Comments by "Gorilla Disco" (@gorilladisco9108) on "Why China Remained Poor for Centuries" video.

  1. While Mongol was still a threat, it's not the fear of Mongol that let the Ming dynasty to isolate themselves. It was internal politics. The emperor who sent the expeditions was a usurper. Therefore, when the power was back to the rightful heir, the new emperor worked to suppress the supporters of the late emperor. Zheng He was one of them, and with that, his fleet. note: Japan pirates was later on, after the vacuum created from the self burning of Ming fleet.
    6
  2. The teleprompter typist used small fonts. 😅
    5
  3. I believe it was isolationism. Japan broke out of their isolationism several decades earlier than China in the 19th century and they managed to catch up quickly with European countries while remaining under Confucian influence.
    4
  4.  @fortpark-wd9sx  When you are at the height of your power, you tend to look down on others. That's what Qing in 18th century, that is USA today.
    4
  5.  @michaelajustin3443  India didn't fall behind, at least not initially. When the Europeans arrive in Indian Ocean, they were "welcomed" by cannon equipped ships. If I remember correctly from "Why Did Europe Conquer the World?" by Philip Hoffman, Indian kingdoms lacked the ability to raise taxes without inciting rebellion. European states on the other hand, has historical precedent that enable them to squeeze tax several times higher than any Indian kingdoms. While it would damage the economy on long term, it was enough to awe Indian kingdoms to use their services in conflict with neighboring kingdoms. It in turn gave the Europeans a foothold on the subcontinent. And the big break was when England was invited to help settle the dispute inside Mughal empire.
    4
  6. You understand that Europe at the time also monarchies, right?
    3
  7. Ah yes, the "blame others" school of thought.
    3
  8. Why are you yelling?
    3
  9. Europe didn't progress fast in science until The Enlightenment. Before that, Europe was just another region of the world with petty monarchs squabbled with each other. After the fall of Rome, the science progress of western Eurasia was kept by Middle East. The Enlightenment was what enabled Europe to progress fast, catch up, and finally left Middle East and China in dust.
    3
  10.  @doujinflip  Right? I complained several times and they just don't care. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
    2
  11. Public school indoctrination flows strong in you.
    2
  12. Tian An Men, 4th June 1989. Winnie the Pooh. Letter "N".
    2
  13. Sui dynasty didn't cause the stagnation in science and technology in China. Sui dynasty was the start of China healing after the several centuries of chaos following the end of the Han dynasty. They were taken over by Tang dynasty shortly after. The Sui reigned just three decades, and a third of that was in another chaos before Tang took over. As short lived as they were, one of the celebrated innovation during Sui dynasty was the building of Grand Canal that increased domestic trade among China's cities (it was build to pile resources in preparation to invade Korea, but well ...). And also, why would science had to be requirement for government officials? Their job is to administer the country resources. So the ability to read and write were the only requirement considering the level of education during that time. Some of them might dabbled in science in their leisure times, but science was not a requirement for their post. For comparison, Europe also didn't require science for government official posts. Their requirement was limited to ... ability to read the Bible (instead of Confucian). Scientists like Newton, Kelvin, Faraday, etc. were given subsidies to enable them to conduct experiments, but they didn't have any power in government. What make the difference between China and Europe was isolationism and because of it, China missed the crucial event that enabled Europe to catch up and finally leave China in dust : The Enlightenment.
    2
  14. You should put a limit on how many words your AI is allowed to produce.
    1
  15. I don't think Sui government exam in Confucian was the reason in stagnation. Europe themselves also used exam in Bible reading for their government official up until 19th century. What created the stagnation was the isolationism of Ming dynasty (and continued under Qing). Because of it, they missed one crucial event in the progress of science, that is The Enlightenment, which put emphasis on science method. While China's scientist were still grasping in the dark about the nature as late as end of 19th century, Europe started to stockpile knowledges about how nature works. After several centuries doing that, they managed to beat up Turkey and China, and reign supreme.
    1
  16.  @WingkKong  "Taiwan economy perform poorly" Is that the indoctrination they pushed on you? Oh well, Tian An Men. 4 June 1989. Winnie the Pooh. Wait ... waaiiiit ... N. The letter N.
    1
  17.  @zsarimaxim692  The videos didn't talk about power of China, but the science progress in China.
    1
  18.  @aoeu256  Umm .. I think they are already stol .. used the most advanced tools human have. And they are also already applied 996 work schedule. The issue is not they are not efficient enough. The issue is their government screwed things up.
    1
  19. Most glaringly is how they spell Chinese names.
    1
  20. Depending on which year, I guess.
    1