Kissinger the Exterminator

[MonteDavis]

Mmmm, yes -- but as all the pundits are pointing out in the wake of
Deng's death, the Chinese themselves recognized a cycle of dynastic
founding, growth, collapse, and "warlord time" before Marco Polo showed
up -- maybe before they ever shipped a bolt of silk to Rome.

Not that the Opium Wars are anything to brag about, but from the little
I know of contemporary Chinese historiography outside the Party orbit,
the consensus seems to be that imperialism gave a push to a Manchu
dynasty that was already senescent.

In any event, surely the proximate and most important "push" for the
founding of the People's Republic was 15 years of *Japanese*
imperialism?

-Monte <I know, I know, they caught it from Commodore Perry>