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By far the most successful (and yet somehow still not considered the greatest) Chinese dynasty would be that of the mighty Han Empire (206 BC-220 AD). The Han was the second Imperial Chinese polity to reign, having come to power roughly 2,200 years ago upon the disintegration of its predecessor, the totalitarian Qin Empire (221–206 BC).The Qin was the great unifier of Chinese civilization; the first to conquer all 7 rivalling kingdoms of the realm, and unite them all under a banner of national unity. And yet, it was their incompetence which eventually failed them in the end, and seemingly saw to it initially, that all their efforts at Chinese unification would all be in vain.But as fate would have it otherwise, the succeeding Han Dynasty, China’s first great empire preserved this Qin notion of “One China”, united not by blood nor by race, but under the guise instead of a single integrated culture. One people, under one banner, with one language and one ideology, this was the legacy of the Han Empire; China’s first “Golden Age”.Territories of the Han Empire at its peak in 100 AD with a land area of 6.5 million km^2:Historically considered both to be the Chinese contemporary and equivalent of the Roman Empire (27 BC-1453 AD), this was and still is an entirely accurate view. Like their Western counterparts, the reign of the Han ended up being so prosperous to such an extent, that all the future generations and dynasties of China which came afterwards, would seek to emulate the great prosperity of the Han; Great Father of Chinese Civilization, much like how Rome and Greece by extension were and are considered to be the Fathers of Western Civilization.Under the 426 long, years of prosperity and peace, China, unprecedented before in all the 2,500 years which had preceded it, grew to such a standard, that it soon was able to burst onto the world stage, with a “bang”, viciously introducing Chinese civilization into a world which had not realized it existed up until then. Expanding all along the Western corridors of Eurasia, great feats of international relevance were conducted en masse. Trade permitted, ties established, and the fields of Science and Technology flourished as never before.This was the legacy of Han China, Sino civilization’s first great polity, and one to which all future Chinese dynasties would look back upon with utmost pride. There would be no such thing as China today without the Han for sure to put it sharp and shortly, a fact to which all, man or woman can be most certain of. Indeed, it was primarily due to the efforts of the Han, that even the concept of “One China” perseveres to this very day in the minds of the Chinese peoples.It was for these reasons and more, that China’s main ethnic group, the “Han Chinese” peoples are so appropriately called as such to this day: all in order to honour the legacy and achievements of the eponymous empire, one which is well truly well deserved.Standard message from me here as usual, please don’t read on if you don’t like long answers.Here are the contents of this response for ease of navigation:Chapter I: “Of Humble Beginnings”: The Establishment of the Most Successful Dynasty of ChinaChapter II: “The Mantle of Responsibility”: The Greatest Legacy of the Han Empire to Chinese CivilizationChapter III: “Si Vis Pacem Para Bellum”: The Chinese Pacification of the Mighty Xiongnu EmpireChapter IV: “Adventures and Expeditions”: The Age of Vibrant InternationalismChapter V: “From Rags to Riches”: The Mighty Economy of the Chinese EmpireChapter VI: “National Intellectualism”: The Achievements of Han Civil SocietyFinal Summary (to tie up any “loose ends” and conclude the answer)Chapter I: “Of Humble Beginnings”: The Establishment of the Most Successful Dynasty of ChinaIn 221 BC, Ying Zheng the King of Qin unified China for the first time in its by then already ancient history. Adopting the title of “Shi Huangdi” (literally meaning “First Emperor”), Emperor Qin Shi Huang single handedly begun a new age in Chinese history.The Qin Dynasty (221–206 BC) under Shi Huangdi, superimposed onto a map of the Warring States period (476–221 BC) Kingdoms from before Chinese unification:Prior to China’s unification under the Qin Dynasty, the land that was soon to become Qin China was a chaotic and barbaric domain devoid of any benevolence or morality. Order was non-existent as starving peasants resorted to crime to feed themselves, whilst the kings of the various “Warring States” were engaged in a brutal 255 year long civil war for control over all of China.The State of Qin, formerly the weakest of the various feuding kingdoms by fortunate coincidence came across a new and very appealing ideology known today as “Legalism”. It was first proposed by a wandering scholar by the name of Shang Yang who insisted to the then ruler of the Qin Kingdom; Duke Xiao, that the only way to progress was to recognise that human beings were more inclined to do wrong than right because they were motivated entirely by self interest.An artist’s impression of Shang Yang’s meeting with the Duke of Qin:Completely agreeing with Yang despite the widespread protests of the Qin Royal Court, the duke passed these controversial reforms, successfully ensuring the transition of the Qin Kingdom from a weak, neglected, feudalistic and highly corrupt kingdom, into a powerful and centralized superstate, led by a competent bureaucracy.It was a state in which the nobility, unlike in other contemporary kingdoms at the time could not challenge royal authority, due to the Legalistic reforms. Legalism greatly impacted the Qin Army as well, rewarding and punishing individuals based on their actions on the battlefield accordingly. Even being late to training would get you executed, yet on the other hand you could also be rewarded beyond your wildest dreams for extreme heroism.The Legalist reforms, combined with the substantial pay for Qin Commanders (attracting talent from other kingdoms also), intensified by Qin’s technological superiority and exacerbated by their ignoring of the common Warring States period code of honour due to Legalist beliefs, allowed the Qin to attain military superiority on the battlefield, and not just in theory. Wherever they went, the reputation of the Qin Army was known, respected and of course feared.An artist’s impression of the infamous Qin Army marching to victory:Led by the future first Emperor, they marched East towards the Chinese coast, conquering each Chinese kingdom one by one over a period 9 years without rest until at last, all of China was unified under the newly proclaimed Qin Empire.Despite the unification of China under a single political entity, peace as was the case during the 255 long years of the Warring States period, was still as elusive as ever. Qin Shi Huang was a very complex individual who was simultaneously a cruel and vain ruler, yet one of the most important Emperors of Imperial China.On one hand, he declared the School of Legalism as the only official legitimate ideology of the Qin Empire, and buried alive any scholar which suggested otherwise. He particularly hated the School of Confucianism, which