The Defeated Victors

"Though Conquered,We Conquer."
Titus Maccius Plautus

Although I highly doubt the good poet,Plautus,knew of the kingdom of China, His quote perfectly illustrates one of it's greatest qualities. The ability to absorb and assimilate conquers after being conquered.What makes China so culturally prevalent? What makes it so independent in it's political identity? It is my belief that there are five reasons for the Chinese's ability to conquer via defeat.

#1 Population: The country of China had a astoundingly profuse people,Who multiplied the population through the roof. The Population of China during the Han dynasty was 60 million, roughly one-fourth of the worlds population,during the Yuan 100 million,during the Qing 350 million, and in modern times comprises 1.336 Billion of the world's 6 billion. It is needless to say that it would be extremely difficult to control such a mass of humanity,especially when one is an invader with limited people. Eventually all of the occupiers of China came to the same conclusion. They attempted to control by creating an upper-class comprised of their own people, and they ruled as the previous rulers did because it was the only instituted form of control over this enormous country. The end result of this naturalized occupation was that the rulers themselves could not separate from the Chinese system,and their people were assimilated into China.
#2 Religion: Many countries had unique religion,and one of the main causes of wars during antiquity was to prove one's god greater than the other persons.It was also one of the sources of the most strife in a newly conquered territory was the victor instituting his religion and gods. China's core religion was Ancestral-polytheism, this in itself is not very noteworthy,but the results of this religious affiliation are. One such result was that when they were conquered and had new gods imposed on them, the Chinese could just add this new god to their Pantheon of ancestors,and continue worshiping the same way they had been for years. This same idea was done in Cyrus the Great's empire. Another religious salve that helped the Chinese was the state sponsored Confucianism,Which emphasized everyone talking the 'proper position of oneself',and might be considered the first agnostic religion created.(as it also regulated gods to their proper position) Confucianism was very helpful to conquers as it unified the people into their proper position under him,but when a conqueror begins to promote a foreign religion himself,he is already beginning to slip down into assimilation.
#3 Government efficiency: As was mentioned in the population section,the conquers used the services of the Chinese government in order to control the vast territory and amount of people; Which was the natural choice due to the efficiency of the Chinese civil service,but the WRONG choice! Because although the head of the government might have changed the people never saw a change in the power structure because all the provisional power remained the same,and this resulted in the insulation of the conquer from what could have been a new power base.
#4 Opulence and Prosperity: There were very few times when the Chinese nation was economically or technologically behind(although the great mass of peasants never saw any of these).The combination of wealth and knowledge combined to create a sort of spell of superiority that held many countries under it's sway. Japan,South-East Asia, and Korea are some of the countries that were greatly influenced by the Chinese facade. The other countries tried their hardest to emulate China, some superficially and others quite deeply,but all envied that power. There lay the largest reason for the invasions of China,the envious chased the superior Chinese dream,but in the process of taking it lost all the benefits of their own and became prey for the next.
#5 The Conquerors Themselves: The people that attacked the conquered the Chinese had to be militarily superior to the numerous Chinese if they were to win. The invaders had to be disciplined,tough, and powerful warriors. The Chinese culture does not tend to lend itself to these virtues. For the Chinese exemplified the scholar,the wise governor,and the prosperous merchant; warriors had there place of course,but a time known as the time of strife made the people wary of the generals who had promised peace,but had replaced the stable rule of the Emperor with upheaval. So too much reliance on military might alone was frowned upon,and as the invaders tried to adjust themselves onto the people they threw away the military might of their people,the only thing which could have allowed them to reorganize the society in which they had.

I realize that some may take a different view on China,but I have found that this is the only one that makes the most sense to me. These facts do not only lend themselves to ancient China,but also to the current regime.I ask though how could one conquer China? How can (in modern time) we find a weakness in China's aggressive policy?

The story of China is one of a civilization that becomes so pervasive in their land that one cannot look at that area without noticing that the history of Asia can also be a history of China.