Why was China never wiped out like all the other ancient civilizations?

China was able to rise and fall many times whereas the ancient Egyptian civilization, the Roman Empire, and the Great British Empire are all “dead”. Why China will not collapse? In this video, Prof. Wen Yang will go through each of the great empires and respond to this question.
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[joey]

I think in a few decades, people will be surprised to look back and find out how many misunderstandings and prejudice we today have against China.

[MarkMiller]

The culture has a magnetism to it. No matter how many times dynasties collapse, the people always will try to remake it because the culture draws you into it. Even barbarians invaders willing chose to assimilate because they could not resist the pull of the culture.

[yuzhang]

In our history lesson, teacher told us that our China is the only one remained among the four ancient civilizations, only when it comes to China, we don't need to add "ancient" in front of it. We are the latest, but the longest. China was ever completely ruled by Mongols and Manchus, both from the north, but the result is, they conquered China's land but also cultually conquered by Chinese. I mean, they adopted Chinese language, writing, governance system, architecture style, clothing style, entertainment methods, etc. I remember in the last Qing dynasty, even it was hard to find a person who could speak Manchurian in royal family, they all became Chinese speakers.

[clumsytriangle]

Brilliant lecture. I'm an expat living in China 10 years. And I am so happy to be in this amazing country, living, learning and loving its remarkable history and magnificent present, and looking forward to its incredible future. If only the collective west could see the benefit of allying with a culture and civilization that has stood the test of time.

[陈天贵-yv]

As a Chinese, I have to point out that our writing language is an important tool to keep our civilization alive.
As a good English learner, I once tried to read Shakespeare's original works. I did not know a lot of grammar and words, and I could only understand up to 50% of the content. Shakespeare was only an Englishman 500 years ago.
There are four great Chinese classics, Romance of The Three Kingdoms, Water Margin, Journey to the West. A Dream in Red Mansions.
and Shakespeare's works and the Water Margin books were written in a similar time.Any Chinese high school graduate can understand the original text, even the original text of the time.
Move forward in time to the time of Confucius, 500BC. Modern Chinese people can already understand literature written 2, 500 years ago.
When we go to museums or visit some historic sites, the words written thousands of years ago can still be understood by modern people.

[Allgood]

The only ancient empire to survive to this day and age and will continue to do so because of its adaptability and pragmatism.

[larrysherk]

Fifteen hundred years ago, when most nations were fighting wars of conquest, China had its fleet trading with east and west shores of India and east shore of Africa. What are they doing today? They are promoting imaginative and creative trade between nations. Don't know why this is so difficult for the West to grasp.

[oliverkwok]

The Chinese civilization is unique. The Chinese language is derived from pictures. You can pronounce the words any way you want. There are thousands of dialects. Even Japanese, Korean, Ryukyuans and Vietnamese borrowed Chinese characters. When northern tribes conquered the whole country, the rulers could still use the same written language. The pronunciation kept changing, but the written words did not. Other languages are based on sound. When the rulers changed, a different language was used, and the old official language died.

[yiyueji]

China is a culture disguised as a country. I've encountered many people who calls themselves Chinese Canadians, Chinese Americans, Chinese Malaysians, Chinese Philippines, Chinese Japanese, and even Chinese First Nations (they live in Northern BC in Canada). Despite the fact that they've been living in these other counties for generations and most don't even speak Chinese anymore, they still regard themselves as Chinese. That's how powerful and magnetic this culture is. You don't even need a country to be Chinese and to maintain the Chinese culture through the ages.

[vieworama]

Late Mr Lee Kuan Yew said "I would say they(chinese) are determined, as a people, to unify and build a modern, powerful, wealthy Chinese nation, and I say good luck to them. And I think the
moment they get prosperous, good luck to me, because I will be much safer". Chinese civilisation will never collapse as long as there are chinese people around, it is the people's will to unify and have a strong centralised civilisation

[YeoAlexander]

Professor Wen Yang, this is a very comprehensive lecture of China and world history, from ancient times till today. Keep up the good work 👍 Alex from Singapore

[donkeykong]

Great analysis. China recognized the need of infrastructure for the world. While US is playing the nomadic conquer game

[dariomendoza]

my RESPECTS to the CHINESE CULTURE Greetings from Mexico!!!

[dunai]

Since Gordon Chang redefined the meaning of "collapse" 22 years ago, China has been "collapsing" or on the way towards "collapse". One of results of this kind of "collapse" has sent China to the position of the second superpower in the world.

[andtam]

Thank you professor Wen Yan!
Now I understand why Scotland want to be independent even it has united with England as the United Kingdom for 300+ years and they speak the same language. These are nomadic tribes which pretend to be sedentary nation. When their country is failing, they part ways.
So, I think the USA will follow its ex-parent country, the UK's path. When the USA can't maintain its hegemony, I bet it'll split into 2 or 3 independent nations.

[vchanpe]

This also explain why China is not an aggressive country that invade or bomb other counties. Most other countries around the world understand this. Aggressive empires tend to rise and fall.

[ISay]

No matter what civilizations conquer the “Central Land” or the “Chinese Mainland”. They become integrated into the “Central Kingdom” or the “Central Nation” through culture, language and tradition. Therefore, the “Central Nation” never dies.

[sckchui]

If your empire is grown through conquest, then when you run out of people to conquer, you will run out of growth. If your empire is grown through the construction of infrastructure, then your empire might never end, because there is always more to build. Aside from China, the Romans were also great builders of roads and aqueducts and cities. Regrettably, the nomads that eventually conquered Rome did not pick up the task of building and maintaining infrastructure, and it was many hundreds of years before Europe regained a similar level of civilizational development. Many other civilizations have build significant infrastructure and have lasted for a long time - the Persians, the Indians, the Egyptians, and others to a greater or lesser extent - but perhaps none as consistently as the Chinese. But civilization-building is not a competition, it is an endless task that requires persistence and cooperation between all people - infrastructure will crumble if neglected, and roads and bridges are meaningless unless they connect distant peoples together.

I don't think it's completely true that there will be no more nomads in the future. Our entire planet has become settled, that is true, but we will expand into space eventually, and there will be another great age of nomadism, though perhaps not on Earth.

[kooklockklan]

The Chinese civilization is including Vietnam, Korea, and Japan, whether they want to admit it or not. Indian civilization influenced most of the South East Asian countries. These 2 great civilizations will stand strong in the world. They should work together to make sure that they remain the greatest of civilizations