contradicted the beliefs of Legalism and insisted that Humans were inherently good, and specifically persecuted the Confucianists in particular as a result.A portrait of the First Emperor of China:Also a man greatly unfond of the idea of knowledge and education, the Qin Emperor encouraged the burning of books only considering manuscripts focused on topics such as Medicine and Agriculture to be useful.The Terracotta Army:The Emperor was also a very narcissistic individual, who had no shame in using the Qin’s finances (even when it was still a kingdom) to fund his own personal endeavors, one of his many notable crusades included the ordering of his subjects to find him the “Elixir of Life”, so that he could live forever. When they failed to fulfil his desires, the Emperor still refused to die quietly.Instead, he ordered the creation of a personal tomb for himself, which was to be so grand and so expensive that it would benefit him even in the afterlife. As such, for a period of 40 years, 700 thousand labourers worked non-stop to create a tomb just for his benefit. A man so afraid of death to such an extent, he even demanded the creation of an entire replica army to accompany him to the afterlife.The famous Qin “Terracotta Army” (even in the afterlife the Emperor wanted his faithful army to defend him as they had whilst he was still alive, most notably, no two individual terracotta soldiers looked the same, each was completely different as if they had been modelled on real people):Qin Terracotta Charioteer (Chariots were used much more frequently in China before the Han Dynasty):On the other hand however, the Emperor also stressed the idea of unity and moved quickly to promote the idea of there only being one China, and one people all united under the banner of cultural singularity. His efforts to integrate the Qin Empire touched on all civilizational facets as such.Foremostly, was his decision to standardize the language to make it easier for his people to communicate with each other. In addition to the standardization of language, the Qin also built roads and canals through the unified states en masse, supported with the application also of a single currency, to further stress the idea of unity and solidarity.The famous Great Wall of China was also fully constructed during his rule, not only in order to defend the newly unified state against the presence of the aggressive neighboring nomadic Xiongnu Empire, but it also symbolically acknowledged that China was now one country, thus implying that the one wall existed to protect them all, and not just the individual areas of the former kingdoms.An artist’s impression of the construction of the Great Wall of Qin (Confucian scholars were often forced into labouring in its construction for being Confucianists, all who dared defied Shi Huangdi were quickly silenced):The Great Wall was the “final straw” for such a new and fragile country however. It was extremely expensive for one (the Ming renovation of it in the 1500s was estimated to have cost the equivalent of $360 billion in today’s currency to have carried out). The Qin Economy broke under the strain of constructing such an ambitious project, and once more the Chinese people suffered as had been the case under the previous Warring States period.Even after Shi Huangdi had passed, people asked each other and themselves: “has our life really gotten any better?” There was of course no civil war anymore like in the Warring States period which came before, and they were indeed unified and at peace now, but at what cost?The Qin were not authoritarian which would be normal and tolerable but worse, they were totalitarian. The dynasty had executed people for being late, for disagreeing with the Emperor, for being Confucianists and for simply loving to learn, all the while the people suffered as a result of highly expensive State projects such as the building of the Great Wall, and of the Emperor’s Terracotta Army.Exactly what was so much better about their lives now than was the case before?No, nothing had changed they thought. And indeed after merely 15 years under the rule of the Qin Empire, China was in a state of chaotic turbulence once more.An artist's’ impression of the Dazexiang Uprising (when Shi Huangdi died, the people immediately rebelled, and though it was ultimately unsuccessful, it eventually went on to inspire an entire national revolution all over China):The subjects of the Qin roared in defiance as they rose up against what they believed was a cruel government unworthy of their love and affections. Under the leadership of a few handful of individuals, and influenced by the Dazexiang Uprising which occurred mere months before, the Qin people rallied together determined to win their freedom by force if necessary.Out of of these many self-proclaimed revolutionary leaders, two stood out in particular; the first was a lowly peasant turnt patrol officer by the name of Liu Bang. The other was a powerful nobleman turnt warlord by the name of Xiang Yu, and though they had vastly different upbringings, the two men soon found that they had much in common indeed: both hated books, despised the study of history and abhorred learning, but most importantly of all, both were wildly ambitious.They decided to join forces, and plotted to bring about the fall of the Qin Empire together. Despite being allies however, there was a mutual concern which kept both awake at night for hours on end.For both Liu and Xiang, their dilemmas were real: if they failed to overthrow the Qin Dynasty, they would all be executed, the revolution would fail and the people would continue to suffer. Yet if they succeeded, what would then happen afterwards? If the two revolutionary leaders no longer had anyone to fight, what would happen next? More importantly, what would happen to China?And who would become the next Emperor? The two agreed and believed it to be a given that someone should, for neither wanted a disunified China, both knowing full well from personal experience the widespread suffering which would follow once more, with no Emperor ruling over a centralized, and unified state.It was a self-fulfilling prophecy however, as the more they thought about it: the more of a reality their concerns became. Thus by the time they had overthrown the Qin Empire in 206 BC, the two former friends were now at odds with each other. On a dramatic night worthy of a Shakespearian tragedy, the two men and their supporters held an elaborate banquet known today as the “Feast at Hong Gate”, at which both had made plans to execute the other.An artist’s impression of the tragic events at the banquet:With both now refusing to back down, a new civil war begun just as Liu and Xiang had feared. It was a war which would not be long however, as the former peasant emerged victorious over his more lordly counterpart in just 4 years, thus beginning the reign of the most successful dynasty in Chinese History, one which ensured that China would always try to stay as a single unified state, rather than one divided into many kingdoms permanently.After hundreds of years of death and destruction, the Han Dynasty would bring about a much welcomed period of relative