The Paradox of China - 2

The main ____________________ of these ____________________ was not so much to ____________________ , but to assert Chinese ____________________ . Who could refuse to ____________________ - ____________________ to an Emperor ____________________ of so ____________________ a fleet ? In 1415 , Zheng He reached the coast of ____________________ Africa . In a short time the fleet was ____________________ up with ____________________ of thirty different kings and ____________________ ready to acknowledge the ____________________ ascendancy of the Ming Emperor . Down below were ____________________ a host of ____________________ animals . The Sultan of Malindi chose a ____________________ to send . Yong Le ____________________ received the animal at the ____________________ of the Imperial Palace in Nanjing . The giraffe was ____________________ as a ____________________ of perfect ____________________ , perfect government and ____________________ harmony in the Empire and the ____________________ . In many ways the giraffe perfectly ____________________ the ____________________ of Chinese ____________________ in the world . And then in ____________________ came news that ____________________ fundamentally change not ____________________ the history of China , ____________________ the history of the ____________________ itself . The Emperor Yong Le had ____________________ ; and with him died the ____________________ of Chinese ____________________ . Within just a few years , China ____________________ in on ____________________ . Great empires are ____________________ things . For centuries , they can ____________________ in a sweet spot of power and ____________________ ; but then ? ____________________ quite suddenly ? they can ____________________ . Let ? s look again at what ____________________ to imperial China . The Ming Dynasty ____________________ been born in ____________________ , and as we ? ve seen , for more than a century after that , Ming China was the world ? s most ____________________ civilization , by almost any ____________________ . But then , in the mid - 17th century , the ____________________ came flying ____________________ . Political ____________________ , fiscal ____________________ and ____________________ opened the ____________________ to rebellion and ____________________ . The results were ____________________ . Conflict and ____________________ reduced the Chinese population by as much as 40% . This ____________________ transition from Confucian ____________________ to ____________________ had taken little more than a decade . What had gone wrong ? Well , the answer is that turning inwards proved fatal for a ____________________ and densely ____________________ society like China ? s . The ____________________ system had created a kind of high ____________________ trap : ____________________ it was very impressive ; but on the ____________________ , it was very ____________________ : the least little thing caused the ____________________ to snap ____________________ ? because there were no external ____________________ to draw on . And that explains ____________________ Zheng He ? the personification of Chinese expansionism , for so long ____________________ ? is a ____________________ in today ? s newly ____________________ China . In the words of China ? s great economic ____________________ of the 1980 ? s , ____________________ Xiaoping , ? no ____________________ that wishes to become ____________________ today can pursue ? closed - door ? policies . . . When Zheng He ____________________ the western ocean , our country was ____________________ : after Zeng Le died , the ____________________ went into decline ? and became ____________________ , and mired in ____________________ and ____________________ . ? This is one of the great outposts of British ____________________ of Asia : the ____________________ Bund . The old headquarters of the ____________________ and Shanghai ____________________ used to be described as , ? the most ____________________ building between the ____________________ Canal and the ____________________ Strait ? . It was ____________________ but perhaps ____________________ that the first ____________________ treaty between Britain and China was ____________________ here , at the ____________________ Temple in ____________________ built by the Emperor Yong Le more than ____________________ centuries before , in ____________________ of Zheng Le , Master and ____________________ of the last imperial ____________________ - ship . Today , they ? re building ____________________ - going ships again in China : ____________________ ships capable of bringing ____________________ the raw materials ____________________ to feed China ? s ____________________ growing industrial economy . ____________________ , markets , profits , ____________________ . These are the things China once turned its back on . Well ? not any more ! I ? m standing on a ____________________ in the biggest shipyard in ____________________ . Now if , thirty years ago , you ____________________ that China ? s would be the second ____________________ economy by 2011 , and largest by ____________________ , I think you would have been dismissed as a ____________________ . But it would have seemed equally ____________________ , in 1420 , to have ____________________ Western ____________________ . The point is that in the course of the ____________________ century , Europeans discovered the ____________________ of competition : both ____________________ and political . And in a competition for control of the Asian ____________________ trade , ____________________ was born and with it the ____________________ for a world dominated by Western ____________________ . The kind of ____________________ - driven civilization that ____________________ seems to be working rather ____________________ in the ____________________ .