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Text: Zhang Runchen
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introduction
Today's Europe is undoubtedly the region with the largest concentration of powerful countries in the world. Britain, France, Germany, and Russia are all world powers today. However, most of these countries began to rise and influence the world after the Renaissance.
In an even more distant period, there were the ancient Roman Empire and Alexander's Empire. These countries were all European continental powers that were once able to influence the world, but after the decline of these countries, they never re-emerged. However, looking at the East, China has fallen into a low ebb more than once in history, but each time it has been able to rise again, why is that?
(Europe)
1. Why Europe cannot be united
The biggest difference between China and Europe lies in China's cultural unity. In fact, the geographical environment of Europe is relatively speaking, and it is a natural unified environment. From Western Europe to Eastern Europe, it's almost a big slab that can be slipped to the end in a few weeks on horseback. Therefore, the main rise of Europe is a powerful power, which can almost easily complete the "unification" of the continent.
So it was with Caesar, it was like Napoleon, it was like Hitler, so the Europeans in history were not really far from unification, at least not physically far. But the biggest problem in Europe is that they cannot stabilize this unity for a long time, and the European continent power that has been stable for a long time should be the Habsburgs.
(Caesar)
But from the beginning to the end of the Habsburgs, the revolt under their rule was almost never broken. This is due to the fact that there is no culturally unifying basis on the continent. This is the main reason why the continental powers that have effectively united Europe will still decline in a short period of time.
This was not just a problem for Caesar, Napoleon and Hitler. In fact, Peter, Alfonso and Victoria also have similar problems. Because of this cultural inconsistency, it can even be miniature to different provinces with different cultures and languages.
(United Kingdom)
Britain has long faced the separation of Ireland and Scotland, Spain also needs to face the separation of the Basque Country and Andalunesia, not to mention Russia, and the matter of Ukraine is still difficult to understand.
This also makes these European countries once they decline slightly, then all kinds of different voices in their countries will "rise up and attack", and the country will fall into a vicious circle of long-term internal friction.
It would be hellish for such a "power" to be able to revive once it declined, but it is not without cultural unity in Europe.
(France)
2. Europe's unfailing power
France is the most typical example of this, because France has systematically accepted the cultural transformation of Rome, so the "Gallo-Roman" culture, which is now French culture, has always been the main culture of France.
This culture, combined with the Christian faith, became the most advanced culture in continental Europe at the time. Even though the later Germanic Franks gained control of France, they were quickly assimilated into the Gallic culture, and their kings were baptized as Christians. The Normans, the Viking branch who were later "recruited" by France, were also assimilated after the establishment of the Duchy of Normandy.
(Hundred Years' War)
France, on the other hand, has declined more than once in its history, but has been able to rise again each time. At its most pessimistic, large swathes of France were occupied by British troops, but the French remained reluctant to be ruled by the British due to cultural unity. During the Second World War, countless French people were still willing to give their lives for the Lorraine Cross.
This kind of cultural unity is not something that Britain and Spain have, or even Rome has. After Spain lost the Netherlands, the Dutch would not think about them. After Britain lost Ireland, so did the Irish. After Sweden lost Finland, the Finns became obedient subjects of the tsar.
(Tsar)
But whether in Lyon, Toulon, Nice, Marseille or Paris, all French people are French, and France has always been a great power.
However, has China not experienced a similar embarrassing situation in history? Yes, and it lasted for quite a long time.
Third, the book is the same text, the car is the same track, and the weights and measures are unified
In fact, before the Qin Dynasty, China was also in a state of division for a long time. Even the Chinese at that time were Xi used to splitting, and they were Xi to their existence as Zhao people, Yan people, Chu people, and Qi people. When you ask who they are, they don't say they're Chinese, and they don't think that people from another vassal state are their compatriots.
（秦始皇）
At that time, countries had their own scripts, their own languages, their own currencies and even their own ways of calculating. How similar is this to today's Europe, which has miles, versts, kilograms and ounces, and the languages of various countries are completely different, so to speak, except for the currency, everything else is not uniform.
But there is one person who has changed this status quo, and he is Qin Shi Huang. When we mention Qin Shi Huang today, we always think that it was because he proposed the county system, which changed the status quo of China's division. But the county system is only a system after all, and it cannot change people's hearts. The Roman Empire also had a provincial system, but was Rome unified after the barbarian invasion?
But after the chaos of the Five Wants, we have really returned to reunification!
(Wuhu Chaohua)
This is the difference in culture, and in China we will always naturally think that China should be reunified, and that the north and south of the Yangtze River are compatriots! And this foundation is built on a unified language, a unified currency, and a unified road condition.
In today's China, dialects are still a big problem, and you basically can't understand what the locals are saying when you go out of a province. But we can still communicate through words, so there are no communication barriers and we can understand each other.
Uniform weights and measures are also very important, because it involves money that everyone cares about. If the weights and measures are different in different places, will the officials sent by the central government to collect taxes have a lot of "room for maneuver"? Then the people's sense of identity with the state will certainly be greatly reduced, and this is also the problem faced by the former Habsburgs and Spain.
The significance of the same track is that the cost of reunification between the central government and the local government has been reduced. What is the purpose of the same track? It is for the roads of the whole country to have uniform ruts, and the ruts of ancient times are similar to our modern railways. During World War II, the gauge of European countries was different, and the German trains had to change wheels when they entered the Soviet Union, and time was wasted.
(Car on the same track)
Every time you change wheels, you actually give the enemy an extra minute to prepare, but in China this kind of problem never exists. But without Qin Shi Huang, China today would still be divided, let alone revived.
Resources:
JIANG Yihua. "The Roots of Chinese Civilization." Decision & Information 1 (2013): 2.