The Chinese are very proud of their history. And so they should be. There is much to be proud of. But if such pride is not balanced with humility, it will be disastrous for China. Nationalism is on the rise.
Nationalism in China today is driven by the hundred years of national humiliation. How did it begin? And what was the main cause?
Prior to the first opium war China had been a closed society (much like Japan), it was nowhere near as technologically advanced as the western nations. Plus, they had a problem with opium. These factors eventually led to their defeat in the first opium war, and China’s rapid decline. (See the YouTube video The History of Opium in China | The China History Podcast | Ep. 153)
After the first opium war, the country began to come apart. China suffered defeat after defeat. Parts of the country came under the control of foreign powers (in particular, British and Japanese control).
But despite these difficulties, China was beginning to industrialise and develop as a nation. The ship building industry is but one example.
In 1911, the emperor was overthrown, and the Republic of China (ROC) was founded. In 1916, the first de facto dictator, Yuán Shìkǎi, died. From that time forward, different warlords vied for control until Chiang Kai-shek, the leader of the Kuomintang, officially unified the country in 1928. The communists sought to overthrow the Kuomintang from within, but Chiang would have none of it. This led to civil war. War continued between the parties until both sides united against Japan in the mid 1930s. Fighting resumed after Japan’s defeat in 1945. (That same year, Taiwan came under the rule of the ROC.) In 1949 Chiang Kai-shek was defeated by the communists and consequently fled to Taiwan where the ROC continued to rule. Mao was now officially the leader of mainland China, marking the founding of the People’s Republic of China (PRC).
Before the communists came to power, Mao taught the illiterate masses—who lived in the poor rural areas—how to read. Then he gave them communist literature. Being ignorant of economics, they were easily convinced that communism would lead to a higher standard of living.
By the time of Mao’s death in 1976, the leadership of the communist party had had enough. Mao’s economic policies were destroying China.
Deng Xiaoping could see that the government’s policies were not working, and he had the wisdom to allow farmers to sell their extra grain once they had met the government quotas (see the video below).1 He observed the benefits and embraced the free market. The communist party was still in power, but communism had been essentially rejected by the party. This led to China’s economic boom.
Unfortunately, in recent years, China has been heading in the wrong direction. Many Chinese are deeply dissatisfied with their government (see the videos below). It is only a matter of time till China becomes a democracy. The question is, Will this happen peacefully? Or will it happen through a bloody civil war?
Will the Chinese learn not just from their own history, but from the history of the west? The west has many problems, but it does have some strengths.
The strengths of the west are forgiveness and confession. If westerners were unable to forgive, Europe and their western allies would not have good relations with Germany and Japan, they would still be hostile towards them. And without confession, there can be no reform. Those who are unwilling to admit to their mistakes, cannot improve.
If the Chinese leaders are wise, they will admit to their mistakes, encourage the Chinese people to forgive the Japanese, and introduce democracy slowly.2 If they do not, China's future looks grim.
If China tries to take Taiwan, it will not just be bad for Taiwan and Japan, it will be bad for the entire world.
China is in trouble.
Ponzi schemes like the following are destroying China.
Shoddy construction will cost China hundreds of billions of dollars (perhaps trillions). This alone may bring China's government to the point of collapse.
In an attempt to expose what is going on in China, Chinese netizens are breaching the great fire wall and sharing information like the following with westerners. (They are doing this at great risk to themselves and their family’s personal safety. The CCP has created the firewall to restrict the kind of information Chinese citizens can access and to stop this kind of information being shared with the world.)