Thread by @CarlZha

I have heard the current world system compared to Warring States Era China.

Hear me out: US is Jin because there’s no way it will stays an unitary state after losing its power

Jin State for the most of Spring and Autumn Era (770-476 BCE) was the Hegemon of the alliance of Central Plain States 诸夏 because it was the largest of the Central Plain states and occupied most productive region.

Jin led Central Plain states agst Chu, largest state in S China

Chu was the largest state and very powerful but was seen as not quite part of civilized Chinese states 诸夏.

Chu ruler declared himself King and 蛮(Man) Barbarian placing Chu outside of pale of civilized world where Son of Heaven, King of Zhou Dynasty ruled supreme (in theory)

Northward expansion of Chu Kingdom created lot of pressure on Central Plain states to band together under a Hegemon, Qi State.

Duke Huan of Qi led the Alliance under the banner 尊王攘夷 Respect the King, Expel the Barbarian (Chu)!

But Qi fell into chaos after Duke Huan's death

Decline of Qi state and seemly unstoppable rise of Chu, gave more centrally located Jin State opportunity to rally Central Plain states against Chu and became the next Hegemon.

But series of succession crisis led the Jin ruler to prune the royal line. Power fell into hands of several noble families who gradually became more powerful than Jin ruler

Eventually Zhao, Wei and Han Clans split up Jin into 3 states. Warring States era began

Wei state almost managed to conquer Han and Zhao and thus unify frmer Jin. But Qi state will not allow such powerful state to emerge again and militarily intervened. Fighting 2 front war agst Qin and Qi wore down Wei military power.

This allowed rise of Qin in the west

State of Qin, on the peripheral of the civilized Central Plain states, hold off Wei expansion, expanded to the West and conquered Shu and Ba kingdoms in Sichuan Basin. Double its territory , became a major power. It took Han river valley frm Chu Kingdom.
Suddenly unstoppable.

Qin became so powerful that even when the alliance of other 6 kingdoms banded together couldn't stop its rise.

Qin state exited abt 700 yrs since its founding in 905 BC in Western China. It gave rise to most version of China's name in foreign languages (Sin, Seen, Sina, China)