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Comment by VladRussian | Hacker News Reader

it can be turned the other way as well - Chinese fell into stagnation and lost the technological, power and all other races during last 2-3 centuries because they stopped the exploration and closeted themselves inside their kingdom.

>We stopped the moon landings for the same reason the Chinese stopped landing Eunuchs in Africa.

and we don't go to Mars and beyond for the same reason Chinese didn't venture deep into and across the Pacific to America - too technically challenging, unknown and dangerous

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I agree. The emperor who replaced Zhu Di was more conservative and thought that China should close its doors. He famously said that "The outside world had nothing to offer China, it is too primitive and backwards, leave it alone." This inward looking mentality, fueled by the belief in your own superiority, is the disease of great powers. I am afraid that in some ways the United States has become one, maybe it's a good indicator of a power in decline.

The eventual decline and stagnation was the effect of the decision to close China's doors. But the cause of the end of the expeditions was largely financial. Culture also has an important role to play. The Chinese were not looking for new lands or have any interest in converting people to their religion. They were looking for respect and recognition. They want to prove to the world that China is the undisputed power on Earth and that they are the pinnacle of civilization. They could not have imagined that the world is about to enter into a period of tremendous change so they felt no reason to change their imperial system. How can you change perfection? ...LOL

>Culture also has an important role to play. The Chinese were not looking for new lands or have any interest in converting people to their religion.

Bingo. Gene Roddenberry's genius is replacing the classical humans' violence fueled drivers of "new lands or ... interest in converting people to their religion" with "to explore new worlds, to seek out a new life, and new civilizations" :) I hope that he will eventually be proven right.

haha......maybe the Chinese were following an earlier version of the prime directive...LOL

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