The same dynamic that's behind certain kinds of racism and domestic violence, is a the core of the imperialist impulse. Well sure, duh. But till you picture it as working in a culture, it's not so real.
Paula, dazed from a weekend of researching on-line brokers.
At 03:22 PM 2/14/99 -0800, you wrote:
>"W. Kiernan" wrote:
>
>> How about inherited wealth? Would that disqualify a Chinese fellow as a
>> sage?
>>
>
>Chinese feudal practice required that inheritence to be shared equally among
>all male offsprings, with the oldest son getting a double share.
>Since all rich Chinese households had many conucbines and scores of
>legitimate sons, Chinese wealth seldom lasted more than 3 generations
>because of the sequential dispersion of capital and land.
>This is unlike Eropean practice where the oldest son got everything, and the
>second son went into the Church and the other sons became soldiers of
>fortune and brought about European imperialism.
>China did not develope imperialism largely because of this social practice.
>The Chinese elite had no incentive to go overseas. Those who went were the
>bottom of the social order.
>The growth of the Chinese empire was the result of neighboring tribes asking
>to be included in the center for economic and cultural gains. Historically,
>China was a reluctant empire.
>
>Henry C.K. Liu
>
>