Weekly Writing Prompt 5: Decline of China
Prompt: Essential Question - Why did China flourish and then fall behind the West?
The Chinese Empire fluorished throught the period of Imperial China, and for several hundred years, China was the world's leading empire. So, what exactly happened to China? China fluorished and then fell behind the West because of their belief in their own superiority. As a result of this, they followed a confucian-based bueracracy, withrew its navy, and isolated itself from certain aspects of trade.
China followed a confucian-based bureaucracy, and believed that they should prioritize the needs of their own people first, and integrate their wealth into their own Kingdom instead of using it for overseas trading and commerce. As a result of not promoting commercial capitalism, when the time came, it was difficult for the country to adapt with the rest of the world and implement changes to move forward with the global economy.
Another significant contributer to China's decline as when it withdrew from the Indian Ocean its vast navy. Although its contribution to the economy was minor, it provided jobs for the crew and shipbuilders. The withdrawel of the navy deprived these occupations from the people; thus, leading to the decline of the Chinese economy, since a portion of the population was left jobless.
China began to decline when it decided to isolate itself from certain aspects of trade, like when it prohibited maritime shipping. They wanted to conserve their traditions, and limit outside influence; therefore, they looked down at foreigners. Conversely, United States and Europe began to expand trade, and as a result, gained wealth through this. By preventing shipping, this prevented China from importing/exporting goods, which was a significant factor in the growth of a nation’s economy, since import/export leads to profit and capital accumulation. Through trade, the United States and Europe managed to receive various type of goods, as well as to export their manufactured ones. China initially flourished because before it was one large empire, it had started out as several different regions and states dispersed throughout Asia. Gradually, all the regions were merged through conquering of different lands, and assimilated the population together.
As a result of China's arrogance, it led to their own decline and stagnation. By commiting their empire to the confucian-based bureaucracy, they neglected the most important aspect of boosting the economy, which was commercial capitalism. Furthermore, it led to their withdrawel of their navy because they wanted to defend their empire from the reemergence of the Mongols. They also wanted to protect their traditions, so they restricted international trade to limit foreign influence. All this contributed to their stagnation and decline.