peace, stability and prosperity, establishing China as one of the more important political entities of the world, for the first time in its history.This was the true beginning of Chinese civilization, a time when China was finally beginning to actually be able to impact and shape international affairs, and spread its influence far beyond its traditional heartland, and into the north, west and south.The territories of the newly established Han Empire in 200 BC:Chapter II: “The Mantle of Responsibility”: The Greatest Legacy of the Han Empire to Chinese CivilizationWhen Liu Bang seized control over all of China in 202 BC, he was aware of the dire circumstances which had consumed the entire country.Dissatisfaction was at an all time high, and though China was still in one piece under his rule, he understood that it wouldn’t stay that way for long if he didn’t immediately act to quell dissent. Initially, he thought that if he treated the Han people cruelly enough like how Shi Huangdi treated the Qin people, he would be able to break their spirit and force them to submit to him, thus bringing peace to all of China once and for all.But such was not to be the case for long. A couple of years into the Emperor’s reign, he was intercepted by a Han Official by the name of Lu Gu, who disagreed with the way in which the Emperor was ruling. As a keen student of Confucianism, he despised the one sided totalitarianism which Liu was using to rule over China.Using logic and reason, Lu presented his dissatisfaction to the Emperor Gaozu.The Emperor famously responded in return:“I do all my conquering from the back of my horse, what use have I for books and poetry?”To which Lu replied:“Once my lord is done with the conquering, does he also intend to do all his ruling from the back of his horse?”A statue of Liu Bang, Emperor Gaozu of Han:The Emperor was shocked, admitting that his humble subject had finally defeated him, he subsequently requested that Lu compose for him a book, of historical examples outlining why the Qin had lost the support of China, and how the Emperor himself could not only gain but also retain the support of the people forever.As a result, Lu personally wrote a 12-volume book for the Emperor just as he had requested, reading them all aloud to him when each one was completed.Lu insisted that the reason the Qin had fallen, was because they were too totalitarian, and lacked legitimacy. They showed no mercy to their enemies, mistreated and betrayed their own allies and adopted Legalism, a system which believed that all Humans were inherently evil, and motivated only by self-interest.Instead, he insisted that the Emperor should reject the Qin Philosophy of Legalism, and instead replace it with a new Imperial ideology by the name of Confucianism.Confucianism was the polar opposite of Legalism. Instead of stressing rule by law, and the inherent evilness of mankind, it taught that all Humans were inherently good and could be improved with a little effort, and that rule by law was not effective, and instead made clear the benefits that would arise from ruling by moral virtue instead.The Emperor was impressed, and did all that the government official Lu had suggested to him. He implemented and personally supported and sponsored the Philosophy of Confucianism at an academic level, and was determined to rule China with benevolence from then on, thus increasing the legitimacy of the Han Government, and winning the people over who would then submit to the Liu Family out of love rather than fear.Thus, ever since then and still to this day, Confucianism had remained a core part of Chinese culture, without which, it would be severely impacted in only the most negative of ways.A statue of Confucius, the founder of Confucianism (the philosophy which stressed the key belief of ruling legitimacy via benevolence, a belief which was wholly adopted by Emperor Gaozu of Han):Gaozu kept his promise to Lu Gu, and ruled benevolently from that moment onwards.He reduced the land tax on Agriculture to 1/15 portions of annual crop yields. Then he moved to disband the veteran armies which had helped him seize power, and allowed them to return home, exempting them from taxes for 6 years, providing food for each individual and his family for an entire year.And at last, he abolished the most extreme aspects of Legalism, including its most severe and punishing facets inherited by the Han Legal System. Whereas the Qin was defined by an abundance of extreme laws with equally extreme punishments (which seemed to only exist to punish rather than protect), under the Han, Gaozu abolished the vast majority of these laws, and greatly reduced the severity of most Qin inherited punishments.Under the rule of the Emperor Gaozu, all of China truly prospered at last, as a sustainable form of governance was implemented under the wise guidance of Confucianism.And as China got richer and richer, and as time passed further and further, at last the Han Empire was able to finally realise the ultimate dream of their predecessors: the creation and retainment of the concept of one China, and one people unified under one culture.This was merely one of the many reasons why the Han were the most successful dynasty of China. Although it’s true that they may not have been the one to unify China like the Qin, they were at least the one who gave China the means to prosper, for a long enough amount of time such that from that moment onwards, all future Chinese dynasties would forever follow the Han Model of Governance, and seek to re-unify the country, no matter the cost, material or otherwise.Chapter III: “Si Vis Pacem Para Bellum”: The Chinese Pacification of the Mighty Xiongnu EmpireThough the Han Empire had stabilized internally, it now also faced an imminent external existential crisis. For in the areas beyond the Qin Great Wall, a Turkic peoples called the Xiongnu were preparing to launch an imminent invasion against the Han Empire.The Xiongnu had not always been a threat to China however. During the rule of the previous Qin Dynasty, as the Chinese expanded outwards from its traditional heartlands and to the north, the nomadic peoples initially divided into several hundred tribes, banded together to form a powerful Confederation, one which was extremely sinophobic in nature, as they viewed the Qin expansion as one which was encroaching on territory which was rightfully theirs.Despite intensely disliking the Chinese however, the nomads knew they could not invade whilst First Emperor of China was still in power, for they understood the threat and capabilities of the Qin to bring them to the edge of extinction with his infamous Qin Army, if he so desired.An artist’s impression of the mighty Xiongnu people, native to Mongolia:However, when the Qin was replaced with the Han Dynasty, they knew that their opportunity to subjugate China had at last arrived.When Han Soldiers under the command of Emperor Gaozu launched raids against nomadic merchants trading along the Han-Xiongnu border, the Khaganate used this as an excuse to justify their war against Han China, and launched an assault against the Chinese Empire in what is modern day Shanxi Province (Northern