The story of China is muddled and not very heartwarming

SInomania

This is a ridiculously good read.  The world, largely, does not know much about China even after all these years.  This guy put things into much sharper focus, making the story way more nuanced.

I sometimes wonder, is the rising of chinese power a net plus or negative for me?  On the one hand, it allows people like my parents  who claims that their philosophy is really superior than my western-influenced thoughts.  This not surprisingly correspond to an increase in their authority and a decrease in my personal freedom.  On the other hand, China having prestige allows me to simply gain status by affiliation.  I feel that the former is real and immediate and the latter is intangible and far off, I might just favor China NOT gaining prestige.