This is very interesting and I enjoyed it. I think the analysis of the memetic role of the Confucian academia in constraining the power of the emperors is probably quite right. But it's not enough to explain the situation.
The medieval Europeans did not accept the legitimacy of multiple states. They continuously invented new ways to tie themselves to imperial Roman titles ("Rex Romanorum," "Holy Roman Emperor," "Roman Catholicism"). The word "Catholic" means universal! Even HRE Carlos V felt this! In 1521, at the Diet of Worms, he said "“the empire from of old had not many masters, but one, and it is our intention to be that one.” That's explicitly saying multinational political organization is illegitimate.
Westphalia was remarkable because it was the first time in European political history that multinational political organization was accepted as per se legitimate! The meme of universalism is a core, core part of Christianity and European political thought up until very very recently.
This is all well and good, but you failed to address the question posed. Why are there so many Chinese people?
At the end of the day the answer to that is simple and complex - because at some point in the past China must have had a sustained period of high fertility and/or low mortality. Thats it, it cant be anything else.
And while the text above is well written (as always), informative and mostly free of factual error (no, there has not been a "destruction of industrial capacity" in the west) it really doesnt contain any explanation as to when and why the high fertility and/or low mortality occurred. I guess you could argue that the "why" part is lurking somewhere implicitly in the story told, but since there isnt even an exposition of how China managed to have that demographic growth *despite* the super bloody civil wars, rebellions and conquests which wiped out millions of Chinese from the "so many Chinese" number, at best this implicit answer is very unsatisfactory.
Demographics is a lot more boring than historical story telling or theories about how ancient scholars meme'd an ideology into being (particularly appealing to contemporary online folk which comprise your readership). But if youre going to ask a demographic question, you need a demographic answer, boring or not.
It seems to me that the existence of large numbers of people in the Chinese heartland is easily explained by the existence of lots of productive farmland. What really demands explanation is the fact that all of those people are more or less culturally unified and identify with the "Han" ethnicity, which is a cultural and ideological development.
Not sure if that works. Maybe. First, India. Now bigger than China. And cant really tell a similar story about memes and what have you.
Second, lots of places across the world have productive farmland. But China isnt just a large it also has/had high population density. Why was the density higher in those places than others?
Third, while your reply possibly makes sense, the thesis remains to be proven. North America also has ton of productive farmland. Why didn't pre-contact California have higher population density than 14th century China? I need the logical links from premise to conclusion here.
To elaborate a bit - the reasons for high fertility are actually pretty well known: early and near universal marriage relative to other places (except for India, this explanation also works for India). But why? The reasons dont seem to have anything to do with literati and scholar bureaucrats meme'ing a particular ideology into existence.
Cool sounding stories are not always the correct stories.
If we consider empires as memetic organizing principles, then many aspects of ancient Rome are alive and well. Likewise, some of the Mongol conceptions of personal freedom promulgated in the time of Genghis seem familiar to us today, including the rights of women and the illegitimacy of theocracy. Genghis also opposed the construction of irrigation systems. A weirdly logical measure that promoted free movement of the Mongol cavalry, as well as controlling the size of cities and the demand for agricultural slaves.
This is very interesting and I enjoyed it. I think the analysis of the memetic role of the Confucian academia in constraining the power of the emperors is probably quite right. But it's not enough to explain the situation.
The medieval Europeans did not accept the legitimacy of multiple states. They continuously invented new ways to tie themselves to imperial Roman titles ("Rex Romanorum," "Holy Roman Emperor," "Roman Catholicism"). The word "Catholic" means universal! Even HRE Carlos V felt this! In 1521, at the Diet of Worms, he said "“the empire from of old had not many masters, but one, and it is our intention to be that one.” That's explicitly saying multinational political organization is illegitimate.
Westphalia was remarkable because it was the first time in European political history that multinational political organization was accepted as per se legitimate! The meme of universalism is a core, core part of Christianity and European political thought up until very very recently.
Absolutely fantastic review.
This is all well and good, but you failed to address the question posed. Why are there so many Chinese people?
At the end of the day the answer to that is simple and complex - because at some point in the past China must have had a sustained period of high fertility and/or low mortality. Thats it, it cant be anything else.
And while the text above is well written (as always), informative and mostly free of factual error (no, there has not been a "destruction of industrial capacity" in the west) it really doesnt contain any explanation as to when and why the high fertility and/or low mortality occurred. I guess you could argue that the "why" part is lurking somewhere implicitly in the story told, but since there isnt even an exposition of how China managed to have that demographic growth *despite* the super bloody civil wars, rebellions and conquests which wiped out millions of Chinese from the "so many Chinese" number, at best this implicit answer is very unsatisfactory.
Demographics is a lot more boring than historical story telling or theories about how ancient scholars meme'd an ideology into being (particularly appealing to contemporary online folk which comprise your readership). But if youre going to ask a demographic question, you need a demographic answer, boring or not.
It seems to me that the existence of large numbers of people in the Chinese heartland is easily explained by the existence of lots of productive farmland. What really demands explanation is the fact that all of those people are more or less culturally unified and identify with the "Han" ethnicity, which is a cultural and ideological development.
Not sure if that works. Maybe. First, India. Now bigger than China. And cant really tell a similar story about memes and what have you.
Second, lots of places across the world have productive farmland. But China isnt just a large it also has/had high population density. Why was the density higher in those places than others?
Third, while your reply possibly makes sense, the thesis remains to be proven. North America also has ton of productive farmland. Why didn't pre-contact California have higher population density than 14th century China? I need the logical links from premise to conclusion here.
To elaborate a bit - the reasons for high fertility are actually pretty well known: early and near universal marriage relative to other places (except for India, this explanation also works for India). But why? The reasons dont seem to have anything to do with literati and scholar bureaucrats meme'ing a particular ideology into existence.
Cool sounding stories are not always the correct stories.
Incredible work from the Psmith household
If we consider empires as memetic organizing principles, then many aspects of ancient Rome are alive and well. Likewise, some of the Mongol conceptions of personal freedom promulgated in the time of Genghis seem familiar to us today, including the rights of women and the illegitimacy of theocracy. Genghis also opposed the construction of irrigation systems. A weirdly logical measure that promoted free movement of the Mongol cavalry, as well as controlling the size of cities and the demand for agricultural slaves.
Gangsta review. I feel most edified.
Magisterial review and essay.
You and Mrs. Psmith keep exceeding your already exceptionally high standards of discourse.