China, pt. 1 -- Making the Middle Kingdom
Historiansplaining: A historian tells you why everything you know is wrong
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The History of China and the Origins of Homo Sapiens
China can be seen as a foremost example of what the scholar witfogel, whom i mentioned before in my conversation with jeff schullenberger, argued for such a thing as hydraulic civilization. The notion that in asia, societies tend to grow and flourish from fertility, but they require irrigation because of the irregular and uncertain rainfall. And hence they tend to be highly organized and bureaucratic societies. But all o this only develops in china, of course, after several thousand years of human habitation and the development of societies. We see a massive, populous civilization based on irrigation.
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