Births and Deaths – Part 1/2

August 12, 2011

If we study history, it does not take long to discover that all empires have births and deaths.

To name a few, the Persian Empire survived from 550 – 330 BC then fell to Alexander the Great as he built his vast but brief empire that survived from 346 to 323 BC.

After Alexander, there was the Roman Empire (27 BC – 476 AD in the West and 1453 AD in the East) and China’s Han Dynasty (206 BC – 220 AD) followed by other great dynasties such as the Tang, Sung, Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasty until it collapsed in 1911.

There was also the Mongol Empire (1206 – 1368 AD) followed by the British (1583 – 1997, when the British returned Hong Kong to China).

The concept of an American Empire was born in 1898, after the Spanish-American War and the annexation of the Philippines to the US.


You cannot run an empire without money.

However, some historians claim the process of expansion and empire for America dates to the Louisiana Purchase in 1803, which doubled the size of the US.

Bill Bonner writes of America’s Imperial Suicide and offers compelling evidence that the sunset of another empire has arrived.

Bonner mentions that the end started under President Richard Nixon in 1971 when the US stopped backing the dollar with gold and replaced it with paper and the good intentions of a government that is now burdened by a National Debt well beyond $14 trillion.

Since the Chinese appear poised to become the next world empire, will they accept the crown or follow in the footsteps of Han Dynasty, which transformed itself into the Tang, Sung, Yuan, Ming then Qing Dynasties by not attempting to swallow or control a vast global empire with constant expansion and intimidation of others on a scale equal to the Romans, the British Empire and the United States.

Are the Chinese wise enough to avoid the mistakes made by the others that have blazed this trail of empire before them?

Continued on July 13, 2011 in Births and Deaths – Part 2

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Lloyd Lofthouse is the award-winning author of The Concubine Saga. When you love a Chinese woman, you marry her family and culture too. This is the love story Sir Robert Hart did not want the world to discover.

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Is China’s Unique Love Affair with Cupid Changing?

March 18, 2011

For millennia, Chinese parents or matchmakers played cupid and arranged marriages sometimes at birth.

However, that may be changing and matchmaking cupids in China are facing unemployment.

Sufie, of Sexy Beijing, takes us on a journey to discover what’s happening to matchmaking Cupids in China.

One man Sufie interviews on the street says he was born in the late 70’s so he has no problem with traditional matchmaking but those born in the 80s and afterwards may not like it.

In this embedded episode of Sexy Beijing, Sufie wants to discover if arranged marriages are still popular in China. To see what she learned, watch the video


Sexy Beijing: Matchmaker, Matchmaker

Cupid is no stranger to China and may have traveled there on the southern Silk Road when the Roman Empire was trading with the Han Dynasty (206 BC to 219 AD).

Top News, China Through a Lens reports that archaeologists working at the Quren Ruins of Yunyang Country, Chongqing Municipality discovered what easily passes as a little bronze cupid.

“The discovery of the naked “cupid” naturally associates the Han Dynasty and ancient Greece and Roman Empire”.

Did you know that in China the apple stands for peace and its blossom for adoration? Instead of buying a dozen roses, maybe a Chinese man buys the woman he adores apple blossoms if that is possible.

My wife often tells me not to waste money on roses but to take her out to eat instead so buying a dozen apples makes sense.

Discover more of China’s Sexual Revolution

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Lloyd Lofthouse is the award-winning author of the concubine saga, My Splendid Concubine & Our Hart. When you love a Chinese woman, you marry her family and culture too.

If you want to subscribe to iLook China, there is a “Subscribe” button at the top of the screen in the menu bar.

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China’s Warrior King

July 17, 2010

Qin Shi Huangdi (259 – 210 BC) unified China by using advanced weapons and brutal tactics. The Qin Dynasty arsenals made swords and other weapons with a precision unknown in Europe. Trigger mechanisms for crossbows and arrows were made in runs of tens of thousands.

The Qin military machine had one command—attack.

At this time, the Roman Empire had gathered 80,000 troops to defend Rome against Hannibal. In China, the king of Qin had an army of one-million.

Bravery was valued above all else. When a Qin soldier was killed in battle, it was up to his fellow troops to avenge his death. The penalty for cowardice was death.  More than two million will die before Qin Shi Huangdi conquerors all China.

Qin’s officers were advanced in rank by winning in battle. If you wanted to be advanced in rank, you brought back the head of an enemy solider. The honorable way to treat prisoners of war was to bury them alive.

Emperor Qin Shi Huangdi was the father of a unified China. He was also brutal and ruthless.

To discover more, see The First Emperor: The Man Who Made China (Part 1 of 9)

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Lloyd Lofthouse is the award-winning author of the concubine saga, My Splendid Concubine & Our Hart. When you love a Chinese woman, you marry her family and culture too. 

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Measuring Earthquakes During the Han Dynasty

July 6, 2010

When critics accuse the Chinese of stealing technology from the West, consider that China was the most technologically advanced nation in the world at one time. In fact, the Han Dynasty (206 BC – 220 AD) put the Roman Empire (27 BC – 476 AD) to shame.

One example of China’s technological abilities was when the first seismograph was invented in 132 AD.  When Zhang Heng‘s device measured an earthquake in 134 AD, Zhang predicted the location. Han Ministers didn’t believe the scientist. Then a courier arrived and reported that an earthquake had taken place where Zhang said it did. For more information about Zhang Heng, see China Culture.

Zhang Heng's seismograph

In 1951, Chinese scientists from China’s National Museum worked on recreating Zhang Heng’s seismograph. Since there was a limited amount of information, it took until 2007 to complete the reconstruction.

In comparison, it wasn’t until the 18th century (AD) that there is any record that Western scientists worked on developing a seismograph.

Discover more about Earthquakes

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Lloyd Lofthouse is the award-winning author of the concubine saga, My Splendid Concubine & Our Hart. When you love a Chinese woman, you marry her family and culture too.

To subscribe to “iLook China”, look for the “Subscribe” button at the top of the screen in the menu bar, click on it then follow directions.

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Education Chinese Style – Part 2

February 10, 2010

There is no evidence that the Christian Bible supports literacy or education. After the Roman Empire collapsed, the Catholic Church did not attempt to educate the masses. It was much easier to tell ignorant, uneducated people how to live and what to do. The illiterate kings and peasants looked to the Pope and educated priests for guidance. It was sort of like those with sight leading the blind.
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Proverbs (Old Testament)
1:5 A wise man will hear, and will increase learning; and a man of understanding shall attain unto wise counsels:
9:9 Give instruction to a wise man, and he will be yet wiser; teach a just man, and he will increase in learning.
16:21 The wise in heart shall be called prudent: and the sweetness of the lips increaseth learning.

Daniel
1:4 children in whom was no blemish, but well-favored, and skilful in all wisdom, and cunning in knowledge, and understanding science, and such as had ability in them to stand in the king’s palace, and whom they might teach the learning and the tongue of the Chalde’ans.

Acts (New Testament)
26:24 And as he thus spake for himself, Festus said with a loud voice, Paul, thou art beside thyself; much learning doth make thee mad.

Romans
15:4 For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope.
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I looked for passages in the Bible that would focus on the importance of gaining an education similar to what Confucius taught.

Confucius

I didn’t find anything. If you find something, let me know. Instead, this is the sentiment that I discovered, “Paul, thou art beside thyself; much learning doth make thee mad.”

 See Part 1

Lloyd Lofthouse is the author of the award winning novels My Splendid Concubine and Our Hart.

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