What is China Doing?
/Soft-power
Rule the world
Revenge
These are the three explanations for the behavior of the Chinese government. I think Long-Game Revenge is the best explanation for Chinese government behavior.
Why do I think Revenge is the best explanation? Well, every Chinese child learns the the King Goujian Fairytale and everyone uses the expression “you haven’t tasted bitter,” from that fairytale. The quick version of the story is that King Goujian lost his kingdom and instead of being executed, his conquerers let him live as a slave cleaning out the horse stables. He was nice and didn’t complain, so they let him go after 20 years. He went home and secretly raised an army. He put a bitter gallbladder above his door and every time he passed under it he licked it to remind him he was seeking revenge over the long term. He also wore a fur coat in summer and went bare-chested in winter.
Guandi and his sworn brothers.
Long-game Revenge is simply the flip side of Confucian Reciprocity. It is also closely related to the Chinese idea of Loyalty. The God of Loyalty is Guandi, he is also the god of war and the god of accounting. The sacred play Three Kingdoms, which tells Guandi’s story, it is hard to tell where loyalty starts and revenge ends. They blend together.
As I explain in my book, China was conquered by the YMCA, which worked hard to end Opium Use. Part of the strategy for ending Opium Use was to blame it on Imperialism. The East Indian Tea Company of the British Government and others, worked hard to sell Opium to China, and fought a couple of minor wars to implement their strategy. But the Chinese people had little memory of this and did not think of their opium use as having any outside cause. That was something YMCA people taught in Chinese schools. Anyway, that is the backstory for this article.
Massive Fentanyl Shipment from China Seized in Mexico
This is 25 tons of Fentanyl which Twitter says is enough to kill everyone on earth. On shipment. From Shanghai. A port completely controlled by the government.
Meanwhile the soft-power project is turning into a battle of who controls the god Nezha. Mainland China put out two huge government approved versions of the Nezha Story in the last few years. They are trying hard to turn this Rebellious God into a Chinese Mickey Mouse, with no religious significance at all.
On the other side of the battle lines we have Taiwan winning the Float Contest in Orange County.
I suspect most of my readers are already hearing the China Wants to Rule the World narrative. It certainly looks that way if you simply look at the Uprising in Honk Kong and the CCP’s response to it. I’ve posted about Belt and Road and the Surveillance State a few times so I won’t repeat those arguments here. Read something by Gordon Chang or Christofer Balding.
Now take a look at this temple destruction and ask yourself if this is Soft-Power, World Domination, or Revenge? Bitter Melon Temple Destruction.
