The Middle Kingdom – Page 17 – The Scholar's Stage

Notes From All Over (14/5/2013) – Historical Linguistics, Guanxi, and Scary Government Data Bases

15 May, 2013Climate, Culture, Geopolitics, Military Affairs, Near East, Notes From All Over, Oligarchy, The Middle Kingdom, Tyranny

A collection of articles, essays, and blog post of merit.This one is a bit smaller than normal; there are a few other posts or essays that deserve to go here, but I hope to devote entire posts to them at a later date. TOP BILLING:“An Introduction to Historical Linguistics’ – Terry Crowley and Claire Bowern. Part […]

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Striking It Rich in Ancient Times: An Example From the Song Dynasty

26 April, 2013Dogs of War, History, The Middle Kingdom, Wealth

In “Notes on the Dynamics of Human Civilization: the Growth Revolution” and “A Flawed Comparison: Inequality, Ancient and Modern” I contended that the process through which premodern societies and individuals acquired their riches is fundamentally different from the way fortunes are created and acquired today. An interesting example is provided by the Song Dynasty and […]

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Notes From All Over (14/4/2013) – Digital Feudalism, Macrohistory, and Energy

14 April, 2013Culture, Energy, Epidemiology, History, Japan, Military Affairs, Notes From All Over, Political Theory, Southeast Asia, The Middle Kingdom, Tyranny, Wealth

A collection of articles, essays, and blog post of merit. This collection is a large one. TOP BILLING Our Internet Surveillance StateBruce Schneier. Schneier on Security. 25 March 2013. The Internet is a surveillance state. Whether we admit it to ourselves or not, and whether we like it or not, we’re being tracked all the […]

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Whence Springs a Strategic Canon?

09 April, 2013Europa Regina, History, Military Affairs, Political Theory, Romans and Grecians, The Middle Kingdom

Scrolls containing the Seven Military Classics of the Chinese strategic canon. Image Credit. Last month I wrote a post on the difficulties Westerners face learning about China’s military history and expansive strategic canon. Reflecting on this military tradition, Martin Hewson (who blogs at Breviosity) posed a few interesting questions: Why does China have such a sophisticated tradition […]

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West and East and How We Think

02 April, 2013Books and Literature, Culture, Education, Japan, Korea, On Humanity, The Middle Kingdom

What impact does culture have on cognition? Psychologist Richard Nisbett has conducted dozens of studies to find out the answer to this question. Presented in The Geography of Thought: How Asians and Westerners Think Differently, the results of his study are fascinating – and their implications far reaching. “Perception: How Germans and Chinese See Each Other” from […]

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Troubles With the Chinese Military Tradition

23 March, 2013Military Affairs, Possessions For All Time, Strategy, The Middle Kingdom

Terra Cotta Soldiers — Image Source Via Zenpundit comes an interesting article written by Tonio Andrade for The Diplomat. This online magazine has some of the world’s best coverage of Asian-Pacific affairs and I always read its contents with interest. Mr. Andrade’s piece introduces his readers to the Sino-Dutch war of 1661, China’s “first” war with […]

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Grand Strategy Absent Grand Ends

18 March, 2013Community, History, Narrative, Steppe and Sown, Strategy, The Middle Kingdom

How can America craft a new grand strategy? The example of Jia Yi – a famous Chinese statesman and thinker who failed to convince his dynasty to adopt the strategy he proposed – can help us understand the central role that culture and a sense of national mission play in the creation of national strategy. Jia Yi was a strategist born […]

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Notes From All Over (15/03/13): Rome, Banks, and China

15 March, 2013Energy, Military Affairs, Monied Interests, Notes From All Over, Romans and Grecians, The Middle Kingdom

A collection of articles, essays, and blog post of merit.TOP BILLINGRue the IdesBurt Likko. League of Ordinary Gentleman. 15 March 2013.This is one of the best treatments of Caesar and his times yet published on the blogosphere. A few money quotes: After all nearly two centuries of history that preceded Caesar’s rise to power demonstrated […]

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The Power of Ideas in History: An Example From Antiquity

06 March, 2013Complex Systems, Culture, History, Romans and Grecians, The Middle Kingdom

Han Gaozu- Deified Founder of the Han DynastyImage Source Many drivers shape the course of world history. With a few exceptions, I lend little respect to those works that try to explain all of history as the result of one great thing – geography, genetics, climate, culture, class conflict, freedom, or whatever. Usually there is […]

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Is China’s Economy a Great Bubble?

05 March, 2013The Middle Kingdom, Wealth

Two informative videos about the “largest housing bubble in history.” The first is a CBS 60 Minutes investigative report that focuses on the “what” and “why” of the bubble. The second is a Financial Times interview with Zhang Xin, a Chinese real estate mogul, who focuses her remarks of the Chinese government’s response to the […]

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Category Archives: The Middle Kingdom

Notes From All Over (14/5/2013) – Historical Linguistics, Guanxi, and Scary Government Data Bases

Striking It Rich in Ancient Times: An Example From the Song Dynasty

Notes From All Over (14/4/2013) – Digital Feudalism, Macrohistory, and Energy

Whence Springs a Strategic Canon?

West and East and How We Think

Troubles With the Chinese Military Tradition

Grand Strategy Absent Grand Ends

Notes From All Over (15/03/13): Rome, Banks, and China

The Power of Ideas in History: An Example From Antiquity

Is China’s Economy a Great Bubble?

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