China) in 200 BC, after bypassing the Great Wall of China.At the Battle of Baideng, a force of 400 thousand Xiongnu defeated the smaller Han Imperial Army of 320 thousand Chinese, severely lowering the morale of China.An artist’s impression of the Xiongnu assault against the Han Great Wall, which they bypassed before invading what was modern day Shanxi Province:After all the Emperor’s efforts to bring about peace and stability to a country which had had enough of war, suffering and death (first during the Warring States period, and then during the Qin) it now seemed that all his efforts had been in vain. The Xiongnu would never let them rest in peace, not as long as they were alive.Recognising that China was not yet strong enough to confront the Xiongnu militarily, as it had just only begun to recover from a brutal civil war, Gaozu thought that the only way to spare the Han people from complete and utter annihilation was to strike a deal with the Xiongnu.By concluding an agreement with the Nomad Empire, Gaozu was hoping to buy enough time for the Han Empire to grow under the extensive periods of peace, such that even if it took 100 or even 1,000 years, the Han would eventually be able to challenge the Xiongnu on their own land, and defeat them at last.His strategy was simple, reflecting the famous Chinese cultural trait of long term orientation: suffer and be humiliated for today, in order to have a better tomorrow.This was exactly what happened, and merely 2 years later in 198 BC, Gaozu sent the Han Ambassador to the Xiongnu, requesting indirect peace attained through a “Heqin” Agreement, in which the Han and Xiongnu were to be equal partners in a royal marriage alliance, an agreement which held true only in theory.An artist’s impression of the famous Wang Zhaojun (1 of the 4 “Great Beauties” of Imperial China) being married off to the Xiongnu Chieftain Huhanye, as part of the Heqin agreement :In practice however, it established the Chinese Empire as a country submissive to Xiongnu superiority. Every year, the Han Imperial Court would have to send large amounts of tribute items such as Silk based clothing, exotic foods available only in China, and wine to the Xiongnu each and every year. For the next 65 years, this would be the defining relationship between the Han and Xiongnu: as one where China was the submitting party.An artist’s impression of the Han submission to the Xiongnu in 198 BC, with the Han Ambassador on the left representing the Chinese, and his counterpart on the right representing the Steppe:For 65 years the Chinese people suffered, and with no end in sight the Han citizenry were beginning to lose hope. Unfortunately for the Xiongnu however, they did not have the privilege of hindsight like we do right now, for if they did then they would not have treated China so badly, for one of the greatest Emperors in China’s history was about to bring to them, a very rude awakening indeed.Ascending to the throne under the ruling name; “Wu of Han”, a favoured son of the ruling Liu family thus came to rule over the Han Empire. Emperor Wu like the first Han Emperor (Gaozu) also did not think very highly of the Xiongnu, but unlike Gaozu, although he respected Confucianism as the official Han State Ideology, he resorted to recycling the Qin Philosophy of Legalism to create a strong state once more, especially regarding the military.The difference this time however, was that unlike Shi Huangdi of Qin, Emperor Wu of Han resorted to using a “watered down” version of Legalism, which he then fused with Confucian teachings to create a temporary solution for strengthening the State, as he dealt with the Xiongnu Empire. Thus, backed once more with an ideology which highly emphasised discipline and efficiency, Wu went on to examine the situation between the Han and Xiongnu.A Portrait of Emperor Wu of Han:In 135 BC, he assembled a special meeting with his “Mandarin” government officials. Upon asking as to what they should do regarding the Xiongnu, who had been breaking the then 63 year old peace treaty, the cowardly officials told him to honour the agreement and ignore the frequent Xiongnu raids against the innocent Han Merchants on the Han-Xiongnu border.Clearly annoyed, Emperor Wu chose to tolerate the cowardice of his officials for the rest of the year. For years during the period of relative peace between the Han and Xiongnu, he (and his predecessors) had been slowly building the Han Economy and Military up, in order to prepare it for war just as Gaozu the first Han Emperor had planned. Thus, he was greatly disappointed when he was denied the chance to finally free the Han from the chains of oppression.However, as luck would have it, by that time the following year, the Xiongnu raids had become more frequent and intense to such an extent that the Emperor assembled the Court once again, asking for a solution to the issue in question.Having had enough of the weakness of his Confucian influenced officials (cowardly at least from a Legalist point of view), and tired of seeing China as a second rate slave nation, the Emperor reasoned that to end the tyranny of the Xiongnu, they would have to attempt an assassination on the “Chuanyu” himself (the Ruler of the Xiongnu).When the assassination attempt failed, the Xiongnu were furious and threatened to invade China and spare no one unlike their first invasion 66 years earlier, back in 200 BC.A map of the Xiongnu and Han Empires in 126 BC, as is evident, the Xiongnu were not just a random peoples, they were an extremely serious threat to Han China:Seeing that they could no longer prevent an all out war with the Xiongnu Khanate, the Han Emperor prepared China for the coming storm. Instead of waiting for what was an imminent Xiongnu invasion of the Empire of Han, Wu decided to strike first and strike hard.In 133 BC, he begun what was to become the 224 year long conflict known as the Han-Xiongnu War (one which would eventually prove to have huge consequences for the fate of both empires) by launching a surprise invasion on the Xiongnu Empire, at last after many years, Wudi was finally able to begin to make true the first Han Emperor’s wish: for the Han to one day not only invade the Xiongnu, but to eventually defeat them on their own home turf.Unlike the first Han Emperor however, Wu did not hate the study of history and was quick to learn from his (and Gaozu’s) mistakes, the first of which occurred at the Battle of Mayi in 133 BC, where a force of 300,000 Han Soldiers failed to ambush a Xiongnu Army 3 times smaller in numbers.Though neither side had contracted a significant amount of casualties, Han Wudi knew he had to learn from his mistakes and act and adapt accordingly, by “knowing his enemy as well as he knew himself”, as suggested by the famous Warring States period strategist, Sun Tzu with whom he was well acquainted with. To do this, the Emperor turned to history for solutions.Looking back on history, Emperor Wu studied the suggestions of Han Strategist Chao Cuo, who had first suggested to “Wen” (then the ruling Han Emperor) that in the event that China were ever to be at war with the Xiongnu once again, he should abandon the traditional Han warring