how did the chinese fall behind?

[BlahBlahYouToo]

if the ancient chinese were such an advanced civilization, why have they not been a world power until recently?

according to wiki, they are the source of many major inventions, including the compass, paper and printing, gun powder.
they understood physics concepts two thousand years before the greeks.

so why is it that they were a 3rd world country until recently?

 

[alent1234]

can't remember the name but there was an emperor who stopped progress. at the time the chinese had a famouse sailor/navigator who sailed and traded as far as africa but the emperor at the time abruptly stopped the exploration and it was downhill ever since. sometime in the 1500's i think

 

[Zeze]

Every civ has its reign?

How did Napolean fall behind? He was close to raping the whole world
How about Gengiz(sp) Khan?
Rome?

 

[Numenorean]

Communism.

 

[sonambulo]

Very, very, very simplified answer: rotten bureaucracy. The court ate itself over petty squabbles and opulence.

 

[highland145]

Very, very, very simplified answer: rotten bureaucracy. The court ate itself over petty squabbles and opulence.

Looks at the U.S........

 

[HeXen]

Someone may be asking this same question about America some day. a hundred thousand years of history says that no civilization can be #1 forever.

 

[JS80]

1) Communism
2) Asianism

 

[Saint Nick]

1) Communism
2) Asianism

Lollered.

 

[swanysto]

Same thing that is happening to the US. Selfish government and the poor breeding like rabbits.

 

[Eli]

Communism.

This.

 

[zerogear]

I don't think any one thing that made them fall behind. During the Ming dynasty in the 1500s, they weren't all that concerned with the outside world become an isolationist country and while at the time they were probably had the best technology/natural resources etc.; isolationist countries tend to fall behind rapidly, especially when Europe was expanding rapidly outward during the same period. Even when presented with trade opportunities, China (and Japan) mostly resisted trade to the English/Dutch/French.

While Manchu took over around 1600s, the borders were open for a while for new technology/medicine/religion, when it was overthrown but towards the mid-1700s, they reverted back to isolationism and resisted industrialization.

And then between the Boxer Rebellion and Opium Wars and the communists "Cultural Revolution" and Japanese invasion, it ended up closing its borders again until fairly recently.

 

[dave_the_nerd]

Isolationism made them technologically inferior. Bureaucracy made them inefficient. The Opium Wars and Colonialism pushed them over the cliff.

Communism kept them there for a while longer than might have been necessary, but they've been Communist-In-Name-Only for a while now.

 

[bfdd]

Every civ has its reign?

How did Napolean fall behind? He was close to raping the whole world
How about Gengiz(sp) Khan?
Rome?

Well Temujin never fell behind, his later generations did.

 

[SunnyD]

Isolationism.

They didn't want anything to do with the rest of the world.

 

[Capt Caveman]

Isolationism.

They didn't want anything to do with the rest of the world.

This

 

[Meghan54]

Isolationism.

They didn't want anything to do with the rest of the world.

This is probably the best reason out of a multitude of reasons. China essentially walled themselves off from the rest of the world for hundreds of years.....stagnating their advancement as the rest of the world moved along.

 

[HeXen]

This is probably the best reason out of a multitude of reasons. China essentially walled themselves off from the rest of the world for hundreds of years.....stagnating their advancement as the rest of the world moved along.

isnt it also the reason the ancient chineese got so advanced? They invented gunpoweder in a time i believe they were well isolated.

 

[BrownShoes]

General Tso didn't want round eyes to have his sweet deep-fried chicken recipe and kept China isolated.

 

[SunnyD]

isnt it also the reason the ancient chineese got so advanced? They invented gunpoweder in a time i believe they were well isolated.

Not quite. China advanced itself before the rest of the world even cared to venture out of their back yards (aside from a few brave souls). Once the western imperialists decided the world was theirs for the taking, China sealed itself off from having their pure culture tainted by western influence, believing western civilization to be uncouth.

Believe it or not, this principle extends through China's culture today. The only difference is they knew they fell behind and now have an agenda to become the most powerful society once again, hence they're forced out of isolationism today. The ruling Chinese would love nothing more than the rest of the world to fall off the face of the earth and let China be the only culture to exist. Popular sentiment is somewhat different though - kind of the same reason Catholic school girls tend to be buck-nasty in bed. :sneaky:

 

[l0cke]

Opium

 

[zerogear]

General Tso didn't want round eyes to have his sweet deep-fried chicken recipe and kept China isolated.

I think this was the real reason.

 

[BlahBlahYouToo]

look at all the shit they invented. a belt drive in 15 BC, which later became a chain drive. damn...

imagine what they could've become if they weren't infighting and were allowed to progress.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Chinese_inventions

 

[zerogear]

The mentality of the Ming dynasty was they were the sons of Heaven, and everyone else was inferior, so they didn't want to have anything to do with the outside world. And as they gradually weaken, Mongols came and took over (Manchu Dyansty), the West came and picked at the bones basically made them complete xenophobes.

 

[Atomic Playboy]

China essentially walled themselves off from the rest of the world for hundreds of years....

No, China literally walled themselves off from the rest of the world with the biggest fuck-off walls in history. That's a good way to isolate yourself from other people.