Civilized People vs. Barbarians

[Guest Anonymous]

In the past, Chinese have always thought of themselves as the only civilized people in the world and are surrounded by barbarians. This seems to be a trend for all the superpowers in history. The Romans also thought of themselves as the only civilized people and everyone else, namely the Germanic people, are barbaric and are no better than animals. I find this quite interesting.

I found an ancient Chinese map which depicts ancient Chinese's view on the world.

As you can see, China is in the middle and although you can't read the characters on the map, but the website http://www.henry-davis.com/MAPS/EMwebpages/218A.html I got the map from called this map the "Hua I Tu [Map of China and the Barbarian Countries]".

Fast-foward a couple hundred years to 2003. Today, there's no doubt that United States is the most powerful country in the world and the superpower of the 21st century. Will history repeat itself? Or have we as a human race become more enlightened over the past centuries.

A friend forwarded me this image in an e-mail the other day. At first we both laughed at it because it's obviously quite comical. However, fear set in as I realized, this is exactly what the American education system and media is trying to tell us what the world is like outside the Land of the Free.

I was born in Taiwan, but I came over to the United States when I was 10 years old. Before I came to the U.S., I was already pretty familiar with the geo-political situation in the world. Besides most of the African and smaller Pacific nations, I knew pretty much the name and location of all other countries. I started the fifth grade when I came to the U.S. When I told people I was from Taiwan, they had no idea where it is. As far as I know, their only knowledge of Asia is an island far far away called Japan and China, where tanks run over freedom-loving college students. The name "Korea" and "Philippines" didn't ring a bell either. One student thought be was knowledgable because he has heard of the name, "Hong Kong", although he thought it was right next to Japan ebcause it was the "only other free country in Asia".

Again, fast-forward 13 years. That was 1990, it's now 2003. U.S. has recently invaded two countries in the Middle Eastern region. However, as many surveys and researches have discovered, the general population don't even know where Afganistan and Iraq are. Not only do they not know, they don't even care. I don't necessarily blame them though. Most of us are too busy working and paying bills to care about what's going on thousands of miles away from where we live.

To be ignorant of the affairs of the rest of world has brought down many great superpowers in the history of mankind, including China. China believed she was so advanced and powerful that she completely closed her doors to the outside world started in late Ming Dynasty and throughout the Qing Dynasty until European imperialists came knocking and eventually broke down the barriers and caused great devastation in the Chinese society. I used to blame the Europeans for invading China but now I realized it's reality that those who are more powerful tend to invade and conquer of those who are less powerful. Look at how the Chinese, Romans, and now the Americans, have conquered others. So instead of blaming the Europeans, I now believe China shouldn't have closed herself off and instead, should've kept inventing and stayed powerful all the while embrace foreign ideas and improve on them as the Japanese do. That way, when the Europeans came knocking, they wouldn't have greeted us with cannon balls and guns. Instead, they would've came in respect and brought contributions.

Anyway, my point is, although I am an American citizen, I am also Chinese at heart. As much as I despite the current state of the U.S. government and the current administration, I love the American people just as I love the Chinese people. I only wish the Americans don't make the same mistakes the Chinese and other superpowers have made in the past.

[kangkai]

Anyway' date=' my point is, although I am an American citizen, I am also Chinese at heart. As much as I despite the current state of the U.S. government and the current administration, I love the American people just as I love the Chinese people. I only wish the Americans don't make the same mistakes the Chinese and other superpowers have made in the past.[/quote']

As they say, "You are singing my song". I came to a similiar conclusion not too long ago, seeing the comparasion between the worlds previous superpowers and the direction that US is heading.

Thanks for that map too, I'm sharing it with some friends.

[PollyWaffle]

me not think u b the only 2 to come to this conclusion over the last few years... rome was ruined by retarded leaders...

just look at junior in the us! & i quote:

"The Bob Jones policy on interracial dating, I mean I spoke out on interracial dating. I spoke out against that. I spoke out against interracial dating. I support the policy of interracial dating."

CBS News 2/25/00

"More and more of our imports come from overseas."

Beaverton, OR 9/29/00

"Rarely is the question asked: Is our children learning?"

Florence, SC 1/11/00

"If this were a dictatorship, it would be a heck of a lot easier, just so long as I'm the dictator."

Washington, DC 12/18/00

"I think if you know what you believe, it makes it a lot easier to answer questions. I can't answer your question."

Reynoldsburg, OH 10/4/00

"This foreign policy stuff is a little frustrating."

New York, NY 4/23/02

[Tsunku]

Bush also once referred to the Japanese as "Japaninians."

[Guest Anonymous]

Bush also once referred to the Japanese as "Japaninians."

Not to mention he said the Republic of Taiwan instead of Republic of China when refering to Taiwan. Of course, this was celebrated by those who support Taiwanese independence but no doubt offended many other people.

[pazu]

Bush also once referred to the Japanese as "Japaninians."

I just searched on Google.com, and interesting the only one result i got about "japaninian" is you!!

I've found some other results of "japanian" though, none seems to be related to Bush and Japanian.

[Tsunku]

Huh, that's odd. Actually, my cousin told me that "Bush-ism" and I thought he read it on www.metafilter.com. Their archives only go back as far as a year though and I know it was longer ago than that so I have no way of checking. Apologies to Bush if it isn't true!

[ufe3]

We are a Conquered Country, since 360 years ago, by Manchu nomadic.....

[Quest]

We are a Conquered Country, since 360 years ago, by Manchu nomadic.....

We are? Are we still ruled by the ManQing Government?

[Guest greenpine]

once by mongol, and once by manchu, both repelled, but cultural progressive was destroyed, modern chinese are not the same chinese that once had confidence in that of han and tang ... there is no serenity in the current atmosphere.

[Quest]

But the future is ours to make, and confidence is ours to gain. 输不可悲，谁不会输。哪里跌倒就在哪里爬起来，还要爬得比以前更高。

[Guest greenpine]

similar to that of Quest, it is hard to make it right when there is a conflict between 2 nations such as Mongol, Manchu and Japanese invasion, we can't say that they were wrong to do so because they needed to fight for their survival but it is absolutely disgusting and do not deserve any respects whats so ever if one choose to surrender without even a fight.

侵略不一定是可恥的,但不抵抗卻是.

[Quest]

Saddam Huissen?