Weird thing about this whole thread is that China is the ONLY great power in continuous existence since antiquity. Has had its ups n downs along the way, especially 19th century European invasion and drug cartels overwhelming the place on the down side. But even so, no other country comes even close to this heritage and prestige almost without end.
Even in the early 20th century when struggling to become a modernizing Republic, China was one of very few countries to successfully defy the Anglo-Venetian finance gangsters who won WW1 and set up the communist version of the Russian empire. In the context of 19th cent. weakness, and seeing that even a former great power like France has no independent history from the Napoleon III reign, when it submitted as a permanent junior partner in Anglo-Venetia, this is remarkable testimony to Chinese national resilience.
This is what makes China the biggest issue and question mark in the world today, when the western financiers are striving harder than ever for a world state and permanent enslavement of the the entire world population. Here nationalism is their number one problem and foe. China ultimately gave up the imperialist ambitions it pursued in antiquity in favour of an intense, as well as immense, national unity that just won't go away, even under the European jackboot.
