Rex Mundi
Banned
Many discussions on the industrialization of Europe use China as a point of comparison; it seems to be fairly well accepted (to the extent that a proposition can be well accepted on online forums) that after a certain time, the hegemony of China failed to provide or even necessitate the impetus for technological progress that existed in Europe, as per the theory of the high level equilibrium trap. Chinese knowledge in a number of matters exceeded that of Europe for centuries, but ultimately began to advance at a slower pace.
Historically, the unification of the area now considered China took place in gradual steps, and faced reverses a number of times. Interrupting or removing this process would obviously lead to a large number of butterflies, but hypothetically speaking, would balkanizing China, and thereby providing a system of competition between various conflicting states, be enough to make a Chinese equivalent of the Industrial Revolution possible? Or were there natural/geographic factors unrelated to culture (e.g., the type of agriculture best suited to the land in China, or or the resources available without needing to resort to long-distance oceanic travel) that would make a Chinese industrialization that happens earlier than in Europe inherently unlikely?
Historically, the unification of the area now considered China took place in gradual steps, and faced reverses a number of times. Interrupting or removing this process would obviously lead to a large number of butterflies, but hypothetically speaking, would balkanizing China, and thereby providing a system of competition between various conflicting states, be enough to make a Chinese equivalent of the Industrial Revolution possible? Or were there natural/geographic factors unrelated to culture (e.g., the type of agriculture best suited to the land in China, or or the resources available without needing to resort to long-distance oceanic travel) that would make a Chinese industrialization that happens earlier than in Europe inherently unlikely?