PAG aint no King

[publicduende]

Because Asians get their ass kicked for 500 years by the West. So they better learn more before they can allow themselves to be free of western influence.

Not entirely correct. While Europe was barely waking up from the Dark Ages, Asia had trading and military empires to rival with the Ancient Romans, in power and prestige.

[Cornfed]

Because Asians get their ass kicked for 500 years by the West. So they better learn more before they can allow themselves to be free of western influence.

Not entirely correct. While Europe was barely waking up from the Dark Ages, Asia had trading and military empires to rival with the Ancient Romans, in power and prestige.

That was more than 500 years ago.

[publicduende]

Because Asians get their ass kicked for 500 years by the West. So they better learn more before they can allow themselves to be free of western influence.

Not entirely correct. While Europe was barely waking up from the Dark Ages, Asia had trading and military empires to rival with the Ancient Romans, in power and prestige.

That was more than 500 years ago.

Sorry for the confusion: I am not referring to Gengis Khan's empire, that was 13th century. China was a sizeable trading power by the 16th century. They would have very vibrant trades with the middle east and the rest of Asia. The Philippines were one of their larger trading ports and their trade route intertwined with the Portuguese, the Dutch and the Spanish ones.

[galii]

Because Asians get their ass kicked for 500 years by the West. So they better learn more before they can allow themselves to be free of western influence.

Not entirely correct. While Europe was barely waking up from the Dark Ages, Asia had trading and military empires to rival with the Ancient Romans, in power and prestige.

That was more than 500 years ago.

Sorry for the confusion: I am not referring to Gengis Khan's empire, that was 13th century. China was a sizeable trading power by the 16th century. They would have very vibrant trades with the middle east and the rest of Asia. The Philippines were one of their larger trading ports and their trade route intertwined with the Portuguese, the Dutch and the Spanish ones.

The point is that China was to weak to defend Asia against Western domination though they did it with Taiwan for awhile.

Portugal was the first European power to establish a bridgehead in maritime Southeast Asia with the conquest of the Sultanate of Malacca in 1511. The Netherlands and Spain followed and soon superseded Portugal as the main European powers in the region.

[publicduende]

The point is that China was to weak to defend Asia against Western domination though they did it with Taiwan for awhile.

Every empire in history has gone through cycles, knowing moment of growth, splendour, consolidation, decline and demise. From Wikipedia:

By the end of Qianlong Emperor's long reign in 1796, the Qing Empire was at its zenith. The Qing ruled more than one-third of the world's population, and had the largest economy in the world. By area it was one of the largest empires ever.

When empires are their territorial peak, their boundaries are spread too far apart to be efficiently controlled and protected. It happened to every single empire in history, including the Ancient Roman.

China was eventually weak and succumbed to colonial powers from Britain, France, etc. The British and French empires weren't much luckier: they were never destroyed by an enemy power, yet imploded because of socio-economic and demographic factors.