Nowadays, every China pundit in the West would start the analysis with “100-year humiliation” to add a bit of historical perspective.
This includes the extraordinary Dr. Michael Pillsbury who is the most hardworking modern China scholar, who reads 文言文 or ancient Chinese literature when doing his research. .
Imagine a Biblical scholar whose primary input is 2nd-century Greek scrolls. Few researchers are so disciplined.
This thread will explain why this “one-hundred-year humiliation” narrative can be misleading. Hopefully, this will also explain why Xi is rolling China back to Mao-style totalitarianism which perplexes so many western observers.
In the 19th century, especially after the humiliating defeat of the Manchurian Imperial military by the British Expeditionary force, the winds of modernization swept through China, leaving a cadre of Chinese Imperial officials and scholars grappling with a profound sense of “trauma.”
After defeating Manchurian Imperial military, the British demanded the Manchurian Empire (China) to open up concessions where foreign merchants were allowed to settle and establish western style court systems.
Image: Concessions open after as a result of treaties with Britain in 1842, France in 1844 and the US in 1844. The dots in red and purple were the concessions.
Soon afterwards, Chinese residents around these settlements found the court systems installed in the concessions far superior to the imperial judicial system under which they were governed. Additionally, the economic opportunities in the concessions far superior.
Massive emigration into areas into concessions started, transforming two fisherman’s villages into 2 most important metropolis of modern China: Shanghai and Hong Kong.
Once masters of their subjects, Chinese Imperial officials watched hopeless their once unchallenged control slipped away.
Their judicial authority crumbled in the face of Western legal systems, as more and more Chinese moved into Shanghai, Hong Kong and other foreign concessions. Inside such concessions, where attorneys were accessible to all.
Simultaneously, their grip on education weakens, as their old style traditional Confucian education network proved no match to missionary-run schools when it comes to teaching math and language skills. The rapid infusion of Western ideas further eroded their ideological dominance.
Chinese Imperial officials concluded all these losses stemmed from the Manchurian Empire’s repeated and humiliating military defeat by the West and Japan. And they encapsulated their frustration and humiliation in the poignant label, “The 100 Year Humiliation.” which became the bedrock of contemporary Chinese nationalism.
“The 100-Year Marathon” is the contemporary Chinese nationalist’s answer to the humiliation experienced by Chinese Imperialists. These Chinese nationalists include both Chinese Communists and Nationalists living in Taiwan known as the Blue Camp.
Imperial Examination – The Bootcamp of a Chinese Imperialist
Since the 6th century, Chinese empires started selecting bureaucrats from an Imperial Examination (科举）system.
Jinshi （进士） is the highest rank in this examination. The selection rate has to be something below 0.01%. Compare that to Harvard, whose admission rate of 5.2% triggered angry lawsuits from seething Asian parents.
The examination is so selective that many would be dedicating decades of their life to it, enduring numerous failed tests. So in Chinese, we say 五十少进士. which means if one passed the test and attained the rank of Jinshi by 50, the lucky S.O.B is quite young.
Those who attained the rank of Jinshi were called 天子门生， or the Emperor’s Disciples, or a de facto Imperial nobility. The attached picture by no means indicates Chinese scholars were physical giants, but as potential candidates to become Emperors’ Disciples once passing the Imperial Examination, they were feared and held in very high regard.
Hence this famous saying 万般皆下品，惟有读书高. “Of all things lowly and inferior, only studying is noble”.
Unlike Medieval Europe, where nobility is born into, the Chinese Imperial Examination system awards nobility to scholars. What an invention! No wonder so many European enlightenment thinkers showered it with lavish praises. Especially folks like Voltaire.
They alleged such a genius invention has turned China into an enduring meritocracy. Their enthusiasm was so contagious that even my favorite scholar Prof Steve Kotkin caught it recently. Kotkin’s Russian study I could not read enough.
The pasture is always greener on the other side. Tired of the old and corrupt medieval feudal system, western scholars in the West wrote profusely about the merits of China’s Imperial Examination system and the political process it represents.
The writings were based entirely on their imagination with little facts as few of the scholars ever traveled to China. In fact, they missed a key point: the Chinese Imperial Examination Process was designed to control the minds of Chinese scholars.
To study for the Chinese Imperial Examination, one has to stay focused. It is a good idea to stay within the reading list designated by the Emperor. The attached shows you a complete list of books one shall keep reading until passing the examination.
What is a better way to control people’s thoughts?
So CCP implemented an education system inspired by this model.
The attached shows you a typical Chinese school classroom. Kids are buried in designated books trying to outdo each other. They work 365 days around the clock to memorize everything in these books. Hence, no time to think out of box.
Another byproduct of such a system is that it produced graduates with little practical skills. In order to attain Jinshi to qualify to become an imperial official, a person would have to choose to do nothing but memorizing a few designated books.
A Two Tiered Bureaucracy
So starting from the 10th century, Chinese empires adopted a new system, a two tiered bureaucracy
- The higher ranks are awarded to those selected through Imperial examination, known as 官 (pronounced as Guan). Guan are in charge of ideology and have the final say in government decisions.
- The lower ranks are known as 吏 (pronounced as Li) , who are functionary clerks who handle the detailed paperwork and day to day operation of the Chinese Imperial bureaucracy.
To Chinese empires, a Li is a dirty fixer to get the job done. A Li is encouraged to exploit any option, including Machiavellianism, Mafioso extortion, and sheer deception.
At the same time, by the 14th century Chinese Empires started erecting a firewall blocking Li from advancing into higher ranks of the government. While each Empire recognizes that corruption and dirty deeds are necessary evils, they do not want a Li to bring his dirty tricks to higher ranks to contaminate the government culture.
They both acknowledged the necessity of complimenting propagandists with dirty fixers to get the job done, and the risk fixers bring to lower the moral standards of Chinese society. Now a perfect balance is reached. This meritocracy does what it is designed to do.
Chinese Empires Are All Fascist States
While the official ideology safeguarded by a Guan is Confucianism, the real ideology in practice in every Chinese empire is the most ancient known as legalism.
Legalism dictates that to hold an empire together the state shall relentlessly weaken grassroots communities. It is the earliest well documented fascism in human history.
Continuously weakening every grassroot community is the ultimate mission of every Chinese Empire. To carry this out, very emperor sticks to one principle with discipline: Never appoint a bureaucrat close to his hometown.
In Chinese, we say 天高皇帝远， The sky is high and the emperor is far away. When the emperor is so far away, placing someone proven smart close to his community will eclipse the glory of the emperor in his neighborhood. Too much against legalism teaching.
Bureaucrats focus on painting a rosy picture or coming up with new ideas to tighten state control. Functionaries extort, loot and beat up the subjects to get the job done. In Communist China today, this imperial tradition is on replay on daily basis.
Scholars self-process themselves into dedicated imperial propagandists, who are passionate about 教化人民, inculcating the imperial subjects. Besides, they exhort from time to time 吏, or functionaries could self-subscribe to higher moral standards.
Someone like Chou Enlai is invaluable to every Chinese empire. He has attention to detail like every skillful functionary and the killer instinct to propaganda like a top-notch Chinese Imperial bureaucrat.
By handpicking Chou, Russians proved they know China much better than most of today’s western China pundits. Russians always do. So what is the chance some western geopolitical strategist could play Chinese to screw up Russians? Not a chance.