Of course that is true!

Every ethnic group believes that of their own ethnicity, and takes pride in the superior ways of their own. Writers of Chinese literature (like Mo Yan) are born and raised with the realization of that superiority, and the writing reflects such.

No, I said specifically that countries with economic ties with China are booming. Or flourishing. Being colonized by extractive Western parasites is not booming. I would not characterize the British Raj with the same word.

According to what statistics?

That are income/wealth adjusted. You also forgot Singapore and the huge Chinese diaspora numbering 60 million. Almost half if not more of people executed for murder in Singapore are non-Chinese.

And I take it you chose the 1500s so as to not cover the invasion of Vietnam just a few decades earlier?

China had tributary obligations to the preceding dynasty in Vietnam. It’s not exactly an “invasion”.

Taiwan during the Ming and Qing dynasties?

To the contrary, the Qing court made efforts to constrain the movement of people onto Taiwan, and passed countless laws to keep the indigenous Taiwanese from being overrun. Chinese men were strictly forbidden to take aborigine wives on top of that, land was leased from the natives (instead of simply stolen, as in the case of all European settlement) and they repeatedly drew borders that Chinese could not cross. Of course that’s not enough to overcome natural population pressures.

Now you are aware of at least one.

I responded in the context of your comment – implying that China aggressively pushed its culture onto peoples outside of its borders. Once Taiwan was ‘taken’ (400 years ago more like it) the policy you mention is instead an internal issue – not that it was particularly devastating, unlike Canada, Australia and the US who collectively are seeing the extinction of hundreds of languages.

How many Western nations in that table inconveniently have lower rates than Mainland China?

All of them together add up to fewer than maybe 200 million people, so I’m not seeing the point of what you’re saying. Second, China is a developing nation. China excluded, the trend is for poor nations to have HIGHER crime rates, not lower. See Russia for how a large, less wealthy nation of European extraction does in terms of crime.

Do you think Chinese culture and the Chinese people are in some way superior?

Do you really think that greed, bloodlust and religious/racial hatred are marks of inferiority in this current world where inhumanity, as you put it, is the only universal trait?

t_co, thanks a lot for sharing that link; it sounds like a wonderful book that everyone interested in China should read.

‘Economic growth can go on without any benefit to the overwhelming majority of people.’

Absolutely, economic growth is not evenly distributed, but is it ever? Your point was that it did not bring economic growth.

‘Chinese people have the lowest crime rates in the world.’

According to what statistics? As we were discussing a propensity towards violence, what better statistic to look at than intentional homicide? In descending order, Hong Kong is in the top three at 0.2 per 100’000 inhabitants. Mainland China is down at 26, with a rate five times higher than that of Hong Kong. Taiwan is further down with a rate over three times higher than that of Mainland China. They are all predominantly ethnically and culturally Chinese regions, but with very different rates. If it was simply the superiority of the Chinese people or Chinese culture, how do you explain such different rates and why are not Hong Kong, Mainland China and Taiwan the top three?

‘By what law of history are you going on? China was in a position of overwhelming power in the 1500s and yet did not do anything of the sort.’

I was making a generalization. I don’t present it as a ‘law of history’ but rather as a general model which fits a large number of examples of expansionism by peoples and cultures around the world. And I take it you chose the 1500s so as to not cover the invasion of Vietnam just a few decades earlier?

‘Second, they never colonized other nations.’

Taiwan during the Ming and Qing dynasties?

‘Third, I am not aware of any attempts by any Chinese polity to force its culture on other peoples.’

山地平地化。 Now you are aware of at least one.

‘Westerners are simply more prone to sociopathic, rent-seeking, evil behaviour.’

Going back to the crime statistics, do Western nations have the highest rates of intentional homicide? How many Western nations in that table inconveniently have lower rates than Mainland China? You’ll find cultures and peoples in every corner of the world with histories of expansion, conquest and bloody civil war. If there is any universal human trait, it is inhumanity.

‘This is undeniable and what you take from it is up to you.’

I’m asking you. I’d like you to tell me. Do you think Chinese culture and the Chinese people are in some way superior? I suppose you shy away from giving a direct answer because it would be difficult to reply in the affirmative and not sound like an echo of the imperialist powers of the past which you, I and most reasonable people rightly deplore.

Excellent article to read as well.

A tough but fair article on China/Russia from Richard’s alma mater. Worth a read.

Good point. Mass buy-in for liberalism will require a xiaokang society.

Appreciated.