History of China from 1600 to 1987
History of China: A College Paper By Paul Noll
  1. Chapter 1
  1. Chapter 2
  1. Chapter 3
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A. Introduction

No society has maintained its vitality or kept so meticulous a record of its own doings over such a long span, nearly four thousand years, as has China. This paper begins around the year 1600 because only by starting at this time can you get a full sense of how China's current problem has arisen. China's rulers have sought repeatedly over this long time to formulate strategies that would strengthen their country's borders, streamline bureaucratic institutions, make the most of their resources to keep them free from foreign interference, and sharpen the rigor of their intellectual tools needed to analyze the efficacy and morality of political actions. Governing one billion people inside a single political entity had never been tried before.