Anonymous A started this discussion 3 months ago#130,228
Something is sort of comedic about how Chinese people on the internet turn everything into a historical grudge against the west and go on about how great their ancient civilization is.
Anonymous B joined in and replied with this 3 months ago, 2 hours later[^][v]#1,397,606
China caused its own travails. The Qing dynasty was an anachronistic despotism at its founding and stuck in unworkable tradition and a decaying Mandarin-run administrative system. It was weak to internal and external predation. The Europeans only really arrived after the rebellion by Hong Xioquan, who failed his imperial exams and declared himself God’s Chinese son before launching a civil war that killed 10 million in the 1860s through 1870s.
China was most egregiously wrecked by Japan, not the West. Prior to that, it was a failed state from the 1911 Revolution through the warlord era and into Chiang Kai Shek’s attempts to fix the rot.