strategy, of an infantry-centric army. Under Chao’s proposed reforms, he instead suggested the use of a cavalry-centric army, to negate the nomadic advantage on the open fields.The Xiongnu had a great comparative advantage on the vast open fields of Mongolia, of which there were plenty also in Northern China. As an Equine peoples, the Xiongnu were famous for being able to fight on horseback with ease, using bow and arrow, something which the Han found difficult to fend against:Unsatisfied with this revelation, Emperor Wu further studied Chao’s personal memorandum titled “Guard the Frontiers and Protect the Borders” (169 BC), in which the strategist had laid out a detailed comparison of the Han and Xiongnu Militaries, with complex instructions on how to defeat the mighty Khaghanate.Assessing the Xiongnu, Chao had insisted that the nomads had a comparative advantage wherever the terrain was rough, due to their superior abundance of quality horses, greater horseback archery capabilities, and an unearthly and inhuman ability to withstand only the harshest climates in existence.To defeat them, Chao had suggested that wherever it was possible, the Han should fight the Xiongnu on more level plains instead. Here, the Xiongnu Cavalry would stand no chance against the Han Shock Cavalry and Charioteers, who could easily rout their enemies, on terrain which was more familiar to them.Chao also noted that the Xiongnu were also defenseless against a co-ordinated onslaughts of arrows (especially when launching long-ranged projectiles in unison at one concentrated area) due to their inferior leather armor and wooden shields. He also observed that as a people who fought primarily on horseback, if the Han could hypothetically force the Xiongnu to dismount, then the Chinese Infantry could easily decimate their nomadic opponents with ease.An artist’s impression of the Han Infantry guarding the Chinese Great Wall:Thus he advised, that to negate the Xiongnu advantages on rough terrain, the Han should also if available use the tactic of “using barbarians to fight barbarians”, by hiring nomadic mercenaries in the military whenever possible, and even using them as training instructors for the Han Cavalry, to teach the Han how to fight like the Xiongnu. This was exactly what occurred of course.Adhering to the advice of the past, Emperor Wu moved swiftly to reform the Han Army in a short amount of time, and either adopted or noted all of what Chao Cuo had mentioned. At last, the Han Empire was ready to face the Xiongnu head on as an equal.However, he even took it a step further, and also decided to negate the Xiongnu’s advantage of better quality horses, by discontinuing the use of native “China Proper” horses, and specifically seeked out the use of the Central Asian “Ferghana Horse”, one of the Han’s greatest military assets:The Ferghana Horse was a superior breed of Equine which faithfully allowed the Han to achieve dominance in the vast punishing open fields of Central and Northern Asia. It was much bigger and stronger than any species of horse that the Han had used up until then, and its stamina allowed the Chinese Military to venture far from the center of the Han Empire.Armed with a well trained, well equipped and well prepared Han Imperial Military, the Xiongnu cowered in fear as defeat after defeat was handed to the Steppe Nomads. The Han Cavalry, now clearly amongst the best in the world spearheaded Chinese attempts to punish the Xiongnu for invading and humiliating China for years on end.And for a period of 224 years, the Han rose up in defiance against their mighty Xiongnu masters, inflicting heavy casualties onto the nomads, wherever they went.The Han domination of the Xiongnu was finally cemented once and for all at the Battle of Mobei in 119 BC, when the Han managed to completely decimate the entire Xiongnu army of 80,000 cavalry and 100,000 infantry. They did this by sending an overwhelming force of 100,000 cavalry and 200,000 infantry straight into the heartland of the Mongolian plains, ensuring Han superiority over the Steppe for the next several centuries.An artist’s impression of the famous Han Cavalry in the process of subjugating the Xiongnu Empire:Thus in this way, though the Han were not able to completely subjugate the Xiongnu Empire, they fought them for such an extended amount of time, and to such a vigorous standard, that by the end of the wars in 91 AD, the Xiongnu were well and truly spent, and would never be able to seriously affect China from then on ever again.And in this way, the Han, formerly subservient to the Xiongnu managed to the “flip the tables”, and instead now ruled supreme over their former masters.In ridding China of its greatest external threat at the time, the Han were able to live on and prosper, having “paid their dues”. The success of the Han Dynasty of preventing China from being subjugated under a hostile, and superior foreign power, has made it in my mind the most successful Chinese dynasty for yet another reason.For if the Xiongnu had successfully conquered the Chinese Empire, the chances of China ever re-unifying would not be as high as in our timeline, where the Han held the country together for long enough that no matter how many times it fell apart, and was divided due to civil war, it would always in the end come back together again, influenced by the Han Model.Another artist’s impression of a much dreaded Han Cavalry charge during the Han-Xiongnu War:Chapter IV: “Adventures and Expeditions”: The Age of Vibrant InternationalismThe Han had not always been so lucky however. In the time before Emperor Wu finally decided to invade the Xiongnu Empire head on, in order to end the Xiongnu threat once and for all, China was running out of ideas on how to deal with the barbarian threat to their immediate north.Realising in 138 BC (5 years before the Han invasion of the North), that the Chinese Empire was not yet strong enough to deal with the Xiongnu threat at this point in time, Emperor Wu prepared emergency counter-measures in an effort to outmanoeuvre their Xiongnu masters, in anticipation that the worst case scenario would occur upon a Han invasion of the Khaganate.To this extent, he convinced the Imperial Han Court that in order to secure the prosperity of the Han Empire once a war with the Xiongnu was imminent, and in full swing, the Chinese should seek to form external alliances with other foreigns empires and kingdoms, which supposedly existed according to popular rumours, alluding to the existence of several thriving non-Chinese civilizations, to the west of the Han Empire.The lands west of China however had not been extensively explored up until then. At the time, it was thought that the vast punishing deserts of the west, and the abundance of mountainous terrain in addition, and also the lack of arable land meant that no kingdom or empire could possibly exist in the midst of such an inhospitable environment.The remains of a “rammed-earth” Han watchtower in Western China today (considering that the area, climate and terrain to the west of China was mainly composed of either scorching and dry deserts or mountains, it should then not be surprising to anyone as to why the Han thought it was a near impossibility for any non-Chinese civilizations to have thrived):Thus, how then could a kingdom or empire of non-Chinese peoples flourish to such an extent as to develop some form of civilization, comparable in complexity to China’s own highly ordered, and centralized society? It was highly improbable the Han Emperors thought, thus there was no need to go about exploring in the westerly direction.Unlike his predecessors however, Emperor Wu could not afford to be in such a luxurious position of denial. Ever since he had ascended the throne, the Xiongnu attacks (breaching the agreed upon peace treaty of 198 BC), were becoming more common and fierce each and every year, putting pressure on the Han Empire, who were now quickly running out of ideas.Recognising that his options were thinning by the day, Wu decided to chase the mere rumours and in 138 BC, asked for volunteers to make the pivotal journey to the west. In response a military officer by the name of Zhang Qian, who asserted himself as a self-proclaimed expert on the Xiongnu, stepped forward and volunteered to travel to the area recognised today as Central Asia, in an attempt to find allies for the Han Empire, to assist them against the Xiongnu.Setting off with an retinue of 100 men, Zhang was ordered by Emperor Wu to find the rumoured Kingdom of Yuezhi, which was said to have been founded by a nomadic peoples, who had once been expelled from their home by the Xiongnu invaders.Thus, from a strategic point of view, Wu encouraged Zhang to make contact with Yuezhi, and form a mutually benefiting military relationship, which would allow them to flank the Xiongnu on two sides: from the west by Yuezhi, and from the east by Han, severely weakening the Xiongnu.An artist’s impression of Zhang Qian on his perilous journey to the Kingdom of Yuezhi (to get there, he had to traverse through only the most punishing of deserts with only limited supplies and reinforcements, as they were now in uncharted territory. It was a very perilous journey indeed, being full of threats and also holding the very real risk of death):Such a perilous journey could of course never be free of dangers. On his way to the Kingdom of Yuezhi, the Xiongnu ambushed Zhang’s expedition and captured the ambassador, who decimated most of the 100 men in the expedition, before subsequently proceeding to enslave him for an entire decade.During this time, unable to successfully escape from the clutches of the barbarians, he married a Xiongnu wife and started a family instead, assimilating into Xiongnu culture in the meantime.Indirectly, this served to win over the trust of the Xiongnu leader. Taking advantage of the Xiongnu Chieftain’s trust in him, Zhang finally managed to escape along with his family and remaining retinue, passing through the northern edge of the Tarim Basin (modern day Xinjiang province), making his way to the Kingdom of Yuezhi as was originally planned.Along the way, he also discovered the Kingdom of Dayuan (Ferghana), which would of course prove useful to the Han Empire years later when thousands upon thousands of horses from this region were imported to China en masse, in order to strengthen the Han Cavalry.Upon reaching Yuezhi however, he was disappointed to learn that the inhabitants were no longer a nomadic peoples, but had now instead transformed into an Agricultural civilization, courtesy of the great fertility of the lands of this particular part of Central Asia. Thus, upon attempting to forge an alliance with the Yuezhi Kingdom, the King declined his offer insisting that they were now a peaceful peoples who had little interest in war or revenge, even against the Xiongnu.A stone palette depiction of the King of Yuezhi, and his subjects:Respecting the wishes of the kingdom, Zhang Qian did not pursue the matter any further. Instead, he settled down in Yuezhi for an entire year, documenting their cultures, lifestyles and economy, whilst also doing the same for the neighbouring Kingdom of Daxia (Bactria), which had been hidden on China’s periphery up until then.With nothing left to do, he begun the long trip home. Unfortunately for Zhang however, despite taking the extra long way home through the southern edge of the Tarim Basin this time round, the Xiongnu captured him yet again, after further decimating the vast majority of what men he had left with him. For the second time in a row also, they spared his life because they valued his sense of duty and composure in the face of death.When the Xiongnu leader finally perished after 2 more years, Zhang Qian once again managed to escape in the midst of the ensuing chaos. From the original mission of a hundred men, only Zhang Qian and a soldier called Ganfu managed to return to the Han Empire. At last, in the year 125 BC, Zhang Qian returned triumphantly to Emperor Wu of Han.An artist’s impression of the victorious Han Explorer Zhang Qian (mounted, and in red), outside the Han Capital of Chang’an, returning home after 13 years of living aboard:Reporting to Wu, Zhang informed the Emperor of all he had learnt. During his time overseas, he received detailed information about the existence of not just one, but hundreds of kingdoms even further west than he had travelled.There was the Kingdom of Dangju (Sogdiana), the Kingdom of Shendu (an Indus Valley kingdom in Northern India), and there even existed the famous Anxi (Parthian) and Tiaozhi (Seleucid) Empires.The Countries described in Zhang Qian's report to Han Wudi. The nations he managed to visit up to and including the 1 year he stayed in the Yuezhi Kingdom are highlighted in blue:Emperor Wu, clearly pleased with what he interpreted as steadfast dedication to the Han Empire from Zhang Qian, promoted him to “Palace Counselor”, before subsequently sending him back out again to further investigate the mysterious Western regions, instructing him to personally visit the furthest western empires as much as he could.Thus, Zhang once again set out to explore the world yet again, and in 119 BC merely 6 years later managed to establish trade between the Han and an Indo-European, semi-nomadic peoples known as the “Wusun”. The unintended consequence of this key event eventually led to trade between the Han and Parthian Empires.To secure a favourable relationship between the Han and Parthians, and also in order to protect the growing wealth of China, the Emperor understood what he had to do. In 113 BC, he commanded Zhang to not only make personal contact with the Mesopotamians in the west, but to also set up an embassy to establish formal relations with a world which China was only beginning to become familiar with.Upon reaching Parthia, he was impressed with the nation which lay before him, comparing it to its immediate neighbour; the Seleucid Empire. Zhang saw Seleucia as a place “ruled by many petty chiefs,” which was very much inferior to the Parthian Empire in which he was currently staying.An artist’s impression of the Zhang delegation to the Parthian Empire:Leaving on good terms, a Chinese Embassy in Parthia was finally established, allowing the Han to safeguard their own economic interests. Thus, as time passed, trade between the two countries naturally increased en masse as a consequence.The establishment of trade with the Parthians, and the ensuing increase that was resultant, had an unintended “Domino Effect” on the entire Eurasian Continent, which saw the first beginnings of transcontinental trade between the East and West. Goods such as Silk which were exclusive only to China, were in very high demand all over the world, thus giving the Han an incentive to expand trade beyond China.In time, as the Han started to trade with the other advanced political entities of Eurasia, embassies were established all over the continent not only in Parthia, but also in India, Bactria, Ferghana, and Seleucia. As a result of the international trade resultant thus, the Chinese Economy prospered and bloomed, allowing the Chinese people to benefit fully.In addition, as trade increased over time, and as more and more bilateral relationships were being established between the various factions of Eurasia, the cartographers of the various continental kingdoms and empires were beginning to take note.It seemed apparent to them, that a transcontinental trading network had begun to form as a result of the trade between China, Parthia and the rest of Eurasia. They were correct, because of the efforts of the Han Explorer Zhang Qian, the famous historical Silk Road existed for the first time in the History of Man, allowing the first system of Globalization to occur:Bringing prosperity to all, it facilitated the flow of not just wealth via exotic goods, but also allowed the West and East to exchange ideas. Goods exclusive to China like Silk were traded to the western end of the continent, meanwhile goods exclusive to other countries such as Roman Glassware soon found their way into the Han Empire.It was through the Silk Road that the Indian Philosophy of Buddhism was first introduced to China also in 65 BC, although it wouldn’t be for for another 550 years during the Tang Dynasty (618–907 AD), where Buddhism would play a more prominent role in shaping Chinese culture.During the Han however, many important Buddhist canons were translated into Chinese during the 2nd century AD, including the Sutra of 42 Chapters, Perfection of Wisdom, Shurangama Sutra, and Pratyutpanna Sutra. China’s first Buddhist Temple, the “White Horse Temple” was constructed outside the walls of the city of Luoyang.All due to the efforts of Zhang Qian, the Han managed to come onto the world stage with a bang, rather than merely gradually ascending to fame. Chinese civilization after 3 thousand years of natural geographical isolation, had finally been introduced into the world, where it would go on to impact the international community in many various ways from then on.A statue of Zhang Qian (even today, Zhang Qian is recognised by Modern China as a national hero, though often overlooked compared to more recent individuals such as Dr. Sun Yat Sen or Mao Zedong):One of these many impacts, was the beginnings of the Sinocentric Han Tributary System, which believed the Han Empire to be at the center of the civilized world.Influenced by their own experiences in the time when China was paying an annual tribute to the Xiongnu Empire, as a result, the belief of Han superiority soon rose to prominence as the Chinese begun to believe themselves to be the “Middle Kingdom” (which is also uncoincidentally the literal name for China today in the Chinese written language: “中国”).Thus, it was believed that China was the preeminent power of the entire world with no equal in sight.Although other civilizations through history had also believed themselves to be the only civilized peoples, the Han took it a step further by mandating that actions speak louder than words. They thus required that all countries in the known world were to submit to them, by gifting them each and every year to the end of time, to show that they recognised the status and importance of Han China, as the sole ruling power of the world.In this way, first due to the travels of Zhang Qian, then the establishment of the Silk Road, then the creation of the Han Tributary System, the Han introduced to the world a brief taste of Chinese civilization, making China greater than it had ever been previously. In doing so, the Han set the standard for the succeeding Chinese dynasties, making the Han the most successful empire of Imperial China.Chapter V: “From Rags to Riches”: The Mighty Economy of the Chinese EmpireThe Silk Road was probably one of the greatest assets of the Han Empire, it was the major source of China’s great wealth for the rest of the dynasty. Because of the great abundance of goods produced by the Han Economy, goods which were not available anywhere else in the world, this allowed China to maintain an extreme positive trading balance over the rest of the entire world.This one sided Han advantage was most evident in the case of the Han-Roman trade. The defining characteristic of this economic relationship saw not only the flow of Chinese goods to the West, but also the flow of Roman raw materials to the East.The consequences of this one sided relationship led to a growing scarcity of precious metals in the Roman Empire, which in turn lead to the repeated debasement of Roman currency in the 2nd Century AD, ensuring the effective cessation of trade with China, in order to maintain the external stability of the Roman Economy.An artist’s impression of a thriving cosmopolitan Han city resultant from trade along the Silk Road:But it was not just in the realm of Foreign Trade, in which the Han Economy was prospering.Ever since the time of the Qin Dynasty, a special emphasis was placed on China’s role as an Agricultural society, one which relied on a stable annual harvest in which to run smoothly.Thus, Agricultural Production was further prioritised during the Han Dynasty, as not only a way in which they could quickly rebuild the Chinese Economy in the earliest days of China under the Liu family, but also as a permanent way to prosper. Given that Agricultural output was also the basis for State Tax Revenue, increasing Agricultural Production was considered to be the top priority for the Han, especially during the first century that the Han Empire existed.To this extent, Gaozu, the first Han Emperor upon recognising the importance of Agriculture to the Han Empire, moved swiftly to incentivize the people to produce more efficiently.As a solution, he mandated the lowering of State taxes leveraged onto small landowners, which also applied to the Peasants and Farmers of China, in order to encourage them to farm harder. Simultaneously, land was taken away from the Aristocracy by force, and redistributed to the Peasantry, motivating them to work harder as they saw that all their efforts would now directly benefit them, rather than the the nobility who often exploited them.Under Emperor Wu many years later, the farming process was further improved upon when he introduced to the Peasantry a new farming method by the name of “Daitianfa” (“代田法”- the “Replacement Field” Method), in which the fields were divided into multiple long narrow trenches, making it easy for the various seeds to be placed into those trenches.In addition, the soil that fell from the