Hi DJ,
I believe you are not far from the truth when you speculated … it is time for Jay to have coffee:0)
<<Chinese kept being conquered from the north - the Mongols, the Manchurians, the Japanese. 93% of Chinese are Han … Han civilization … Abel-kind-of farming character … the north being arid and dry … Kain-like societies>>
I have traveled as far north as the Russian border in Manchuria and Inner Mongolia, and as far south as Bali in Indonesia. If I were a nomad on a horse holding a weapon, I would generally tend to meander in a southerly direction:0)
There is a sub-group of Han Chinese, know around the world as Hakkas, known in China as “Guest People”. In Europe, the gypsies and Jews would come close, but as you say, not quite the same. The Hakkas in China migrated in only one compass direction – south. The third generation émigré Chinese you are likely to come across in SE Asia, Latin America, Caribbean, and many in the US, are far more likely to be a Hakka (20%?) than their percentage composition in China (3%?) would deem likely. These are the troublesome Chinese, generally inquisitive, adaptive, disruptive, and very family and clan oriented. These folks tend to plan in the very long term, and implement without regard to hardship. They also tend to be exceedingly happy-go-lucky.
These characters kept being guests in different parts of China, progressively more south, because they kept making trouble for the authorities in the north. Their clan based armies, led by Hakka rebel generals, formed the core of the Taiping Rebellion (music from Star Wars, please, scene fades to the Forbidden Palace, and the emperor says … the rebellion must be put down).
The rebellion ultimately failed. Unlike the Japanese, the Hakkas tend not to surrender, nor commit suicide. They run, survive, and plan on fighting another day.
One generation later, the offspring of many Hakka escapees returned to China, from Hawaii, Caribbean, and points further still, with new ideas, new financing and renewed energy, leading and taking part in yet another rebellion, this time succeeding, and making possible the movie “The Last Emperor”. The leading idea of the day was the Democracy.
Once again the rebellion failed, ultimately, because China is a difficult construct to move, especially when all people want is to be able to feed.
Now, two generations later, many Hakkas try again, this time, no new ideas, just a new approach … through capital formation.
<<Jews would never send out ships to check out the world the other side of horizon and then, when they would come back, yawn and go back to daily business>>
Altogether there may have been 13 Ming Dynasty expeditions, covering certainly Africa and much of Southeast Asia. The problem was, I think, at the end of any analysis, cost. There was not much out there, and it was expensive to keep looking for what there wasn’t.
Brunei was recognized by the Ming emperor to be a tributary state independent from the rest of the Java Empire in Indonesia, in exchange for annual gifts to the Ming court. I keep reminding my Brunei pal, they have been delinquent in payment. Actually, Brunei is a sizeable investor in China, a sort of neighborhood insurance program.
Makes a good Star Trek episode.
Chugs, Jay |
