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>> thanks to a 146,000-year-old skull unearthed in Harbin, China, in mysterious circumstances more than 90 years ago

Collaboration with outside scholars plus China willingness to slowly grant access to their rich expansive history is still a century or two behind the same amount of study put into the Roman empire. Imo, time will hold the Chinese empire and its role in human history in the same western revered status of the Roman empire. Having had only a fraction of aeral bombing damage of west Europe has left much more of the historical record intact.

As a child I had a deep lasting fascination with the the Iron Curtin and countries behind it. Particularly China. I have no idea why; my parents didn't understand why I wanted to learn Chinese as a young child in the late 80's-90s. I couldn't say why either, I just did. But that wasn't going to happen in 1980's Texas. I never did learn; also never lost my wonder of the place. Probably fueled by my fantastical projection of historical tales and stories (ok, Shaolin kung fu temples too) onto a country that only opened its doors to the rest of the world 45-50 years ago.

FWIW, my fantastical projections mostly lived up to my historical and daoist fascinations after spending time there. Mostly in Shaanxi province (Xi'an's city wall is something to behold -- after recovering from the absolutely terrifying taxi ride from the airport) + a long days hike on Huashan to middle/east/south peaks followed by a very cold night between the South/West Peak to catch the morning views. Took the north peak cable car down because...stairs. Then a brief visit to Henan province where I met the only other "westerns" during the entire trip (the couple were the only other ones to walk up to the english language historical plaques)

I really wish we could get over this west vs east thing and progress humanity as you know, humans, or maybe earthlings.

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> fraction of aeral bombing damage of west Europe

What specifically does that mean? Yes all major cities in Germany were destroyed. In the rest of Western Europe damage was much more localized.

Regardless China had some period of mass conflict on an extremely high scale.

There was a mass state instigated campaign of destroying historical sites ar artifacts as late as the 1960s and 70s.

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It means the damage done by the massive amounts of aeral bombings destroyed a large amount of historical records, cultural heritage sites & artifacts, libraries, national and academic archives etc. It wasn't only Germany that lost these things. But since you mention it, I wonder how much of the looted artifacts by Nazi soldiers got destroyed in the leveling of Germany in WWII. It's a miracle that da Vinci's Last Supper survived the the bombings and only because someone cared enough to try and put sandbags up, many of the other walls of the church & convent did not

I know the Chinese state destroyed their own culture that they didn't like. That happens everywhere, every culture, it happens to this day (see Buddhas of Bamiyan) -- it's a fact of life. The Longmen Grottoes comes to mind as it was a place I visited. The scale vs bombings is simply not the same, Europe also had its own cultural heritage self destruction over the centuries.

But that is not what I am talking about. That self-inflicted + looting level destruction is not the destruction that comes with carpet bombing cities. Bombs can ruin/degrade future archeological digs sites. An example from personal experience: The Xi'an city wall is the longest & oldest continuous city wall that is still a part of the city. There are older city walls (that I also visited) but they are in sections and are mostly combined archaeological/cultural tourist sites (I mean no one is riding bikes on them), some from time some from bombings and some had parts rebuilt but none (that I am aware of) stand up to the walls of Xi'an. One would get far more historical data from the well preserved Xi'an than from the ones destroyed in bombings.

[wqaatwt]

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[1659447091]

> Anyway you are somehow still implying that the majority of all European towns and cities that had ancient buildings were destroyed during WW2? Which is rather silly.

I absolutely did not imply that, maybe try re-reading while assuming good faith. Just as I will assume in good faith you are in no way implying that nothing important was destroyed unless it was in Germany. (do correct me if I'm am wrong, and that you are implying that)

Besides, what of the things we don't know that we don't know got destroyed? how many of the people that did know were also lost? To think simply because it's not there now or may have been forgotten or could have yet to been discovered does not mean it wasn't ever there even if it is not now - and thats my point. How much was lost? We can't know, but to think very little was is, as you may say, silly.

> Had you ever been to Spain, France, Italy, or even England?

...Yes, and I generally travel solo which absolutely does not involve shopping beyond food. It is focused on experiences, cultures, customs, and really really old things; I have not a single selfie at any of these places and have been doing it for over a decade now

Roman architecture and sites being some of my favorite. The Abraham religions' related historical places (particularly all variety of churches and grounds) and mountains/historic trails tied for a close second. In another life, maybe I'd be a sociocultural anthropologist with a focus in the Roman Republic. For now being a hobby will have to do, but it does share time with my interest in many other threads of history. I know it's probably not what you were expecting given my previous post. There was and still is too much friction with how China keeps such a tight control on both its current desired perception and how it wants its history told. That doesn't make it any less interesting, besides I find it personally amusing that my interest are connected by the silk road.

> Roman wall of Lugo

As said, that I am aware of. Thank you for that link, TIL, and I have a new place to visit. I have a thing for old walls if you couldn't tell. On a slight pedantic note, the Xi'an wall is almost 9 miles (14 km) vs Lugo at little over a mile (2km)

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I wish there was will for a global government

But both the US and China have unacceptable mass surveillance, and the US will not even vote to take care of its own homeless citizens.

A subset of environmentalists will condemn pollution then ask for more roads, cheaper gasoline, and cheaper meat.

I don't think I'll live to even see a good national government