Understanding China

 

“…all the world will be vitally affected by the development of Chinese affairs, which may well prove a decisive factor, for good or evil, during the next two centuries. This makes it important, to Europe and America almost as much as to Asia, that there should be an intelligent understanding of the questions raised by China, even if, as yet, definite answers are difficult to give.”

Bertrand Russel, "The Problem of China." 1921

 

Should we concern ourselves with reemerging China​​? Is size important? After all tiny Britain controlled half the globe when China and India, with a third of the world's population, languished in misery. 

​

When a nation this large wakes up, throws the shackles of foreign dominance, and determines to reclaim its position, what it wants, what it does, and what it offers will influence the world.  As the industrial and technological advantages of advanced economies diminish, a modern and assertive China will be a power to be taken seriously. When 1.3 billion people with needs, ambitions and abilities release their energies, their collective impact will be formidable. So yes, we should concern ourselves with China.

​

In the nineteenth and early twentieth century that marked the declining years of the Qing empire, European powers, Japan and America forced into China to seek cheap labor and raw materials, and claim a share of an attractive market for manufactured goods. England paved the way, the rest joined the foray. Foreign governments jostled for influence over crumbling China, missionaries set up stations to "civilize" China, and the helpless Qing government yielded reluctantly to successively humiliating demands that trampled its sovereignty. Yet in this turmoil a few officials, scholars and missionaries tried to understand this troubled nation of a glorious past.  They studied its society and thought, its plight under the chokehold of industrialized powers, and its challenges of government, corruption, and poverty.  Some noted the changes taking place and predicted that China would be a powerful force, ominous or benign, when it wakes up and unleashes its potential.

 

Today China has become that force economically and politically. Both in China and elsewhere there is excitement and optimism, accompanied by fear and caution. Notwithstanding inevitable bumps along the way, China's internal transformation and rising global influence are likely to continue.  As people and governments adapt to this emerging world, anyone participating in this twenty-first century phenomenon will benefit from an understanding of China. 

 

To understand China we must study its present and past; a present that is changing at a startling rate; a past that shaped its thought and continues to do so even as China assimilates changes arising from foreign influence and its own ambitions. 

    

Silkroad Institute provides resources to study China, linking history and current events, and offering insights into its contemporary thought, society and economy.