CHAPTER 1 ‘The Singularity of China Sou esres tend to think of themselves as eternal “They also cherish a tale ofthis origin. A special featre of Chi ‘ese chilization is that it seems to have 90 beginning. Ie appears in history less as a conventional nation-state than a permanent satura phenomenon. Ta the tale of the Yellow Emperor, revered by many Chinese as the legendary founding role, China seems already t0 exis ‘When the Yellow Emperor appears in myth, Chinese civilization has fallen igo chaos. Competing princes harass cach other and the people, set an enfebled ruler fils to maintain order. Levying an army, the ‘new hero pacifies the reals and i acclaimed as emperor! “The Yellow Emperor bas gone down in history a founding heros sein the founding myth, he is reestablishing, not creating, an cmpite ‘China predated his it strides into the historical consciousness a8 an established stare requiring only restoration, not creation. Tis paradox of Chinese history recurs with the ancient sage Confucius: agin, he is seen asthe “founder” ofa cultute although be stressed that he bad favemed nothing, that he was merely trying to ceinvigorate the prin~ ciples of harmony which had once existed in che golden age but had ‘ben lost in Confucius own ea of politcal chaos Reflecting onthe parade: of Chin's origins, the ninetenth-eentary missionary and traveler, the AbbE Regs-Evariste Hie, observed6 | OnChins Chine civilization originate in an antiquity so remote that we vainly endesior to discover its commencement Thee are to tres ofthe ate of infaney among this peopl. This isa ‘ery peel fit reapectng China. We are accused inthe history of nations to find some well defined point of dear ture and the historic documents, tradons, and monuments that remain wus generally permits to fallow, amos tp by steps the progress of vation tobe present at bith, t0 ‘watch its development its onward march, and in many cases ‘ts subsequent decay and ill Buti isnot thus withthe Chi- ete They ce to have been always lvngin the same stage of dancementasin the present day, and the data of ansqity are nich a0 confirm that pinion? When Chinese written characters firs evolved, during the Shang Dynasty in the second millennium ne, ancient Egype was at the height ofits loy.‘Te great ity states of dasial Greece ha not yecemerged and Roene vas millenia away, Yet the direct descendant ofthe Shang ‘writing system is ail used by well ove ili people today. Chinese today can understand inscriptions written in the age of Confucius; con- temporary Chinese books and conversations ae enriched by eenturies- ‘ld aphorisms citing ancient battles and court intrigues ‘Av the same time, Chinese history featured many periods of civil war, interregnum, and chaos. Afer each collapse, the Chinese state reconstituted itself as if by some imumutable law of nature. At each stage, anew uniting figure emerged following esentilly the pece- ent of the Yellow Emperor, to subdue his rivals and reunify China (God sometimes enlarge its bounds), The famous opening of The Ro ‘mance ofthe Tree Kingdoms a foureenth-cenury ee nove treasured by centuries of Chinese Gncuding Mao, who i said to have pored over it almox obsesvely in his youth), evokes this continuous chythm: “The pic, lng divided, me unite; long united, mus divide, Thus thas wre a eines? cst" il diy wr vida rin. a sn Sy ete pty ce Tren w ean Te real ee Schaar caw sete sy Sue den of Chenin dr niente ety ge Set ao se en ena inne culmination was two and half centories of tarmac recorded in his- tory as the Warring Sates period (475-221 nc). Its European equiva- Jent would be the itersegnum between the Treaty of Westphalia in 1648 and the end of the Second World War, when a rulipicity of ‘Buropean states was struggling for preeminence within the framework ofthe balance of power. Afier 221 Rc, China maintained the ideal of cmpice nd unity but fllowed the practice of fracturing, then reunit {ng in cycles sometimes lasting several hundred yeas. ‘When the state fractured, wars between the various components were fought savagely, Ma once clsimed thatthe population of China declined from fifty milion to ten millon during the so-called ‘Three Kingdoms period (4.0, 220-80), and the conflict among the contend ing groups between the two world wars of che twentith cencury was ‘extremely bloody as well _Atitsukimate extent, the Chinese eultuel sphere stretched over a continental area much lager than any European stat, indeed about the sizeof continental Europe. Chinese Jangvage and culture, and the Emperor's politcal writ, expanded w every known terrain: from the steppelands and pine forests in the north shading into Siberia, to the tropical jungles and terrace ree farts inthe south; fom the east coast ‘with is canals, ports, and ishing villages, othe stark deserts of Central [Asia and the ie-capped peaks ofthe Himalayan frontier, The extent and variety of thi territory bolstered the sense that China was a word ‘unto sel. Ke supported a conception of the Emperor asa igre of ‘universal consequence, presiding over tan xa or “All Under Heaven.”8 | On china ‘The Era of Chinese Preeminence ‘Through many millennia of Chines civilization, China was never blige to deal with other countries or civilizations that were compa ‘able win sale and sophistication India was known tothe Chinese, 8 Mao ater noted, bt for much oF history it was divided inc separate kingdoms. The two ciilizations exchanged goods and Buddhist infla- ‘aces along the Silk Road but were elsewhere walled off from easual ‘contac by the almost impenetrable Himalayas and the Tibetan Pa- teat The masive and forbidding deserts of Central Asi separated (China frm the Near Fastea culeures of Persia and Babylonia and even ‘more from the Roman Empire Trade caravans undertook intermittent journeys, but China a society did not engage societies of comparable scale and achievement. Though China and Japan shared a number of core cult and political institutions, neither was prepared to reo nize the other superior ther slution was to curtail contact for cen- turies ata time, Europe was even further away in shat the Chinese ‘onsiered the Western Oceans, by definition inaccessible wo Chinese