archive: https://archive.ph/IOLLG
As a would-be academic historian, it makes my blood boil when these ignorant chickenhawks bring up the Mandate of Heaven as though that concept still had any political currency in China whatsoever
Grew up in China and did college in US. First time I read about “mandate of Heaven” in English-language histories of China I had to look it up cuz I had no idea what they were talking about, even with guess work
First time I read it was in the English translation of Romance of the Three Kingdoms I think. I definitely remember reading about it on Wikipedia but I think that was spurred by trying to understand what the heck was going on in Three Kingdoms.
I love RotTK but god damn does it require a lot of reading on historical & cultural context.
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unrelated comments about three kingdoms
it’s really a great read if you can push through the density and the historical/cultural barrier. The entire novel is a fascinating argument against great man theory by the end; all the legendary heroic figures are dead and gone and life continued. I used to hate the ending as a kid (who got into it because of Dynasty Warriors of course) but it is really poignant looking back.
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Worth it entirely for understanding Mandate of Heaven jokes of course.
CW
If it makes it better a school friend of mine did join the military and became an officer. During one lecture about China and the countries structure they heavily leaned on the “mandate of Heaven” and argued that bad economy means people think the heaven doesn’t favour the leaders / CPC anymore and there might be a window for “economic reforms”.
Rather than thinking material reality matters for people the Westerners hold up concepts that are at best orientalist caricatures of times long past. He came back from that workshop and was having a hard case of brains.
