History is the memory of things that have been said and done. —Carl Baker
Friends who like history will find an exciting phenomenon. In the whole ancient society, it seems that only we, China, occupied the best territory.
There is some truth to this statement. Let's take a look at the other three ancient civilizations, the good land of ancient Egypt, which is concentrated in the narrow areas of the Nile River Valley, and other places seem to be deserts. Ancient Babylon did not have much good territory, and it was also concentrated in the Two Rivers Valley. Ancient India was relatively smooth, but the weather was obviously too hot and not a livable place. And, importantly, these places have been destroyed many times, colonized many times, or replaced by other civilizations. Civilization has been torn down many times, and thus there is no good continuation.
In addition to the ancient civilizations, other places have developed relatively late, such as the Americas and Africa, and their civilization history is not long. Even in Europe, its territory is not particularly satisfactory to Europeans, otherwise they would not have expanded everywhere.
In short, comparatively speaking, our ancestors Chinese really occupied a very good territory on the earth. What's going on?
Some people may say that there is nothing to talk about, it can only be regarded as the luck of our ancestors who Chinese. If in ancient times it was not the ancestors of Chinese who occupied such a good place, but the ancestors of foreigners who occupied this good place, it would all be the same.
It seems that this explanation makes sense, but it is not actually correct.
I think that our ancestors Chinese to occupy such a good place, in addition to good luck, in fact, there are reasons why we are running well. And that's the most important reason. So, where do we do it better?
First, adhere to the agricultural economy.
From our current perspective, the agrarian economy seems to be a backward economy. In ancient and modern times, China has also insisted on the agrarian economy and has not kept up with the pace of the world, which eventually led to China's backwardness and beating, and the Chinese people have paid a heavy price for this.
But in fact, for a long time, the farming economy was a very good economic model. This economic model, which fixes the people on the land for agricultural production and inhibits the business model of buying and selling backwards, is very beneficial to the development of crop production.
This also enabled the people of ancient China to calm down, manage the land in a down-to-earth manner, and cultivate the land deeply, thus reaching a level of self-sufficiency.
This self-sufficiency in ancient China also formed a characteristic of being unwilling to launch a war of aggression against the outside. As long as other countries and nationalities do not invade, ancient China would not take the initiative to invade other countries. Because the invasion is useless, it is all some not very good territory, and you have to bother to appease the people there.
The situation elsewhere is not the same as in China. Although those places also experienced a feudal farming society, their dedication to agriculture was not as strong as in ancient China. More often than not, they went elsewhere to collect land and loot treasure. The reason why ancient Egypt, ancient Babylon, and ancient India were invaded by foreign tribes many times and perished several times was because they did not love the land.
Second, adhere to imperial rule.
Similarly, dictatorial imperial rule is also a political system that has been criticized by modern people.
But in ancient times, imperial rule, for a long time, brought benefits to China.
The greatest benefit of imperial rule was that ancient China was in a state of great unification. In a state of great unification, the people can live and work in peace and contentment. On the contrary, if the imperial power was not strong enough, ancient China was bound to fall apart. And fragmentation will inevitably lead to endless wars and bring deep disasters to the people.
Relatively speaking, the time of great unification in ancient China was far greater than the time of division, so China was able to continuously create the fruits of civilization and continue from generation to generation.
In other places, there are more times of division. India, for example, has been divided for a long time. If it were not for the British invasion, India would not have been able to achieve reunification.
Similarly, Europe has not been able to achieve great unification, so the accumulation of ancient Europe is not as strong as China.
Third, adhere to the belief in joining the WTO.
In ancient China, there was no religious belief that unified the whole people. If there is, it is the belief in joining the world. That is, the chinese ancients' fascination with life in this world. Because life is good in this world, they actively pursue happiness in this world. At the same time, the Ancient Chinese were ancestor worshippers, their hearts were full of gratitude for their ancestors, they would not be grateful to God, they would only be grateful to their ancestors, and it was the ancestors who brought them everything beautiful.
Because ancient China had this belief in joining the world, the ancients especially cherished life.
People elsewhere, their religious beliefs are heavenly, or afterlife. They don't pay much attention to this world. Because it is not taken seriously, there are often wars over religion. The wars between Christians and Muslims, the wars between Muslims and so on, are simply too frequent.
If you don't pay much attention to this world, of course, you won't elaborate it. Naturally, the place where they live, it will not become very beautiful.