Very true. The Chinese emperor wanted the prestige of being the Son of Heaven, the ruler of All Under Heaven (tianxia). The foreigners were happy to give him this recognition in exchange for the lavish return gifts. Esp since Chinese power didn't afffect things much in farway places, except during the rare times when China was feeling muscular.
Wrong again! The eunuchs are not bureaucrats; they are the personal retainers who look after the personal affairs of the imperial family and the inner palace. They are very close to the emperor and imperial family and hence thru the ages, are entrusted with important tasks. Haven't you read my above posts???
Illogical? Only idiots will try to rule the world using Middle Ages technology; even America today cannot fully do it. Besides the Chinese already had their hands very full, dealing with the nomadic tribes fr the steppes.
Originally posted by Knight-Dragon
They are very close to the emperor and imperial family and hence thru the ages, are entrusted with important tasks. Haven't you read my above posts???
Illogical? Only idiots will try to rule the world using Middle Ages technology; even America today cannot fully do it. Besides the Chinese already had their hands very full, dealing with the nomadic tribes fr the steppes.
no he use medieval technology, but he had testicle so he had testosterone in his blood, so he had the guts to use a wooden ship to cross sea.
And how do you think Christoph Colomb reach america, with steam boat
.
You may be astounded to learn that the Chinese invented the bureaucracy.
Mainly because they invented the paper first. 
However in olden China, the bureaucracy was staffed by Confucian scholars i.e. the mandarins. Eunuchs may be the personal agents of the emperor but the bureaucracy runs the day-to-day govt affairs. Colombus was driven by greed for the riches of India and the Far East. The Chinese were already pretty well-off and had no reason to venture anywhere else.And how do you think Christoph Colomb reach america, with steam boat
Believe me, I know. Esp the 'treasure ships'; these were as large as the European clippers of a few centuries later. Each of the Ming expedition was large; one that I know of consisted of 28000 men, something unheard of in those days. Large enough they could go out and attk insolent kinglets all over Asia. E.g. in Ceylon they attked the local king and brought him back to China for 'punishment' for refusing to recognize Chinese authority.
Like I'd said, the Mongols were beginning to stir again in the steppes. The Chinese needed all the resources they had to deal with them. And their xenophobic attitude probably didn't help. It was a missed chance; like earlier during the Southern Song (the pinnacle of Chinese maritime strength). Were it not for the Mongol 'century', I think the Chinese would probably not turned their back on the sea.
Not enough. The numbers might seem large but they weren't enough, esp when the Chinese lost control of the North-west (the Lop Nor region). Like during the Song, the Tanguts settled in this region and set up the Xixia kingdom, cutting off the Chinese fr their traditional stud farms here. Resulting in the shift towards infantry for the Song armies. They couldn't even take back the 16 prefectures around Beijing lost to the Khitans. And when the Jurchens arrived, they even managed to sweep down and sack the imperial capital at Kaifeng and capture most of the imperial court.
Where are you, exactly? Can't tell fr the coordinates.
I don't think us Chinese are or were so religious. Mainly due to Confucianism, we have more of an ethical system, rather than an organised religion. Of course there's the folklore and customs and also Daoism/Buddhism but....I'm curiously left out "religious". The Chinese, despite not being really all that religious, nonetheless have one of the most resilient cultures. In CivIII game terms, I think of it as lots of flipping...
Have to burn paper money and stuff.
Originally posted by Knight-Dragon
The real world does not work like Civ3, unfortunately.
For one, the typical emperor doesn't live for 6000 years and many are just lazy. Many too are typical despots and are wary of Chinese settlements overseas, which can serve as centers for discontent, since such colonies will be hard to control.
The Ming Great Wall was an acknowledgement of weakness and failure, rather than of strength. It was only decided to build it after the repeated Ming expeditions into the steppes failed to do any permanent damage to the Mongols. It took another foreign tribe, the Manchus, to pacify the Mongols and the industrial revolution to finally finish them off....
, so there is no way to "reload" the Ming Dynasty and figure out if the Chinese had a better chance finding America first. At least I won't be as sure as Tassadar is about this point, stuff happens.). They did think they're the center of "the world", and the emperors were kings of "the world", however, the emperors did not tend to pick on their neighbors as long as they receive the tribute and respect. Chinese did not even colonize nor genocide. If they did, Japs, Koreans, and the entire southeast Asia were all history. IMHO, even though Chinese found America first, they probably would have left America the way it was.
