The interest in our failing planet by the New York Times is admirable, but, I need to add something.

The fast-retreating Sheldon Glacier in Antarctica. A collapse of a polar ice sheet could result in a jump in sea level. 

If I may?

...The paper, published July 28 in Nature Geoscience, focuses on a warm period in the earth’s history that preceded the most recent ice age. In that epoch, sometimes called the Eemian, the planetary temperature was similar to levels we may see in coming decades as a result of human emissions, so it is considered a possible indicator of things to come...

The glacial melting that occurred during the Eemian produced a sea known as the Eemian Sea.

This is a very good illustration of what the Eemian Sea looked like.

Kindly note Europe. Norway, Sweden and Finland are separated from the mainland. Europe loses a great deal of coast line.

One has to keep in mind currently much of Europe is underwater, BUT, man made structures are preventing same.

I believe the 'time line' the New York Times is looking for is further along than they might estimate. The real measure is how much of the the land mass connecting Scandinavia to the mainland is burgeoning on flooding.

One other thing. One has to remember this is ABRUPT climate change. It is happening very fast. 

This is occurring in less than ONE HUNDRED YEARS. That is a blink of the eye in the history of Earth.

Changes of sea surface salinity (colors) and sea ice transport (arrows) after the Eemian interglacial. Increased export of Arctic sea ice along the east coast of Greenland reduces salinities in the North Atlantic. One consequence is a major reorganization of the surface current system.

It was after the Eemian that the salinity of the oceans changed and altered the ocean currents.

Paleoclimate is interesting, but, never before in the very long history of Earth has there been this many people on Earth. Why would people be a concern more so than dinosaurs? Because dinosaurs never perpetrated greenhouse gas emissions. Dinosaurs never burnt coal, oil or natural gas. They never drove cars and caused their own warming of Earth.

To seek comfort in understanding the Climate Crisis based on the past is surrendering and not carrying the torch of change to preserve a future for our children. This is a unique dynamic of Earth, there is no prediction that can be made from the past.

The Sixth Extinction is real. Every extinction on Earth has been different. It is that reality I cling to.

I agree with AG Holder. Mandatories has done very little to end the drug economies in the USA.

WASHINGTON (AP) — With the U.S. facing massive overcrowding (click here) in its prisons, Attorney General Eric Holder called Monday for major changes to the nation's criminal justice system that would scale back the use of harsh sentences for certain drug-related crimes.
In remarks to the American Bar Association in San Francisco, Holder said he also favors diverting people convicted of low-level offenses to drug treatment and community service programs and expanding a prison program to allow for release of some elderly, non-violent offenders.
"We need to ensure that incarceration is used to punish, deter and rehabilitate — not merely to convict, warehouse and forget," Holder said....

It is a very bold move that will be appreciated by prisons around the country. They don't need people in them that need a job or help with an addition. I like it. Well done.

I hope this will return authority to judges to find better outcomes. I sincerely believe this will result in alternative sentencing to place people into GED programs, jobs and community service. This decision has a wide ranging outcome if the judges take themselves seriously enough to return citizenship to people and rehab our society. 

Strengthening 'total body' muscles can be done without concussion. It isn't just rehab when one considers the benefits.

Returning the Thoroughbred back to it's strength.

We all know today's thoroughbred horse has a watered down genetic base. Drugs artificially elevated stallions and mares to prominence that were not the best horses on the track.

There is a real challenge now for the Race Horse industry and the Show Horse industry to examine the genetic content of horses that might be on their way to the slaughter house.

"Freedom Child" is not going to be a huge stakes winner of all throughbreds. He isn't even going to be famous, however, his owner is among the wisest people in the trade. At the age of three he is being tired to R&R.

By Blood-Horse Staff

Updated: Sunday, August 11, 2013 10:16 PM
Posted: Saturday, August 10, 2013 4:23 PM

Freedom Child, (click here) most recently last of nine in the July 27 Jim Dandy Stakes (gr. II), has been retired to stud at Country Life Farm in Maryland according to Terry Finley, founder and president of owner West Point Thoroughbreds, and Mike Pons of Country Life & Merryland Farm.  
The 3-year-old ridgling son of Malibu Moon is to stand at the Pons family's operation near Hydes, Md., alongside stallions Cal Nation and Friesan Fire. Pons confirmed Aug. 10. The Pons started Malibu Moon in Maryland before he was sent to Kentucky to stand at Spendthrift Farm....

