In America, unless you are a world history buff or have a degree, our historical frame of reference is about 300 years. Sure, we have a modest understanding of classical civilization or European history. But even 200 level college courses barely touch on the totality of world history. Everything we learn is based on the discovery, settlement and Independence of America.
What do you know about the Golden Horde other than they were Mongols? How they governed Russia, Ukraine and Central Asia. What do you know about the wars between the Mongols and Chinese? Can you even name the last Chinese Dynasty and when it was overthrown? The history of Taiwan? The history of Central Asia? These are things that we simply arent taught, even in college courses, unless you are specializing in a specific time period and area.
But educated Russian and Chinese citizens understanding is counted in the hundreds and even thousands of years. Their culture is directly related to their history. They act and react based on this history.
Sorry to disappoint you, but I probably know more about Chinese history than I do about North American. Are you informed on the topic enough to actually discuss it?
Do you know about the immensely terrible mismanagement of the nation under the Qing dynasty? How about how they dealt with the Taiping rebellion? Or their constant paranoia about potential Han Chinese uprisings and their prevailing censorship as a result? Or perhaps their cruel and unusual literary inquisitions? You can draw many parallels between the Qing dynasty and the CCP, even though the latter hates to be compared to any imperial dynasty.
Without elaborating too much on the topic, I do think the Song dynasty was overall the kindest to its own citizenry. (Nowhere is this more accentuated than by the reign of Emperor Renzong.) Both the Song and Ming dynasties were a far cry better than the Yuan and Qing (although even the Yuan was much better than the Qing, if only for the reason that Mongols tended to assimilate more easily with their ruled peoples). The ROC regime, despite a host of issues caused by the fact that China was still in a period of typical inter-dynastic chaos, would have grown into a far more benevolent regime because the mindset of its leaders were far more standard in terms of their alignment with traditional Chinese culture. (Chinese politics and philosophy is in itself a complex topic, but...)
Culture and history.
In America, unless you are a world history buff or have a degree, our historical frame of reference is about 300 years. Sure, we have a modest understanding of classical civilization or European history. But even 200 level college courses barely touch on the totality of world history. Everything we learn is based on the discovery, settlement and Independence of America.
What do you know about the Golden Horde other than they were Mongols? How they governed Russia, Ukraine and Central Asia. What do you know about the wars between the Mongols and Chinese? Can you even name the last Chinese Dynasty and when it was overthrown? The history of Taiwan? The history of Central Asia? These are things that we simply arent taught, even in college courses, unless you are specializing in a specific time period and area.
But educated Russian and Chinese citizens understanding is counted in the hundreds and even thousands of years. Their culture is directly related to their history. They act and react based on this history.
Sorry to disappoint you, but I probably know more about Chinese history than I do about North American. Are you informed on the topic enough to actually discuss it?
Do you know about the immensely terrible mismanagement of the nation under the Qing dynasty? How about how they dealt with the Taiping rebellion? Or their constant paranoia about potential Han Chinese uprisings and their prevailing censorship as a result? Or perhaps their cruel and unusual literary inquisitions? You can draw many parallels between the Qing dynasty and the CCP, even though the latter hates to be compared to any imperial dynasty.
Without elaborating too much on the topic, I do think the Song dynasty was overall the kindest to its own citizenry. (Nowhere is this more accentuated than by the reign of Emperor Renzong.) Both the Song and Ming dynasties were a far cry better than the Yuan and Qing (although even the Yuan was much better than the Qing, if only for the reason that Mongols tended to assimilate more easily with their ruled peoples). The ROC regime, despite a host of issues caused by the fact that China was still in a period of typical inter-dynastic chaos, would have grown into a far more benevolent regime because the mindset of its leaders were far more standard in terms of their alignment with traditional Chinese culture. (Chinese politics and philosophy is in itself a complex topic, but...)