Why did the Chinese imperial system last for so long? Qin to Qing over two millenia.
>>1320900
Were other systems of government tried?
Maybe in the smaller states?
>>1320900
It was ahead of its time. There was no reason to change what isn't broken.
It was when the conservative elements of the Royal court became entrenched that made the system more of a detriment than an advantage.
>>1320900
Imperial China is like Madonna. It reinvents itself.
And by reinvent, I mean brutal civil wars.
>>1320912
Just once: the Yuan Mongol Dynasty
Its a Chinese Dynasty and a Mongol Khanate. It also had a race based caste system a la Spanish Empire.
Hence it didn't last long.
>>1320915
>It was ahead of its time. There was no reason to change what isn't broken.
It was terrifically broken by the Qing Dynasty. Rulers became obsessed with maintaining power at the cost of innovation and progress.
China has only been a great civilization when it had the technological and cultural edge over its competitors. It lacks both of those right now and it's partly due to a shitty Ming/Qing era.
>>1320925
What about the lower Song?
Or the small warring states?
>>1320938
The Warring States =/= Imperial China. For one thing there was no Emperor, just Kingz, and the system of the day is Feudal. Similar to Medieval Europe. Complete with cavalry/chariot based warrior aristocracy.
The Song is literally the flowering of Imperial Chinese bureaucratic centralization, despite the relative shittiness of that period.
>>1320950
>bureaucratic centralization
>shittiness
So Song China was basically the Soviet Union?
>>1320932
Yeah, fuck the Qing. If China acted like any Western country, such as Germany, Russia, or even Turkey, the Manchus would have been genocided after the revolution for what they did to the country.
>>1320900
>include paracel islands
Fuck off Cheng
>>1322827
When the Spratlys and Paracels were being surveyed by Germany in 1883, China issued protests against them. The 1887 Chinese-Vietnamese Boundary convention signed between France and China after the Sino-French War said that China was the owner of the Spratly and Paracel islands.[63][64] China sent naval forces on inspection tours in 1902 and 1907 and placed flags and markers on the islands. The Qing dynasty's successor state, the Republic of China, claimed the Spratly and Paracel islands under the jurisdiction of Hainan.[65] In 1910, the Qing government decided to invite Chinese merchants to contract for the administration of the development affairs of the South China Sea islands, and demanded that officials shall provide protection and maintenance in order to highlight Chinese territory and protect its titles and interests.[66]
...
The Spratlys and the Paracels were conquered by Japan in 1939. Japan administered the Spratlys via Taiwan's jurisdiction and the Paracels via Hainan's jurisdiction.[67] The Paracels and Spratlys were handed over to Republic of China control from Japan after the 1945 surrender of Japan, since the Allied powers assigned the Republic of China to receive Japanese surrenders in that area.[69] At the end of the war (Asian-Pacific Region), Nationalist China formally retook the Paracels, Spratlys and other islands in the South China Sea in October and November 1946. In Geneva accord of 1954 Japan formally renounced all of its claims to, inter alia, the South China Sea islands which it had occupied during the World War II.[70] After WW2 ended, the Republic of China was the "most active claimaint". The Republic of China then garrisoned Woody island in the Paracels in 1946 and posted Chinese flags and markers on it, France tried, but failed to make them leave Woody island.[71] The aim of the Republic of China was to block the French claims.[69][72]
>>1322729
Song China was a literal Golden Age. In its later stages, the Song Dynasty was on the cusp of becoming an industrial nation. In terms of output it was basically already one. No single nation would match Song Iron production until England during their industrial revolution.
The only shitty part about the Song dynasty was the fact they were slowly getting BTFO by filthy barbarians. Which too be fair is extremely shitty. Especially when the people who finally end up defeating you are the Mongols.
>>1323103
The Soviet Union was also a Golden Age for Russia :^)
