Summary of Henry Kissinger's On China

Everest Media

Description

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book.
Sample Book Insights:
#1 The Chinese have a paradox of their origins. They believe that they are eternal, and that their civilization has no beginning. They believe that they have always been living in the same stage of advancement as in the present day.
#2 Chinese history is filled with periods of civil war, interregnum, and chaos. But each period of disunity was viewed as an aberration, and each new dynasty reached back to the previous dynasty’s principles of governance in order to reestablish continuity.
#3 China was never required to deal with other countries or civilizations of comparable size and sophistication. The Chinese Empire never attempted to conquer any foreign countries, and when the Mongol Dynasty collapsed, the expeditions to Japan were never again attempted.
#4 The Chinese were able to maintain their splendid isolation, and grew accustomed to the notion that China was unique. Chinese elites grew accustomed to the idea that China was a great civilization, and not just another country.

Sujets

• Asia
• China

Informations

• Publié par: Everest Media LLC
• Date de parution: 01 avril 2022
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781669374756
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

Insights on Henry Kissinger's On China
Contents Insights from Chapter 1 Insights from Chapter 2 Insights from Chapter 3 Insights from Chapter 4 Insights from Chapter 5 Insights from Chapter 6 Insights from Chapter 7 Insights from Chapter 8 Insights from Chapter 9 Insights from Chapter 10 Insights from Chapter 11 Insights from Chapter 12 Insights from Chapter 13 Insights from Chapter 14 Insights from Chapter 15 Insights from Chapter 16 Insights from Chapter 17 Insights from Chapter 18
Insights from Chapter 1

#1

The Chinese have a paradox of their origins. They believe that they are eternal, and that their civilization has no beginning. They believe that they have always been living in the same stage of advancement as in the present day.

#2

Chinese history is filled with periods of civil war, interregnum, and chaos. But each period of disunity was viewed as an aberration, and each new dynasty reached back to the previous dynasty’s principles of governance in order to reestablish continuity.

#3

China was never required to deal with other countries or civilizations of comparable size and sophistication. The Chinese Empire never attempted to conquer any foreign countries, and when the Mongol Dynasty collapsed, the expeditions to Japan were never again attempted.

#4

The Chinese were able to maintain their splendid isolation, and grew accustomed to the notion that China was unique. Chinese elites grew accustomed to the idea that China was a great civilization, and not just another country.

#5

China’s borders have never been exactly defined, and the Chinese have always considered themselves the center of the world. Other societies have generally paid tribute to China’s greatness.

#6

The Chinese empire was the most powerful and wealthiest state in the world, and it was believed that the most valuable possessions and intellectual achievements were to be found within China.

#7

All empires are created by force, but none can be sustained by it. Universal rule needs to convert force into obligation, or else the energies of the rulers will be exhausted in maintaining their dominance at the expense of their ability to shape the future.

#8

The Chinese philosopher Confucius believed that the key to a just and harmonious society was the Way of the just and harmonious society, which had been lost in a distant Chinese golden age. The goal was not liberation but the recovery of forgotten principles of self-restraint.

#9

China did not export its ideas, but let others come to seek them. Neighboring peoples benefited from contact with China and civilization as long as they acknowledged the suzerainty of the Chinese government.

#10

China’s approach to international affairs was not just its monumental formal pretensions, but its strategic acumen and longevity. It drew potentially hostile foreigners into relationships it could manage.

#11

The Chinese system was designed to prevent the formation of coalitions on China’s borders. The principles of barbarian management became so ingrained in Chinese official thought that when the European barbarians arrived on China’s shores in the nineteenth century, Chinese officials described their challenge as using barbarians against barbarians.

#12

The Chinese have been great practitioners of Realpolitik, and they have a different approach to strategy than the West. They believe that not every problem has a solution, and that too much emphasis on total mastery over specific events could upset the harmony of the universe.

#13

Chess is about the decisive battle, while wei qi is about the protracted campaign. In chess, the player always has the capability of the adversary in front of him, while in wei qi, the player must assess not only the pieces on the board but the reinforcements the adversary is in a position to deploy.

#14

Sun Tzu’s text on war is not romanticized like some European literature on the subject. It is a reflection on the means of building a dominant political and psychological position, such that the outcome of a conflict becomes a foregone conclusion.

#15

In the Chinese tradition, the entire strategic landscape is viewed as a single whole. Good and evil, near and far, strength and weakness, past and future are all interconnected. The best that can be accomplished is to grow into harmony with it.