Picture to the right is Secretariat. Freedom Child strongly resembles his family line. He just doesn't have the same stride or heart. Secretariat's chest was huge with lots of room for heart and lungs. His stride was among the longest in thoroughbred history.

Bold Ruler was never a great stakes horse, but, he had the most spectacular baby the world has ever known.

Malibu Moon is the sire of Freedom Child. Malibu Moon is double breed into the Bold Ruler bloodline. I love this horse. I don't care if he doesn't win a dime.

Malibu Moon's sire was A.P. Indy. A.P. Indy's daddy was Seattle Slew. Seattle Slew's great-granddaddy was Bold Ruler.

A.P. Indy's mommy was Weekend Surprise. You can play with that name all you want I am sure it fits into the American imagination in more than one way. But, Weekend's Surprise was sired by Secretariat. Secretariat's daddy was Bold Ruler.

I simply love this horse.

I would not be sending him anywhere except the Brood Farm. Yep. 

Princequillo's genetic standard has never been replaced. (click here)

Genetic diversity has to take place, but, no other stallion has ever produced a bloodline as successful as his.

Princequillo had a career win of $96,550. It would be more with 2013 dollars, but, he wasn't all that. War Admiral was about the same generational match and his winnings were $273,240.

Breeders have to pay attention. Computers won't do this for them. Drugs won't help in strengthening the bloodlines. They need to have the instinct and the dedication to do it right. 

"Fair Play" was another great sire. War Admiral and Man 'O' War were his offspring. Fair Play has a strong Australian blood trail out of Great Britain. Those sincerely interested in bringing back the 'real' thoroughbred can have a lot of fun finding the TRACES of these great horses.

Making a buck on Mustangs.

I think it is time for the BLM to reassess the policies regarding the Navajo and their Mustangs. These are supposed to be protected animals. There is also the issue of fracking on public lands resulting in deaths of wild animals, including the Mustang. The BLM has a lot of reflection to do in regard to protecting our wildlife from harsh policies of those seeking monetary gains at the cost of national treasures.

By Jeri Clausing
 Albuquerque, N.M.
July 31, 2013

The Navajo Nation (click here) is jumping into the emotional and divisive fray over a return to domestic horse slaughter, drafting a letter to federal officials in support of a New Mexico company's plan to begin exporting horse meat next week.
The tribe's support for Valley Meat Co. comes one week after Robert Redford and former Gov. Bill Richardson joined the opposite side of the debate, saying, among other reasons, that they were "standing with Native American leaders" to protect cultural values.
But Erny Zah, spokesman for Navajo President Ben Shelly, said Wednesday that the nation's largest Indian reservation can no longer support the estimated 75,000 feral horses that are drinking wells dry and causing ecological damage to the drought-stricken range.
"It's a sensitive subject to begin with because horses are considered sacred animals, so you just can't go out and euthanize them," Zah said. "That would go too far against cultural conditions. At the same time we have a bunch of horses that no one is caring for, so it's a delicate balance."...

You know that horse you thought you sold to a good home? Think again.

Brittany Wallace hopes to help save other horses from slaughter by telling her story to bring more awareness to the issue of horse slaughter. Late last year, she was reunited with Scribbles, her childhood horse, who was in a kill pen in Lancaster County but was bought by a York County horse rescuer. (Photo courtesy of You Ought to be in Pictures!)

August 10, 2013
York, PA

Last November, (click here) Brittany Wallace looked through Facebook photos of a horse found bleeding in a Pennsylvania kill pen and realized it was her old horse, Scribbles. Less than two months later, Brittany and Scribbles were back in Harwich, Mass., as Brittany prepared to ride her horse for the first time since their unlikely reunion.
"I was really nervous and I think she could tell I was nervous. It was so awesome. It felt like time-traveling back to when I had her before," said the now 17-year-old from Harwich, Mass. "We took up right where we left off."
The pair reconnected in an emotional reunion in December. Without prompting, Scribbles began to bow, a trick Brittany had taught her before they were separated. It was their special thing, and a complete surprise....

"Morning Papers" - It's Origins (click here)

The Rooster

"Okeydoke"

"Good Night, Moon"

The Waxing Crescent 

5 days old

25.7 percent lit

With little moonshine, it will be perfect in more places to view the meteor shower.

August 11, 2013
Hundreds of fireballs (click here) and shooting stars will dart across the sky over the next two nights, putting on a spectacular light show for stargazers. The annual Perseid meteor shower is considered to be one of Mother Nature’s most dazzling celestial displays.
According to NASA, around 90 to 100 bright and colorful meteors can be seen per hour during the meteor shower’s peak, which will take place August 11-12.
As with all meteor showers, the rate is greatest in the pre-dawn hours. Stargazers are expecting an especially impressive show this year because the waxing crescent moon will set early – allowing even the fainter meteors to be seen.
This dazzling annual phenomenon happens when the Earth crosses paths with a trail of debris left over by the Swift-Tuttle comet....

This is the part where I make an opinion.

The trade relationship with China was grossly mismanaged during the George W. Bush years. It has created a disaster for the USA. It has left the USA Consumer impoverished.

All this hardship cast on the USA was under the leadership of a man that was distracting the nation's attention, through nationalism, to wars; one of which we never should have fought.

It is not China's fault. China was simply a Wall Street play toy. 

The USA and China both have challenges. China needs to build it's own consumer market by increasing production of products that Chinese citizens will purchase. Right now it is mostly luxury goods for the Chinese wealthy. China needs to develop a Middle Class. It's own consumer class to purchase the goods it makes.

The USA needs to increase the wages of the Middle Class and seek to expand it's manufacturing sector. The USA manufacturing sector is ravaged by China. I could not believe Siemen's abandoned it's solar industry.

If the USA doesn't raise the Minimum Wage, it will continue STRUCTURAL unemployment until China grows it's own consumer economy and Middle Class. 

The West has a problem and it has a problem with China created by a USA War President. 

China needs better energy sources which the country is capable of building. China also needs far better mentoring to grow it's Middle Class. 

Some of the tech jobs in China belong back in the USA. The tech industry is hurting itself by outsourcing all their manufacturing. It makes no sense. They are undercutting their own markets.

China is not the culprit. A few Americans thought they would take advantage of China and turn a quick buck. China needs better mentors that sincerely care about the country, especially the Chinese people.

Former President Clinton made huge strides in bringing 'a value system' to Eastern Asia. Those countries love him. They celebrate his friendship. I would think China would seek to market more American made products than they do and bring that trade deficit into line, otherwise, they too will crash their own economy. Their exports are dependent on The West.

But, what is more troubling than any other aspect of this is the fact China was never mentored into producing high quality goods. It was as though the American people were dummied down to accept what they could afford as they fell further and further into poverty. I know China doesn't want that and they are as much a victim of such ruthless tactics as the American people were.

China has plans to improve the quality of life of it's people. It was made evident in the latest five-ten year plan announced about a year or so ago. I was happy for them. They found a noble mission. As the Chinese people find more and more footing in a Middle Class the relationship with the USA will improve. We will have more in common.

We were duped. For eight years the American people were driven into fear that distracted them, nationalized them and forced them into poverty while raping the American Dream. We were lucky Barak Hussein Obama came along. I could not mean that more.

We cannot return ruthless politicians to the Oval Office. The American people need to realize they are creating own economic emergencies. They are allowing politicians to place them into a 'funk' that provides exploitative realities whereby the Upper One Percent are the only victors in our economy. The Middle Class and the Poor need to be victorious from here on. 

An entire generation of Americans were out of work as soon as they graduated. That is America? 

It is time we take our country back. All the way back. Our children and their future demand it.

2014 and 2016 are pivotal elections where we return our economy to function or we retreat into a far more poor scenario. We haven't recovered completely due to a structural unemployment rate. We need to elect those that believe in higher wages, good benefits and the education of children.

Don't blow it.

The USA is sustaining nearly a $3 tillion US trade deficit with China annually.

The maximum imports from China matched with USA trade exports topped in 2000 to the tune of about $20 billion. The trade was balanced when President Clinton left office.

By Frank Holmes  
Apr 26, 2010, 1:00 PM

Just as the U.S. consumer (click here) is key for Chinese exporters, so too is the Chinese consumer key as an export destination for the rest of emerging Asia.

A research note this week from the Hong Kong-based brokerage CLSA Asia Markets spells out how important the Chinese consumer was in pulling its neighbors up and out of the Great Recession. Many of these countries have more than doubled their exports to China since the depths of the recession in late 2008 and early 2009. Exports from technology-oriented Taiwan to the mainland, for example, are up more than 160 percent from the bottom, while Singapore has boosted its exports to China by more than 120 percent and South Korea by nearly 100 percent.

Those are relative numbers – how important is China to its neighbors in absolute terms? Nearly 30 percent of Taiwan’s total exports, accounting for 15 percent of its GDP, now go to the mainland. A quarter of South Korea’s exports (10 percent of GDP) are China-bound. For both of these countries, and others as well, China is more than twice as important as the United States in terms of exports....
 
The disparity in export-import with China and the USA occurred in 2005 and the USA economy felt it nearly immediately. There were complains and all the jobs in the USA were disappearing. 

This is from Brad Setser. (click here) Chinese exports are down 17.5%, but imports are down a stunning 43%:...

Did you know that Henry Paulson became USA Treasurer to a Republican Presient in 2006 because of the economic downturn and the burgeoning housing crisis. Did you know he spent most of that time in China and now has a financial firm there?

That big dip in exports and imports in 2009 is the Global Economic Crash. It didn't change the relationship. 

As of June 2013 the USA was averaging a $24 billion US trade deficit PER MONTH with China. (click here).

$24 billion per month trade deficit with China. That is $2 trillion, 8 hundred and 80 billion US deficit per year with China. 

Right.

Former Chinese President Jiang Zemin is 86 years old. He's is in the picture below.

...Social stability (click here)
Jiang Zemin was at the forefront of Chinese politics for 15 years.

As president from 1989 to 2003, he took the helm of the world's largest country in the wake of the Tiananmen Square killings.

When he came to power, China was a virtual pariah state. By the time he had handed the presidency over to Hu Jintao, it had become the fastest-growing economy in the world....

Do you know the first energy project conducted in China by USTDA?

That coal plant was built in 2006 under "W" and what does "W" do? He turns right around and states China is the biggest emitter of greenhouse gases on Earth.

Really?

The People's Republic of China is the largest consumer of coal in the world, and is about to become the largest user of coal-derived electricity, generating 1.95 trillion kilowatt-hours per year, or 68.7% of its electricity from coal as of 2006 (compared to 1.99 trillion kilowatt-hours per year, or 49% for the US). Hydroelectric power supplied another 20.7% of China's electricity needs in 2006.

The dominant image (click here) of China’s energy system is of billowing smokestacks from the combustion of coal. More heavily dependent on coal than any other major country, China uses coal for about 70 percent of its energy (NBS, 2008). Furthermore, until recently, China had very few environmental controls on emissions from coal combustion; recent efforts to control sulfur dioxide emissions appear to be meeting with some success (Economy, 2007, 2009). Figure 1 shows the dominant use of coal in China’s energy system from 1950 to 1980 (NBS, various years). However, this is just one side of China’s energy story.


 

Forty years isn't very long considering how far China has come.

Richard M. Nixon until 1974

Gerald R. Ford 1974 until 1977

Then Carter was in office for four years.

Ronald Reagan 1981 until 1989

George H. W. Bush 1989 until 1993

Tianamen Square Massacre in 1989 which brought a cooling off of official government relations between the USA and China. There was a G7 conference in 1990 in Houston that would place economic sanctions on China.

The United States Trade and Development Agency activities were suspended from 198 to January 2001. Clinton opened up the USTDA before leaving office.

William Jefferson Clinton 1993 until 2001. The last President in the 20th Century.

Then "Clint-un." That is what the leaders of Asia called him. "Clint-un." They liked him, even North Korea. They still do. I think it wasn't until "Clint-un" did they actually meet a real American.

But, it was "W" that really broke bread with China after September 11, 2001. Bush rationalized China had lost people in NYC and it was time to end any rift.

George W. Bush 2001 until 2009.

China (click here)

USTDA's program in China focuses on trade capacity building initiatives and projects in the environment (air and water pollution), clean energy, and aviation safety/security sectors. These projects aim to provide significant opportunities and benefits to both China and the United States, and build upon existing agreements and cooperative initiatives. USTDA projects in China include the following:
Trade Policy Initiatives...

Since the USA began a relationship with China 26 of those years were spent with Republican Presidents. About 14 of those years were spent with Democratic Presidents. The primary development years were spent with "W," his Secretary of Commerce, Evans and Treasury, Paulson. We all know what happened there.

Robert D. Hormats (click here)
Under Secretary for Economic Growth, Energy, and the Environment 

Asia Society

New York City

March 6, 2012

I am so pleased to join you tonight to mark a historic event – the 40^th anniversary of President Richard Nixon’s visit to the People’s Republic of China.
I want to thank the Asia Society and Orville Schell for this tremendous opportunity.
Images of President Nixon meeting with Chairman Mao Zedong and Premier Zhou Enlai in 1972 are etched in the American consciousness for those who witnessed them live on TV.
As a staffer in Dr. Kissinger’s National Security Council, it was a great thrill for me to have been involved in the preparation for, and the follow-up to, that historic meeting. And it is an equally great privilege to still be working on advancing the U.S.-China economic relationship as Under Secretary of State some 40 years later.
Over this period, in my many visits to China, I have observed, and been privileged to be modestly engaged in several aspects of one of the truly great historic events of the 20^th Century – the resurgence of this great society and great people.
At the time President Nixon made his visit to Beijing, the focus was primarily strategic in nature. For the U.S., it was very much part of our effort to strengthen our negotiating position vis-à-vis North Vietnam. For China, and for the U.S., it counterbalanced what was seen to be a growing Soviet military threat to China....

Why looky thar. It is Mao and Tricky Dick.

Nixon was a Republican. I just thought I'd point that out.

President Nixon Goes to China
February 21, 1972 (click here)
Look at the tags on your clothes or your backpack and see where they were made. There's a chance it was China. Today, the U.S. has an open-trade policy with China, which means goods are traded freely between the two countries, but it wasn't always this way. On February 21, 1972, President Richard M. Nixon arrived in China for an official trip. He was the first U.S. president to visit the People's Republic of China since it was established in 1949. This was an important event because the U.S. was seeking to improve relations with a Communist country during the Cold War. What sorts of issues do you think Nixon discussed?

Bloomberg has a list of companies in China.

Fourteen Pages (click here)

ABA Chemicals - Page 1

SU at the bottom of Page 11 has a solar company or two

ZYNP Corp. - Page 14

Amazing.

Did you know that Michael Bloomberg is a Republican Mayor of New York and a Billionaire? I just thought I'd point that out.

Human rights abuses worsening in China, U.S. diplomats say (click here)

By William Wan

August 02, 2013

BEIJING — U.S. officials said Friday that human rights abuses in China are worsening and that their latest talks with the Chinese government on the issue “fell short of expectations.”
Of particular concern, U.S. diplomats said, are the growing number of instances of officials targeting the families and lawyers of human rights activists to try to silence them.
“This is a worrisome trend and one we’ve raised at senior levels of the Chinese government,” said Uzra Zeya, the U.S. acting assistant secretary of state for democracy, human rights and labor. During a news conference in Beijing, she described such actions as “extralegal punishment and measures that are inconsistent with China’s own laws.”...

This is when the "One China Policy" really began.

As a side note, I find the image of Putin as an underhanded spy is sort of like the Pot calling the Kettle, isn't it?

Did you know H.W. was a Republican? I just thought I'd point that out. 

CIA Director George H.W. Bush listens intently at a meeting following the assassinations in Beirut of Ambassador to Lebanon Francis E. Meloy, Jr. and Economic Counselor Robert O. Waring.


...in October 1971...Ambassador George H. W. Bush, (click here) who led the U.S. delegation to the UN, diligently lobbied to preserve Taiwan's seat, but believed that Kissinger's travel schedule would undermine that purpose.  As Sharon Chamberlain's transcripts of the tapes disclose, Bush requested Nixon to change Kissinger's schedule, arguing "I think this thing [Kissinger's trip]--to be candid as I've told Henry--will not be helpful at all" (see document 6), a striking contrast to Kissinger's later recollection that neither he or Bush thought that "the UN vote would be decisively affected."(1)  Nixon was well aware that Taiwan enjoyed important support in the United States---"there's a lot of people that don't want to see us  ... let Taiwan go down the drain"--but he could only advise Bush to "fight hard."   For Nixon, however, rapprochement with Beijing had priority over Taiwan's UN status and Kissinger's schedule was left unchanged.  With the PRC's widespread support among Third World delegations, Bush's efforts to save Taiwan's seats were to no avail.  On 25 October 1971, while Kissinger was returning from China, the General Assembly, by the vote of a substantial majority, admitted the People's Republic of China to the UN and expelled the Republic of China....

Sniping, if that is what one wants to call it, between the PRC and USA went on for a long time.

Henry Kissinger and Chairman Mao, with Zhou Enlai behind them in Beijing

Kissinger is a Republican. I just thought I'd point that out.

...Other issues caused difficulties for the talks.(click here) The United States proved unwilling to lift the embargo, to allow exchanges of journalists, or to engage in high-level meetings until China agreed to renounce the use of force in unifying Taiwan with the mainland. For China, Taiwan was strictly an internal issue. The status of Taiwan became the major obstacle that prevented accommodation between the United States and China until the early 1970s. Protocol issues affected the talks as well. In late 1957, the United States attempted to end the talks by transferring Ambassador Johnson to Thailand and sending a representative of lower rank to meet with Wang. As a result of this action, the two sides suspended the talks for nine months. In September of 1958, the U.S. Government appointed its Ambassador to Poland, Jacob Beam, as its representative and the talks continued, on and off, in Warsaw.

After the initial agreement on repatriation in the autumn of 1955, the talks continued for sixteen years and 136 total meetings without making further progress. They ended when President Richard Nixon visited China and set the stage for eventual U.S. recognition of the People's Republic....

Ever wonder where Taiwan came from?

The Chinese Civil War (click here)

From about 1927 to 1950 resulting in two nations; China (PRC - People's Republic of China - Mao Tse Tung) and Taiwan (Republic of China - which had a governor).

The People's Republic of China (China) was not recognized for some time by the USA due to it's loyalty to Taiwan. Taiwan didn't trust the USA and didn't want to be a territory of the USA. The relationship continues today.

The USA attempted to block PRC from becoming a member of the United Nations. It didn't work and now they are permanent nuclear nation. The tensions between China and the USA continued until the 1970s. I think the tensions were mostly imagined by the USA to allow it's support of Taiwan.

Taiwan is south of Japan and north of the Philippines. I just thought I'd point that out. Today the USA has a "One China Policy."

The change in Chinese and USA relations in significance in 1930s.

Chiang Kai-shek, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and Winston Churchill at the Cairo Conference in 1943.

In the 1930s, (click here) China was a divided country. In 1927 Chiang Kai-Shek had formed a Nationalist Government – the Kuomintang (the KMT), but his dictatorial regime was opposed by Mao Tse Tung’s Communists (CCP). Civil war between the Communists and Nationalists erupted in 1930 – the period of Mao’s legendary ‘Long March’....

Americans like to think it defeated Japan by itself in WWII. That is not entirely accurate. 

And.

Mao Tse Tung sought a relationship with the USA, but, was rejected nearly on the basis that USA policy favored it's loyalty to any offshoot of the Chiang Kai-Shek government. So, the trouble in Vietnam did stem out of WWII and the French tied of their mission in South Vietnam. The USA already had their affiliations with China and knew it would not be disturbed if it focused on Mao.

Mao was influential in ruling North Vietnam.

