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According to Gavin Menzies, in his new book, 1434…, the Chinese strike again… the ignite the Renaissance. Just finished it and while I don't buy it all, there are some compelling arguments.
According to Gavin Menzies, in his new book, 1434..., the Chinese strike again... the ignite the Renaissance. Just finished it and while I don't buy it all, there are some compelling arguments.
What?? You'll have to explain that one to us.
This is the guy that wrote about the Chinese discovering America in 1421… this is the next installment.
The Chinese did some impressive things hundreds, even thousands of years ago. Sadly, they seem to have stopped time about the invention of gunpowder and now all they are capable of is making communism a success and keeping us in cheap radios and Nikes.I suppose the next claim is the Chinese wonder fleet actually did circumnavigate the globe prior to the birth of Christ?
Actually this conversation has taken an interesting turn regarding Chinese history vs. Western development. Wally, do you mind if I split this topic beginning with your first post and put it into a new thread?
Actually this conversation has taken an interesting turn regarding Chinese history vs. Western development. Wally, do you mind if I split this topic beginning with your first post and put it into a new thread?
Not a problem, seems logical course of action.
The Chinese did some impressive things hundreds, even thousands of years ago. Sadly, they seem to have stopped time about the invention of gunpowder and now all they are capable of is making communism a success and keeping us in cheap radios and Nikes.I suppose the next claim is the Chinese wonder fleet actually did circumnavigate the globe prior to the birth of Christ?
Chinese society arguably paralleled European grandeur through the 16th century. It seems that beyond this point Europe broke away in terms of advancements and probably in philosophical systems. I'm not exactly sure why this is.
By this time the Chinese had pulled back from the rest of the world, thinking they had everything knocked and the rest of the world was hopelessly behind the curve… at least that seems to be the conventional wisdom in most modern history books I've read.
Gavin Menzies is a retired British submarine commander and amateur historian. No primary source could ever support his claims about how China first discovered America (centuries after the Vikings) or ignited the European Renaissance (European Classical culture, especially denying the Islamic importance in Western history).
China is the name that Europeans use when talking about that country. For Chinese, the country is called “Chungkuo” , roughly meaning nation in the middle.The use of "Chungkuo" implied a claim of political legitimacy as they believed that they were the "center of civilization".Since the death of Emperor Xuande (Ming dynasty) and as a consequence of the Mongols wars (XVth century), it caused a political crisis in China. China abandoned the strategy of annual land expeditions and instead embarked upon a massive and expensive expansion of the Great Wall of China. In this environment, funding for naval expeditions simply did not happen. It's not until the XIXth century that European powers forced China to open its borders to Western imperialism (see Opium wars and , about Japan, Commodore Perry and the gunboat policy)
I wonder how coincidental it is that both dominant cultures in Asia, China & Japan closed their societies around the same time?
It's a bit audacious from Menzies. Especially when no Chinese scholar ever stated or supported such idea.Once again, there is a lack of primary sources to prove his assumption.
