What does Issac Asimov have to do with Chinese history, you ask?

Historian and genre writer =AZVPKBYtPZvTLJ8EUDUROHJDSwcgy03Y02VZWZNTdyw8_zf9b_8OfPb9R0gNIcwcm8GDpafBJ5BGEZST5K8Kyjr2Ajo-WbSgkzQ9mUyP_ndTf6xa__-T55hWJkMphYbIpPLEUlss3M-QMVXwkZ4V4QZZ&__tn__=-]K-R]Colin Glassey (who is also a fan!) has been researching China for his books for decades, and most recently has been reading the Cambridge History of China when he found something very interesting, as he wrote on Facebook:

"In the year 1835, the Chinese scholar Wei Yuan proposed a theory of Chinese history which was almost exactly copied by Isaac Asimov in his “Foundation Series”. Wei proposed that governments cycled through three stages, 1) highly functional (tai ku), 2) capable (chung ku) and 3) degenerate (mo shih). He stated that in his life, he could see that China was approaching a degenerate stage but with wise counseling and decent leadership, the degenerate era could be of short duration. (Cambridge History of China, Vol. 10, part 1, pg. 153)."

Of course, we don't know if Asimov knew of Wei, and we are guessing he did not.

Also, here's Colin's Amazon page for those interested in his work or learning more on China through fiction: