It's time to understand China again.
We need to move beyond negative emotional reactions to a deeper, more reflective, and more macro-level perspective.
This is not to emphasize the necessity of liberal arts.
Geopolitics is a fate that all nations must bear.
Except for the Cold War period that lasted approximately 50 years after the Chinese Communist Party's victory in the Chinese Civil War in 1949, the history of the Korean Peninsula has always faced the history of East Asia centered on China.
Even during the Japanese colonial period, wasn't the place we relied on while fighting for independence also China?
And at least for the rest of our generation, China's actions, categorized as the so-called 'G2,' cannot be ignored.
In other words, studying China is not only beneficial in learning about Chinese civilization and appreciating the value of its classics, but it is also an urgent topic that must be given priority in understanding the present through the past and moving forward into the future.
---From the "Prologue"

The beginning of Chinese history was not Guanzhong, but the Central Plains.
The Yellow River civilization began here.
The Xia Dynasty, known as China's first dynasty, was also based here.
The Central Plains is a place comparable to Guanzhong.
Luoyang is located on the ambiguous border between Guanzhong and Zhongyuan.
It is the place where the Yellow River and the Luo River (also called the Luo River) meet, and it is a very important location where goods from the east and west can be brought together by digging a canal.
Luoyang, along with Xi'an, was the capital of ancient China and a place that created endless political comedies and tragedies.

---From "1. The Yellow River and the Yangtze River: How China Became One"

Regardless of one's emotional attitude toward Qin Shi Huang, and regardless of the rise of modern China and the new vision of the "Chinese Dream," history has long focused on Qin Shi Huang's achievements.
He established the first unified empire in Chinese history and crowned himself emperor.
They defeated all their rivals during the Warring States period and took control of every corner of southern China that had previously been out of reach.
To the north, they repelled the Huns and built the Great Wall.
He divided the country into 36 counties and districts, and made a decisive contribution to unifying the vast land of China into a single civilization by unifying the writing system and weights and measures.
Above all, what was decisive was the creation of the tradition of a unified empire and an imperial ruling system.
---From "Three-Power Emperor System 1"

The past system was an institutionalized place for advancement and self-realization.
Chaotic times like the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period are not easily repeated.
Making a name for yourself through your own abilities in troubled times? It's not easy, and it's not a path anyone can take.
Moreover, with the repeated emergence of unified empires, small regional power units such as principalities disappeared.
The official path established by the state, the path to assist the emperor and govern the country, the path to save the people, suppress the aristocracy's arrogance, and create a peaceful society.
A very narrow but extremely glorious path.
The scholar's education and Chinese humanistic spirit were absorbed into the national bureaucracy through the civil service examination system.
---From "The Birth of a New Human Being"

Which came first, the road or the object? History isn't made up solely of politics.
Military victories are also always limited.
The amazing magic of ancient history, the exchange between the East and the West, began with a product called ‘silk.’
It is said that when the Silk Road did not exist, Siberian villagers spread silk all the way to Greece.
Silk is a fabric invented in prehistoric China.
At the Hemudu archaeological site in Jeolla Province, tools that confirm silk manufacturing technology from around 5000 BC and vessels engraved with silk patterns were excavated.
At the Huituling archaeological site in Shaanxi Province, a piece of artificially cut silkworm cocoon, estimated to be from around 4000 BC, was discovered.
---From "7 Lectures: How the Silk Road Changed China"

From Hong Xiuquan's Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Movement to Li Hongzhang's Self-War Movement and Sun Yat-sen's advocacy of the Three Principles of the People.
Despite their respective historical roles, their struggles and the turbulent modern history of China that accompanied them achieved meaningful results even in the face of extreme difficulties.
Their efforts helped free most Asian countries from the colonialism they had been forced to submit to, and succeeded in giving a uniquely Asian character to the new ideology of nationalism.
From Korean revolutionaries like Ahn Chang-ho and Kim Gu to Vietnamese independence activists like Phan Boi Chau, revolutionaries in East Asia were greatly influenced by Sun Yat-sen's ideas.
It also had a significant influence on the development of a form of nationalism that embraced traditional ideas and was uniquely Asian, resistant and egalitarian, unlike the far-right national socialism or fascism that emerged in Europe.

---From "Lecture 9: Hong Xiuquan and Sun Yat-sen, Creating a New China"