assimilated into the Chinese.

In fact the, acronym, Han Chinese is derived from the second, Han dynasty, which followed the Qin Dynasty

In fact China has had 14 imperial dynasties, 10 of them longer than the entire history of USA

You might well ask, which is the most famous of the dynasties?

( Dont worry you are allowed to ask)

Development wise, it is probably the Song Dynasty. (960-1269AD)

Song's did advanced irrigation, examination system, block printing, gunpowder, major advances in mathematics and astronomy.

In fat they were 200 yrs AHEAD of the European Renaissance for similar lvl of achievement

Military conquest wise, the last dynasty (Qing - 1644-192AD) was most productive and also the most interesting

It was during this time 2 dis-similar provinces were brought under Chinese control

Tibet
East Turkestan (Xinjiang / Ugyurs)

A note on Tibet:

While "conquered" by China in 1720, the disintegration of Qing dynasty in 1912, meant they managed to get some Autonomy. In 1950, Mao came, kicked out THE Dalai and formally integrated Tibet into China

Article 370 anybody?

China was so successful that most of East Asia and Vietnam, genuflected in front of them

and importantly, China despite its superiority, NEVER COLONISED any country

Instead it established a tributary system, where the provinces gave them tributes in return for Protection

This history, where a superior China, enter into a "win-win" arrangement with a supplicant country, is the template which China has used in Nepal, Pakistan and to certain extent Africa

You accept us as your superiors and we will protect you and help your economic development

The sophistication of Chinese Foreign policy honed over centuries has allowed it to seamlessly make these countries their client state.

Compare with Indian ham handed approach to its South Asian neighbours

Coming back, China drawing deep from their history, have a sense of racial and cultural superiority.

They also have an incredible ability to think in terms of centuries forget decades. Of the 14 Chinese imperial dynasties, 10 have been longer than the entire history of USA

Racial homogeneity&sense of historical superiority, has made China look down on other people

The Chinese Marco Polo, Zhang He travails in the 16th century, are filled with contempt for people from Africa &India

Its no secret China thinks of Indians as chaotic & inferior

In fact, the 2 racially dis-similar provinces - Tibet and Xinjiang, East Turkestan, China has been unable to assimilate

They have tried, instead to ethnically overwhelm them by encouraging large scale Han Chinese migration (Imagine India filling Kashmir with Biharis)

They regard 1850 to 1950, the lost century

Ravaged by the Europeans and the initial ill effects of Communism, Chinese Share of world GDP fell from nearly 30% to 5%

Much of the Chinese mentality is to take "revenge" for this century of humiliation

However to reverse this century of humiliation, China has adopted an astonishingly sophisticated approach

The approach lay in deceiving other countries in the world to think of China in pure economic terms

A country whose economic rise would necessarily defang it

Chinese in fact, idolises deception.

Their history is replete with books on emperors who have used deception as an legitimate tactic to win the war

Deception is good, even necessary, to achieve the desired end goals

To start of with they co-opted the Western Intellectuals

We had theories like the Golden Arches - "No 2 countries who have a McDonald have ever gone to war"- Thomas Friedman and Fukuyama who thought economic prosperity would make all countries converge

This allowed them to re-establish relation with USA (Nixon-Kissinger) as well enter multilateral organisations (WTO,UN etc)

During this time, China was extremely generous in terms of how it structured its trade with East & Asean countries, allowing them to feed of Chinese growth

It also kept its military expenditure low (bringing it down to 1.5%/GDP in 1990s)

This was to appear deliberately non provocative (also save money for development)

As they started getting the West confidence, it started, to use its relationship to mass steal Technology and IP

For all of China's current technological prowess, its rise would not happened, if it had not used its state apparatus to steal industrial and technological secrets.

Amazingly the state acted on behalf of private companies to pass on the secrets

China would show its fangs (preferably in a Tributary state type of win win relationship) but ONLY once it had achieved a certain high level of economic power.

Till them it would act all Panda.

They would bide their time to be the dragon

That is the reason, as I have maintained, the Ladakh imbroglio is a medium term disaster for the Chinese

At THIS stage of development, they don't want to appear militaristic or hegemonist

Especially in post CoVID world where they are seeking to give non US global leadership