Spam is increasing..

[pharmacist]

Hahahaha.... The punishment for spamming is quartening and decapitation and those indirectly involved will be decimated using the chinese method.

 

[mikling]

Why are chinese linked with torture? When I looked at some history shows, I'm not sure the chinese did the most torturing or the most cruel.
Any historians to enlighten us?

 

[stratman]

Why are chinese linked with torture? When I looked at some history shows, I'm not sure the chinese did the most torturing or the most cruel.
Any historians to enlighten us?

Death by a thousand cuts - Lingchi - First remove the eyeballs so the victim does not know where the cuts will come from to increase the terror factor. It doesn't get any better after that.

So many bad things people do to one another. Every culture has their torturing methods. None I'd care to experience.

 

[fotofreek]

the crusades, Spanish inquisition (the rack, iron maiden, thumbscrew, etc) , witch hunts and burning the "witches" alive in the american colonies, nazi "medical" experiments in the concentration camps, rapes and murder and burning people alive in Darfur, atrocities committed by the Japanese during the occupation of China, beheading of infidels on a tv feed by islamic militants - etc.

These things have happened on all continents and with all ethnic groups throughout the ages. Barbaric and SAD!

 

[pharmacist]

Well, it was way better to live in medieval China than the by plaque, famine and wars terrorised contemperary Europe. China was the most powerful economy in the world and all European countries were waging war to control the trade routes with China. Not only the most powerful economy, but also the center for learning and scientifical discoveries. China has been relatively stable for centuries and this stability causes the population to grow increasingly: Europe's population has been literally decimated by the plaque and internal wars and struggle. But the backside of this stability was standstill in economy and scientifical and technical development over the centuries, when Europe overhauled China.

Actually the chinese system of government was pretty good for its time. Still an autocratic system, but the confucian teachings put emphasis on power to the literati and scholars, not on (noble) descent as in the case in the ancient regime in medieval Europe. So the imperial examination system selected the best capable to rule the Chinese Empire. This system enables even a man from humble descent to become an governor. This system of meritocracy was admired by the european scholars of the Enlightment (Voltaire, Montesquie etc.), who took China as an mirror to criticize the awkward "Ancient Regime" in Europe and gave rise to the so-called enlightened despots like Catherine the Great of Russia and Frederick the Great of Prussia.

So Mikling: the ancient Chinese were admired for centuries for their achievements, maybe not by shortminded people not looking further than their own backyards, but someone interested in history, will be become more and more amazed by the achievements of ancient China and might give a clue for the rising power of contemporary China.

 

[The Hat]

Gee guys this is getting very interesting so keep it coming and feck the spam..

 

[jackson]

How about ink related torture ... owning a Lexmark?

I still have a Sanyo Pr5000 daisy wheel.
Fourteen CPS;weighs more than my car and sounds like an iron foundry - "Bi-directional", though.

 

[stratman]

Pharmacist:

There were many wars/battles inside and outside China during the Middle Ages and the positive political, structural and economical changes were borne on the backs of the people which the ruling class (and family structure as well) demanded absolute obediance. Life in China being "way better" than in Europe depended upon who you were, where you were and when you were.

The Sui dynasty (A.D. 581-617), known for completion of the Grand Canal and beginning reconstruction of the Great Wall, ended quickly (in Chinese dynasty terms) because of tyrannical governance with crushing taxation and forced labor.

The Tang dynasty (A.D. 618-907), considered the high point in Chinese civilization, exemplifies your post of political, cultural, academic, religious advances governed under a still imperial system but now employing career scholar-officials without autonomous territorial or a functional power base. Since previous reliance on aristocratic and warlord local/regional powers had resulted in civil wars and other destabilizing issues for the imperial rule, the switch to scholar-officials afforded connection to local communities who appreciated having a voice in their rule for a change.

The Song dynasty (A.D. 960-1279) emerged after 5 decades of decline beginning with military losses to Islamic forces and ensuing political and economic corruptions and revolts. This period marked a refinement and expansion of the civillian scholar-official (gentry). The centralized bureacracy directed development of coastal cities for commerce as well as academic and cultural progress. Interior communities/cities became more linked to coastal cities and wealth could be amassed by the common citizen (mercantile class). In the later part of the Song dynasty, cultural-religious thought - Confucious/Buddhist/Taoist - were melded together and filtered to extract a new ruling and cultural ideology of supreme obediance to hierarchy which created stability but also prevented/slowed change in culture and institutions including science/technology.

The Yuan dynasty (A.D. 1279-1368) is marked by alien rule by the Mongols. Non-Chinese replaced the upper level political structure. The Mongols undertook extensive public works operations with improvements in roads and waterways which advanced commerce and trade within and outside China. Cultural, scientific, architectural, and other exchanges opened up with foreign entities including Europe. While conversion to Islam of large swaths of western areas of China occured, Roman Catholic missionaries entered China are had some success until The Church nixed the idea of blending Chinese religion(s) with Christianity.

The Ming dynasty (A.D. 1368-1644) marked the return of control to the Chinese following rebellions, Mongol in-fighting, natural disasters and famines. A return to a strict agrarian-centered society was promoted/compelled by the ruling elite. Maritime expiditions stopped after 1433, some say because of costly defense against further Mongol incursion, while others suggest a prevailing thought that Chinese life was satisfactory and no further improvements or foreign influence was necessary. In either case, the latter is reason for a stable but insular society of China until a resurgence and subsequent multiplying of foreigners in the latter part of the Ming dynasty and continuing on in the Qing dynasty (A.D. 1644-1911), the final dynasty ruled by the Manchus.

*See http://www-chaos.umd.edu/history/toc.html for where I cribbed my post. All recognition goes to the author of that site.*