China will rule but what does that mean?
The dilemma of Western decline
I’m amazed that no one has responded to this. I have actually read this a couple of times and most of the linked documents as it relates directly to the things that I am most worried about. In short: 1) the idiot president and collapse of the political system in the US, 2) the next world order under Chinese management. The world we know is coming to an end and what replaces it will be very different. There is, obviously, an absence of awareness of what is occurring as this change happens. I’m beginning to wonder at the failure to understand how large this change is and how fast it is happening. For those of us in the US it appears to be that Trumpist stupidity is contagious. In a world of major major phase change this is incredibly dangerous.
My real concern is that I’m beginning to think that your Chinese students may be correct. The success of the Chinese system will overwhelm the corrupt and failing western ‘democracies’. Historically the pattern is to throw the baby out with the bath water and I’m afraid that China will make that mistake to all of our regrets. As an Asian historian I have a bit different perspective on the Chinese conquest. I understand the long historical precedent for Chinese domination that can be brilliant as well as brutal. It bears no resemblance to the Graeco Roman philosophical tradition that helped define modern western, rights based governments. There are equivalencies in Chinese history but they are predicated on hierarchies rather than an assumption of equality. The failures of the western systems make it very difficult to say that they are inherently better than the peak of the Chinese that we will soon see. And that is why I am torn in taking a position on this. I’m afraid it no longer matters so the practical solution is go with the flow. But what dos that mean? How much do we give up? What do we gain as a minimum standard for everyone?
A regime founded on ignorance and greed managed by incompetents is no defense against a culture that values education above all and is not naturally racist while being morally authoritarian. The potential for a complete failure of understanding is so great it may be insurmountable.
