Q： What would history be like, if Alexander the Great had once conquered China?
A:
When Mongolians conquered China, they bought their territory into China and enlarged Chinese territory. When Manchurians conquered China, they bought their territory into China and enlarged Chinese territory too.
Conquering may be easy, but ruling what has been conquered may not be easy. The USA occupied Iraq in just two months, and never established a viable regime for 14 years.
The only political system that can handle a vast civilization is the political system of China. China unified for two thousand years already, while the EU is still struggling with the unification.
Should Alexander the Great conquer China, he could only adapt to the Chinese system, culturally, socially, and politically, to rip the fruit of his victory. Should Alexander the Great conquered China, in another word, China will have its territory extended all the way to the Mediterranean.
Chinese written language is ideograph. Chinese written language can accommodate a variety of spoken languages. That’s one of the reasons China is united while Europe is not.
China has a fair governance ideal named 王道, which views subjects the same regardless of race or ethnic difference. Chinese dynasty is not a western empire. The western empire rules with racial or religious discrimination. Racial or religious discrimination existed in China not as a major political mold, nor as an ideal.
That’s why the Chinese civilization is the only survivor of the Human cradle civilization. If Alexander the Great conquered China, Greek civilization would die and be replaced by Chinese civilization.
In China, a dynasty may end, but the civilization continues in the same territory that has been conquered. In the west, an empire ended and civilization was lost in the territory being conquered. The legitimacy of a King in the west is based on power or royal blood. The legitimacy of a dynasty in China is based on the will of the people, called 人心背向 in Chinese, or 天道 in Chinese.
Should Alexander the Great conquer China, it was not because Alexander was too powerful, but because the dynasty of China lost its legitimacy and people did not support it. If Alexander would rule China, he had to be in compliance with the will of the Chinese people, or the 天道。 It is the reversed propagation of civilization. Chinese civilization propagates even been conquered.
West ruled by power. Chinese people cannot be ruled by power. That’s the cultural and historical difference.
That’s what history is like.
