That is a great comment, and I will try to give my thoughts on it.<p>You&#x27;re analysis of the present Chinese government as continuing the imperialistic policies of the Qing make a lot of sense, but I also tend to see these policies as kind of inevitable. All major powers will behave along similar lines, and mainly for similar reasons (e.g. see the Monroe Doctrine of the US and how long it took to normalize relations with Cuba). Russia is panicking because its own sphere of influence is being breached by NATO. China is worried about the West (or the South Koreans) gaining control over North Korea, right at their doorstep. So if you think about it, its not evil, its inevitable. Most non-western countries have been exploited in some horrible way in the recent past and that can really help explain why hard it is for them, even now, to trust the West.<p>As far as Industrial revolution and China: I agree that the Qing was undemocratic(obviously), slow to change etc. Governing a country as big as China has never been an easy task though. Think about it: its 1900, and you have 450 million people [0] in your kingdom, the largest by far, almost twice that of India, and a number never see before in history. Even the roman empire had only(!) 60 million people at its peak, most of whom were slaves.<p>So its not an easy problem. And many of the &quot;simplest&quot; solutions fall right on their heads. I know people in this forum like to talk about disruption, but that&#x27;s great for companies; for governments it is a VERY different problem, and needs to be handled differently. Just look at the crisis created by revolutions: Chinese Revolution left the country devastated, Russian Revolution tore apart the country before getting a respite after WW1. Every single time a revolution takes place, a wholesale change of everything happens and nobody is quite sure what is going on.<p>However, there are ways to change while not throwing out everything: The Meiji reformation in Japan is a great model of how to change an backward oriental country into a modern one, with western-style institutions and economy. And the Chinese Communists, despite all the horrible things they have done, have managed to bring stability and economic growth to a country that was ruled by warlords for much of the early 20th century.<p>I guess my point is simply that its not easy. Many people fail to see that there are reasons why the Qing were what they were, and that there were many factions even in the corrupt government that did want China to progress. So the ideal way to really reform a country is through diplomacy, and working with existing institutions, and modernizing them, rather than start from scratch.<p>[0]: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;List_of_countries_by_population_in_1900" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;List_of_countries_by_populatio...</a>