The Gunpowder Age: China, Military Innovation, and the Rise of the West in History (Tonio Andrade)

From 2017, before China pulled far ahead of the United States, my thoughts on earlier competition between China and the West.
The written, original version of this article can be found at:
theworthyhouse.com/2017/11/09...
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This and all Worthy House narrations are offered with accurate closed captions (not auto-generated).
"The Gunpowder Age succeeds in its lesser goal, which is convincing the reader that the common belief the Chinese only used gunpowder for fireworks is wrong. But it fails in its greater goal, which is convincing the reader that except for a brief period in recent history, China has been the equal of the West in the technology of warfare. And, in the wreckage of its failure, it confirms and reinforces the accurate perception that China has, for a thousand years, been lacking in scientific and cultural innovation. Since a lack of innovation has negative implications for the Chinese future, and by modern Western standards is a negative judgment on Chinese society, this is probably not the effect that the Sinophile author of this book, Tonio Andrade, intended to achieve." . . .

[@MyMy-tv7fd]

China has never been scientifically innovative, they had great technical, practical innovation in making paper, movable type printing, gunpowder, seismometers, etc - but never developed the equivalent of a single scientific theory to explain the cause-and-effect of any of it.

[@oxvendivil442]

The problem with China was Confucianism and the lack of competition, but even with it, it was able to be marginally better than the best in the West, now that there is competition in the form of global geopolitics and the lessening of Confucianism, China can be expected to perform close to its potential best, remove Marxism and residual Confucianism and China will rule the world. I am Chinese and I love Chinese history but even I have my critics when it comes to stasis due to Confucianism.

[@niciassmith1204]

Absolutely correct. Look up pictures of Europen guns in the 1400s. They were so beautiful and intricate. You cannot compare a tube with that.
When Mao took over, China was maybe one rung above sub-Saharan Africa. They had no technology or infrastructure. Russia (white people) provided them with enormous resources and human capital to bring them into the modern era.

[@brandonstanley9125]

We can pat ourselves on the back all we want, but it has a world lead in GDP by PPP and massive military industrial capacity.

[@niciassmith1204]

@brandonstanley9125 They kept their society homogeneous, non degenerate and not ran by Tiny hat people