China: A History

Key Takeaways

• 1.An incredible overview on the three-thousand+ year long history of China.
• 2.It comprehensively provided me with the philosophical, ecomomical, militaristic overview of China's deep history, starting from the early Zhou, to the Qin, Han, Tang, Song, Yuan, Ming, and Qing dynasties.
• 3.There are too many topics to discuss here, however the most striking are how China had undergone pretty predictable seasonalities in it's history, with a rise and fall of the next dynasty being similar to the prior.
• 4.The Opium wars and the 100 years of humiliation are a true testament to how the West (England, France, Germany, the US, Portugal) interferred with the rest of the world. The BEI Company, acting as a foreign agent, shows how low greed can take a sovereign nation in the name of glory.
• 5.The influence of Confucianism in society was so important throughout it's 2000+ year long relevance. It added a deep level of sprituality and respect in the culture, that reverberated all the way up to the ruling classes.
• 6.As a result of reading this book, I like to compare China and it's sphere of influence on Japan, SE Asia, Nomadic (Turkic and Xiongnu) peoples, India and Slavs to Ancient Greece. Almost all great societal innovations came from China and spread outwards.
• 7.The Han dynasty crafted incredible forms of Bureacracy and systems of governance that the modern West can take inspiration from. Each branch of the government would have its own counter branch, responsible for auditing the primary branch and ensuring its proper operation.
• 8.Cao-Cao during the period of the Three-Kingdoms was awesome.
• 9.Globalization can be expressed in terms of the development of the silk-road into what it had developed throughout the century following the black death and the fall of the Mongolian empire.
• 10.The late Song and early Ming dynasty introduced a more merit-based society with its creation of the state examination. It acted as the counter-part to hereditary forms of governance and ambition.
• 11.A primary reason why China did not pursue industrialization before the west, was due to its huge population. It had around a quarter of a billion people living within its borders during that period, acting as a natural form of mass-labor. Industrialization was simply not needed.
• 12.The canal system introduced in the late Qin dynasty was important for the irrigation of the Yellow river regions however was prone to inundations, a precursor to the fall of the Han dynasty.