[USISRIGHT]

Some clarification...They went Communist in 1949 and this sent them on a course contrary to their four thousand years or so history. Your examples are accurate but I still believe they are more inward looking than expansionist.

[Cronos]

They went Communist in 1949 and this sent them on a course contrary to their four thousand years or so history. Your examples are accurate but I still believe they are more inward looking than expansionist.

Wrong -- China's been expansionist right from the time of the first Emperor of Ch'in who conquered his neighbouring kingdoms. From him, then the Han, they went on conquering neighbouring areas and nations and pushing non-Han Chinese OUT (people in Vietnam for instance were pushed out of China by the Han). THey are doing the same thing today to the Uighurs and the Tibetans -- they are being driven to extinction by forced immigraiton of Han chinese to these places.

You talk of them being inward looking -- that was ONLY during the post-Mongol period. The Chinese were conquered by the Mongols and when they knocked them out they started looking inwards.