China (part 1)

Spent six months with 5 friends reading and discussing China. The goal was to understand what China is and what it wants. In my modern history read I got the impression that China was unique civilizational operating system very different from the western one.

This deep dive solidified this impression but also gave me additional ones, key among them is how much contemporary China is combination of ancient Chinese values (order, duty, family, the collective, foreigners are barbarians or at the very least strange strangers, and of course, the mandate of heaven) together with communism (the party is the vanguard of state and the people); this combination makes its ideology and self image very specific, strong, and, probably, unlikely to change.

I have plans for a much longer part 2.