Comments by "神州 Shenzhou" (@Shenzhou.) on "Epimetheus"
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Ancient Chinese scholars been keeping meticulous records of our history. We know the names of all 650+ rulers of China, what period they ruled China, what sort of government they had, how many wives and concubines they had, how many sons and daughters they had, which daughters were married off and which son succeeded him and what happened to the rest of his children, how the emperor died, whether it was by court intrigue, poison or by rebellion.
We know the size of the imperial court, how many ministers it had, how many eunuchs, the size of the imperial army, the names of the top generals, the battles they fought, the number of victories and defeats, the casualties and death toll of each battle, the territories conquered and lost, which territories became tributary states, the names of the leaders of suzerain kingdoms, how much tribute they paid to China, how much tribute they received from China in return, and so on.
There is literally no period in China, where information isn't being recorded at all by Chinese scribes. China has among the world's most complete history and other Asian countries like Japan, Korea, Vietnam make use of Chinese records for information about their own country's history. China has even influenced Western history, and Chinese practices such as the Imperial Examinations resulted in the concept of a merit system, which spread from China to British India during the 17th century, and then into continental Europe.
Source: List of rulers of China en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_rulers_of_China
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Skate Trooper Who are you calling dude here? A. There may be languages that derived from Latin, but it that doesn't mean Latin is not a dead language. Languages that evolve and change over the years, are often termed "living", whereas those with no new words added or no native speaker having it as 1st language, are often called "dead" languages like Latin and also Egyptian Hieroglyphs for example.
B. You brought up Western clothing, and also said: "China today is nothing like China in the past" so why can't I point out that Chinese wear traditional clothing during Chinese New Year, even till today? Do Western people still wear togas like they did in the past? Chinese people wore luxurious silk clothing since 4th millennium BCE, while rest of the world mostly wore loincloths and "bedsheets" called togas.
Even the pants that you claim were invented by Germanic tribes in Celtic tribes were actually from China. The oldest known trousers in the world are found at the Yanghai cemetery in Turpan, Xinjiang, western China, dated to the period between the 13th and the 10th centuries BC, and were made of wool and most likely made for horseback riding.
C. Rome conquered countries and introduced Roman/Greek culture to those countries, but in China's case, it was the Mongolian and Manchu rulers who adopted Chinese culture instead. You claim Western Civilization is born when the Rome fell, so how does that imply that Roman culture is Western civilization then?
Many Western historians agree that Rome did indeed fell, otherwise, is Rome empire alive today? Chinese "empire" survived to the modern day relatively intact (Tibet, Xinjiang, Inner Mongolia, Northern China, Southern China, Hainan Island, NorthEast China, etc) but is Roman empire (France, Germany, Britain, Spain, Italy, Egypt, etc) still alive today?
D. The earliest evidence of crossbows comes from ancient China in the form of crossbow triggers dating back to the 6th century BC. Remnants of Intricate bronze crossbow were found in many Chinese tombs (including First Emperor's Tomb) but the wooden and degradable parts of the crossbow had long since rotted away.
You were the one mentioning how China was still using chariots, so why can't I talk about weapons? Knights equipped with chainmail armor, were still vulnerable to high powered crossbow bolts fired by poorly trained peasants. And what Western military doctrine are you referring to? The are various Chinese military manuals, like Sun Zi's "The Art of War" 孙子兵法 and its topics are still taught in many modern military academies and sometimes applied to business and romance as well. As for revolutionizing warfare, the most significant invention was probably Chinese invention of gunpowder.
E. I agree that many other countries can trace their heritage for thousands of years, but none as well as China. After the Fall of Rome, many European countries were plunged into the "Dark Ages" where little of their former glory is known and not much information being recorded about rulers, governments, armies, cities, etc. China has kept records of every Chinese ruler, their form of government, how many concubines the emperor had, how many sons and daughters the royal family had, which sons and daughters were killed, which son succeeded the emperor and what happened to the other children, etc. There is literally not a period in China where no information being recorded. China did not truly have a "dark age" like in Europe.
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