The Gunpowder Age: China, Military Innovation, and the Rise of the West in History (Tonio Andrade)

From 2017, before China pulled far ahead of the United States, my thoughts on earlier competition between China and the West.Show more

The written, original version of this article can be found at:
https://theworthyhouse.com/2017/11/09/book-review-the-gunpowder-age-china-military-innovation-and-the-rise-of-the-west-in-world-history-tonio-andrade/

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This and all Worthy House narrations are offered with accurate closed captions (not auto-generated).

"The Gunpowder Age succeeds in its lesser goal, which is convincing the reader that the common belief the Chinese only used gunpowder for fireworks is wrong. But it fails in its greater goal, which is convincing the reader that except for a brief period in recent history, China has been the equal of the West in the technology of warfare. And, in the wreckage of its failure, it confirms and reinforces the accurate perception that China has, for a thousand years, been lacking in scientific and cultural innovation. Since a lack of innovation has negative implications for the Chinese future, and by modern Western standards is a negative judgment on Chinese society, this is probably not the effect that the Sinophile author of this book, Tonio Andrade, intended to achieve." . . .