The Late President Kennedy didn't want the war. It was Johnson that garnered enough USA fear after the Gulf of Tonkin incident to start military maneuvers and a draft. But, the USA had a great deal of respect for China both in Vietnam, but, also the Korean conflict.

China was very different. It was isolated and liked it that way.

The Qing Dynasty which can be discerned in segmented lines of this map was the primary ruling family when The West would come to call.

China's history is not one of a conquering peoples. The nation was always self-serving. They didn't really engage in wars unless it was to defend themselves. China built walls.

Oh, there were a few Chinese considered to be conquers. There was Shih Huang, but, that was BC. The Qing Dynasty would not come to prominence until the 1100s.

SHIH HUANG  (click here)
259-210 BC
The boy known as Ch'eng inherited a minor throne in China at the age of just 13. As an adult, he was a superb organiser. His achievement was not just in conquering the different regions of China in just nine years, but unifying them as an empire. With two trusted ministers, he established a bureaucracy, taxation, standardised weights and measures and a system of ruthless punishments for lawbreaking. The first emperor of China is perhaps most famous for the terracotta army guarding his tomb. More than 8,000 life-sized warriors were created, as well as 600 horses and 130 chariots. In the centralised government he created, the emperor was almost a figurehead. The structure of government was so successful that when Shih Huang died at 49, his two most powerful ministers carried on without him for four years before they quarrelled and his death became public knowledge.

The Chinese leadership, even today, simply love their history. They love to embrace the past and encourage archeological digs to learn more and more of their past. They still maintain the "China" focus in their politics. They don't like negativity in regard to their nation.

There is also Genghis Khan, but, he was a Mongolian. He was known to carry out vicious campaign about the beginning of the 13th century. He was born in 1162 and died in 1227. So most of his mischief was in the late 12th and early 13th century. In all honesty, Khan was never really considered to be baseline Chinese.

Genghis Khan a Prolific Lover, DNA Data Implies (click here)

Hillary Mayell
for National Geographic News

February 14, 2003

Genghis Khan, the fearsome Mongolian warrior of the 13th century, may have done more than rule the largest empire in the world; according to a recently published genetic study, he may have helped populate it too.

An international group of geneticists studying Y-chromosome data have found that nearly 8 percent of the men living in the region of the former Mongol empire carry y-chromosomes that are nearly identical. That translates to 0.5 percent of the male population in the world, or roughly 16 million descendants living today....

But, for the most part China was a closed society whereby the people considered China the center of the universe. They didn't identify a world outside of China. Their rituals and customs were all based in the understanding China was at the center of their lives. 

The Qing (Pronunciation:  ch ee ng) Dynasty lasted from 1644 - 1911 (click here). The Chinese primarily conquered within their territory. Before the Qing Dynasty was the Ming Dynasty. They simply changed leadership.

The late 1800s provided very challenging for the Qing Dynasty when The West came to frequent it's shores. The article below provides some insight.

Chinese Journal of International Politics, Vol. 1, 2007, 405–445 (click here)

It must be pointed out that Fairbank later corrected his views on Chinese history. He admitted that China’s modernization was primarily a result of internal Chinese dynamics and initiatives, with only limited Western influence. See John Fairbank, Meiguo yu Zhongguo

This is a footnote from the article. It validates my understanding of the Chinese culture. They are self contained. They don't fancy conquest so much as security.

The origins of capitalism in the form we know it today began with Mercantilism.

Raw materials out of colonized nation-states to Europe where they were turned into manufactured goods.

The system was and today is still quite cruel. In the days when colonialism the people of other lands were considered enslaved. They had no value to Europe's empires, except, to extract the minerals and spices. There was no quality of life for colonists and their burden was difficult. It was not uncommon for native peoples to die while working to satisfy their emperors, kings and queens.

...This system dominated Western European economic thought and policies from the sixteenth to the late eighteenth centuries. The goal of these policies was, supposedly, to achieve a “favorable” balance of trade that would bring gold and silver into the country and also to maintain domestic employment. In contrast to the agricultural system of the physiocrats or the laissez-faire of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the mercantile system served the interests of merchants and producers such as the British East India Company, whose activities were protected or encouraged by the state....

It's Sunday Night