I know china doesn’t need them (and probably doesn’t necessarily want them either) but I was reading on western imperialism in china (not that I was ignorant of the concept before) and I dont think I ever conceptualized how much wealth the west got from china without ever paying a cent back. The forced loans in “war reparations” alone is probably in the millions
This is more a thought experiment than a genuine like, policy proposal or anything
As a comparison, the British stole over $45 trillion from India between 1765 and 1938.
I wouldn’t put it past Britain to have stolen similar quantities of goods from China. Especially since before British colonization, China was the largest gold producer in the world and one of the largest exporters in history. When the British showed up, all of that was funneled into British coffers.
I guess it depends whether you’re just looking at the damage caused by western imperialism or if you also include the Japanese occupation. China was never completely colonized like India but it’s still going to be an astronomically large amount of wealth that they were deprived of by the imperialists. I mean just look at the relative wealth between China and Europe in the pre-colonial era, and then compare that with where China and the West were at in 1948. There was clearly an enormous transfer of wealth that took place in those few centuries, not just from China but from the entire global south to the imperial core. A big chunk of that stolen wealth came just from India and China.
look at the relative wealth between China and Europe in the pre-colonial era, then compare that with where China and the West were at in 1948.
That’s what I meant with China’s gold. China itself is comparable to the entirety of Europe in terms of size and population. Europeans then came in and stole a bunch of shit. Like imagine if the Vatican, Louvre, Amsterdam, and more had all of their valuables stolen. The amount of wealth would have to be in the hundreds of billions.
But that’s exactly what happened to China and hundreds of other places.
(We’re saying the same thing)
Silver outflows from China to britain in 1800-1900 were over a billion silver dollars. This was exacted in war “reparations” and the opium trade which was forced on them.
In the 250 years before 1800 China took in around a billion silver dollars from European traders in exchange for goods.
So europe took a billion silver dollars worth of trade goods from China over 250 years. Then over the next 100 years Britain took all that money along with any trade goods. Essentially making all of china slaves for 350 years.
In 1800 china’s populaiton was almost 300 million and britain was 11 million. So back of the envelope math says that Britain owes China 10,000 years of slavery. (i’ve never though about it like that but its fucking crazy)
Unlimited slavery on Terf Island.
I’d argue it easily surpasses over a billion.
A century of development stunted, and other century of attempted sabatoge.
I’d say it’s more like trillions
Definitely plausible
