Quote:
Originally Posted by Fozzie_DeBear
Well they did have the treasure fleets of the 1400's that made Columbus' ships look like rubber duckies...
When the Roman Empire collapsed Europe was a basket case and China had epic cities like Xian
I'm certainly no expert, but it seems to me that until the the 1600's Europe wasn't even close technologically, militarily, scientifically, etc etc. to China.
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There were other civilizations that were awesome too. The Muslims were awesome between 900 and 1400 and fought the Chinese on the west border continuously. Baghdad was a tremendous city.
I think China is always under turmoil. I always treat Chinese middle age numbers of population and deaths in military battles as inflated. They had stuff but didn't use it. My favorite is that China invested gunpowder but not guns. Let's make firecrakers instead!
When you speak to most Chinese today they are not happy with the communist government and just treat it like another 'dynasty' that will fall in 50, 100, 200 years. The US is still the world's engine economically and militarily.