#16

China’s classical sages believed that the world could never be conquered, and that the Chinese were already there, spreading their culture by example. The West had set sail to spread its trade and values throughout the world.
Insights from Chapter 2

#1

The Qing Dynasty, which ruled over China from 1644 to 1912, had turned China into a major military power. However, the dynasty’s wealth and expanse attracted the attention of Western empires and trading companies operating far outside the bounds and conceptual apparatus of the traditional Chinese world order.

#2

The Chinese view of trade was different from the Europeans. They viewed the Europeans as barbarians who were only there to trade, while the Europeans saw themselves as legitimate traders.

#3

The first major British attempt to remedy the situation was the 1793–94 mission of Lord George Macartney to China. It was the most notable, best-conceived, and least militaristic European effort to alter the prevailing format of Sino-Western relations and achieve free trade and diplomatic representation on equal terms.

#4

The British envoy, Macartney, intended to demonstrate the benefits of industrialization, but the Chinese understood his gifts as tribute. The British were treated as an arrogant and uninformed barbarian tribe seeking special favor from the Son of Heaven.

#5

The first discordant note came when Macartney and his entourage arrived at Jehol, the summer capital northeast of Beijing, and were greeted by the Chinese with a tribute of Chinese clothes and food. The British insisted on following their European custom of kneeling on one knee, but the Chinese insisted that they kowtow to the Emperor.

#6

The Chinese officials suggested that the time for Macartney’s departure had come, since the cold winter was approaching. They gave him a letter from the Emperor to King George, which dismissed every substantive request that Macartney had made.

#7

The Chinese emperor’s response to King George’s requests was clear and concise: China could not trade with Britain beyond what was already happening, and it would not send an ambassador to London.

#8

The Chinese had worked for centuries to organize and sustain a major international order. In Macartney’s era, the blessings of trade with the West were far from self-evident, but the Emperor could be forgiven for thinking that it was London that needed Beijing’s assistance.

#9

The Chinese were forced to accept the British diplomatic mission, but it was the last time they would accept rejection. With every year, British insistence grew more threatening.

#10

The Chinese were horrified by the Westerners’ suggestions that China might be just one state among many, and that it should have to live with permanent daily contact with barbarian envoys in its capital. The Qing court debated legalizing opium and managing its sale, but ultimately decided to eradicate it.

#11

The British government sent a letter to Beijing demanding satisfaction and redress for injuries inflicted by Chinese authorities on British subjects resident in China, as well as insults offered by those same authorities to the British crown.

#12

The Chinese government, led by Qishan, the Viceroy of Zhili, understood that they could not counter the British seaborne firepower. They decided to soothe and divert the British by assuring them that the Guangzhou incident had been a misunderstanding, and that their intentions were not temperate and just.

#13

The British were able to obtain a deal with the Chinese that granted them special rights on Hong Kong, a $6 million indemnity, and allowed that future dealings between Chinese and British officials would take place on equal terms. This deal was rejected by both the Chinese and the British governments, who saw their terms as a humiliation.

#14

Pottinger faced yet another Chinese negotiator, the third, in Prince Qiying. His method for handling the British was a traditional Chinese strategy when faced with defeat: through a combination of delay, circumlocution, and carefully apportioned favors, China would appease the barbarians while buying time for China to outlast their assault.

#15

The Opium War was a humiliating settlement between China and Britain that allowed the British to take over five coastal treaty ports, and the Chinese to pay a $6 million indemnity. The treaties also gave the British the right to exercise jurisdiction over their nationals residing in the Chinese treaty ports.

#16

The first unequal treaties were with the British and the French, and they stipulated that Chinese and British officials would henceforth correspond on a footing of perfect equality.
Insights from Chapter 3

#1

As the nineteenth century progressed, China experienced many shocks to its historic image of itself. The European nations did not view their presence in China as a conquest, but as a new world order. Russia wanted to pry China’s vast hinterland loose, and Japan wanted to supplant Beijing as the center of a new East Asian international order.

#2

China’s statesmen were able to preserve the country by using almost entirely traditional methods. They relied on the analytical abilities of their diplomats, and the endurance and cultural confidence of their people.

#3

The Chinese government’s struggle to maintain its independence was a remarkable achievement. It was an incomplete, decades-long endeavor marked by numerous reversals and internal opponents, but it preserved the ideal of China as a conti