Thread by @DoveyWan

I found this history background very helpful for westerners to understand the core fundamental of how China becomes China - here is a thread (will expand into a series articles later) 👇🏻

Roman Empire vs The Qin Dynasty

1/ When Roman Empire fell and result in thousands years of fragmentation of Europe, Ancient Chinese emperor Qin Shi Huang unified the language, currency and civil laws for entire anchient China, resulted in thousands years of unity until the 19th century

2/ the Ch’in Dynasty (Qin) was a relatively short lived one but it sets the core ideology of “unity” and homogeny among the territory Han race resided

Han race has been the dominant race for the 5 thousand years of Chinese history, and is over 91% of China’s population now

3/ Most wars that emerge a new dynasty in Chinese history are among the Han peoples itself, and these is an important concept as “Dynasty is Conquest”

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conquest_…

Means dynasty established by non-Han, most notably the Mongol-founded Yuan and the Manchu-founded Qing

4/ I personally found this part the most different with European history where majority of wars among nations states were wars among different races, while China in its history rarely fought outside but internal civil wars are non-stop for changes of Han led Dynasty

5/ China, geographically, is most in unity state expect for a few hundred years. When it comes to racial and curtural stands, it’s largely centered around Han race en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Han_Chine… (even during the dynasty of the conquest, the ruling races are homogenized to some extent)

6/ The Han dynasty following Qin, is considered to be one of the greatest eras in Chinese history, as it made China the major power in East Asia and projected much of its influence on its neighbors while rivalling the Roman Empire in population size and geographical reach.

Nowadays in many context, 汉语 (language of Han) and 中文 (Chinese) are interchangeable. As there is no regional bound, the Han peoples are bounded by more by cultural and ethic root

An interesting historical anecdote on how Han’s influence is - for a long time, the ruling classes in Ancient Japan and Korea used Han language (traditional Chinese) for formal communication

Even college entry exam in Korea nowadays has section of traditional Chinese test too

Critical typo in previous tweet 😂 - “there is no ***religious*** bound, the Han peoples are bounded more by cultural/ethic root” Not “regional”

Confucianism maybe what’s closest to religion, but it’s very different as a set of moral guideline/collection of life wisdom

Finally, to better understand China, is less about “political system/ideology” IMO. The most effective way is to learn it as a civilization state around Han people, instead of a sovereign state.

If possible, try to live in China for a bit and chat with the ordinary people there