Brendan’s Reviews > China's Last Empire: The Great Qing > Status Update
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“Usually an empire expands up to the point where the costs of maintaining military superiority over its neighbors along increasingly extensive borders, combined with the costs of internal administration and maintenance of stability, become unsustainably great. The economy buckles under the mounting pressure as the imperial government tries to enlarge its share of the realm’s economic product, and the society
— Sep 21, 2026 07:29PM
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Brendan
is on page 153 of 368
“Lacking gainful employment, these talented young men developed a flamboyant and provocative political style and a tendency to form factions outside normal bureaucratic channels. They centered their activities in such ‘front’ organizations as a ‘poetry club’ [] and a ‘shrine association’ []. Relentless criticism from these bitter and well organized members of the literati helped provoke the
— Sep 27, 2026 02:38PM
Brendan
is on page 91 of 368
On the global impact of the Columbian Exchange:
“Both sides of the Eurasian continent began to experience ‘modern population growth’ in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, due in part to the introduction of hardy New World crops such as potatoes, sweet potatoes, and peanuts. These countercyclical crops served as brakes on starvation during harvest failures of the more preferred staples, rice and wheat.”
— Sep 23, 2026 07:46PM
“Both sides of the Eurasian continent began to experience ‘modern population growth’ in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, due in part to the introduction of hardy New World crops such as potatoes, sweet potatoes, and peanuts. These countercyclical crops served as brakes on starvation during harvest failures of the more preferred staples, rice and wheat.”
Brendan
is on page 79 of 368
It is once again striking to note the similarities between Qing conquest and settlement of Xinjiang, Southwest China, and Taiwan, and the westward expansion of the United States. Both involved a mix of genocidal wars, reservation systems, reeducation and acculturation projects, and forceable grouping of disparate peoples into a common “savage” identity. Both were often driven by opportunistic settlers from the
— Sep 22, 2026 08:43PM
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Sep 21, 2026 07:31PM
society fractures as collection mechanisms for meeting the state’s growing fiscal demands exacerbate inequality (as it is usually easier to collect proportionately more from the poor than from the rich). The resulting tension and animosity in turn make the costs of maintaining internal stability all the greater. In most cases, the empire breaks down under the strain into smaller, more governable polities or states, and at that point the imperial regime fades into history.”
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