mountain tops on which the trenches were placed, supported the stalks of the various new plants. As a result, this method also made it easier to water. Supported by the new Han invention of the “Multi-Tube Seed Drill” and cast Iron tools, intensive farming emerged in Han China.The Han invention of the Multi-Tube Seed Drill:As a result, China was able to lead the world in grain yields both per unit of land and per capita, where it was able to at its peak produce 16 billion kilograms of grain annually, which was 280 kg per person.By comparison, at this point in time intensive farming had not yet emerged in the contemporary Roman Empire. As a result, the Han Economy greatly prospered, as the Han Government had endless amounts of tax revenue in order to fund public services (which greatly helped in the Han-Xiongnu War).Emperor Wu, who was concerned that the Han were “putting all their eggs into one basket”, wanted a separate source of revenue for the Han Government, in case Agricultural Production was low in times of great famines. To this extent, he nationalized the Salt and Iron Industries thus allowing those in debt, to work for the Government in order to pay off their debt, whilst also being socially and economically productive.As a result of the riches brought about due to the existence of the Silk Road, from the Agricultural reforms of Emperors Gaozu and Wu, and also due to the Nationalization of the Salt and Iron Industries, the Economy of the Han Empire skyrocketed.As a consequence, this brought about a period of great prosperity to all of China, the effects of which served to allow China to simultaneously sponsor Zhang Qian’s expeditions to Central Asia, and the Han-Xiongnu War, whilst also ensuring the prosperity of Han Citizens.The Economy of the Han became so prosperous in fact, that at the heights of its power, China accounted for 25% of the world’s wealth and recorded a population per the Imperial Census in 2 AD of 57,671,400 individuals (1/3 of the world’s population).Furthermore, untold millions of coins had to be casted each and every year as a consequence, reaching a peak of 220 million coins per year from 118 BC to 5 AD.Coins of the Han Dynasty issued during the reign of Emperor Wudi of Han:As a result of the vast Han Economy, this allowed the Chinese to transform their Capital of Chang’an into the second largest city in the world, a city that was 4 times as large as the Roman Capital in terms of area, with a population of 400 thousand people- the largest in the world after Rome (who had 1 million people).A description from the Chinese State owned newspaper Xinhua, follows on the glory of Chang’an:“The 12-gate, walled city had eight avenues, each of which were 45 to 55 meters wide and lined with trees.Its wall was 12 meters high, 25,700 meters long and surrounded by an eight-meter-wide moat. To run around it would be the equivalent of completing a half marathon.”By developing a very prosperous economy, the Han brought a much needed metaphoric breath of fresh to China, which desperately required a period of prosperity after the abomination that was the Warring States period, and the Qin Empire. This thus makes the Han in my mind the most successful Chinese dynasty for another reason yet again.Chapter VI: “National Intellectualism”: The Achievements of Han Civil SocietyBecause of the great and lengthy period of prosperity which occurred under the Han Empire, both at an individual and collective level, China was able to turn its attention to more productive activities, rather than just war with the Xiongnu.Encouraged by the free flow of ideas, which were allowed to find a strong foothold in the Han Empire due to the existence of the Silk Road, a great period of experimentation occurred under the wise ruling of the Han Dynasty.Han experiments in the realm of Technology thus saw the inventions of the following notable items of interest (apart from the Multi-Tube Seed Drill and Cast Iron Tools which have already been covered in the previous chapter):Paper (which was vastly more practical to write on than small columns of Bamboo strips):The Loom (which facilitated the invention of Silk, indirectly contributing to the creation of the world renowned Silk Road):The Seismoscope (which was used to measure the magnitude of Earthquakes, a metal ball would drop into a frog’s mouth also, to indicate the direction in which an Earthquake was occurring):The Stirrup (it was attached to each side of a horse's saddle, in the form of a loop with a flat base to support the rider's foot, allowing the fierce Han Cavalry to fight yet even more effectively on horseback):The Wheelbarrow (which allowed one to carry the heaviest of loads, loads which an individual would not normally be able to. It did this by evenly distributing the weight of a object between the wheel and the operator):The Repeating Crossbow (was a revolutionary weapon on the battlefield as it allowed one to fire several projectiles consecutively with little effort or training required to properly operate it):The Water Powered Armillary Sphere (a model of the Celestial Globe constructed from rings and hoops representing the equator, the tropics, and other celestial circles, and came with the ability to revolve on its axis):A similar phenomenon proved true in the realms of Mathematics under the Han Empire also. Apart from independently discovering the existence of square roots, cube roots, the Pythagorean Theorem, the Gaussian Elimination and the close (yet slightly clumsy) approximation of Pi as 10^1/2 (3.14159), the Han also invented and introduced to the world the concept of negative numerals.Scientifically, Han Astronomers updated the old Chinese Calendar and re-calculated the tropical year approximating it to 365. 385/1539 days, whilst asserting that the duration of the lunar month was 29. 43/81 days, the new Calendar was of course adopted by Emperor Wu first from the moment of its inception.Meanwhile, the inventor of the Seismometer; the Astronomer Zhang Heng, also recognised that a Solar Eclipse occurred when the Moon and Sun crossed paths to block sunlight from reaching the Earth:Similarly, other Chinese Astronomers throughout the 400 years of the Han Dynasty’s duration, created and maintained a plethora of star maps, whilst also keeping detailed records of Comets that appeared in the night sky. The most notable Shooting Star they observed was the famous “Halley’s Comet”, which lit up the Stratosphere above Han China in 12 BC.Despite the existence of all of which has already been mentioned however, some of the more notable achievements of Han Civil Society lay not in Technology, Science or Mathematics, but actually occurred in the realm of Han Cultural achievements.For starters, the Han Dynasty, was actually a very revolutionary and unprecedented period in Chinese Art and Architecture. During the Han, the Chinese improved upon the traditional architectures of pre-Imperial China, and expanded it into a form with which we are mostly familiar with today.For reference, here is the architecture of the Shang Dynasty (1600–1046 BC) era Palace, at this point in time slightly over 3.5 thousand years ago, even Palatial Complexes were very basic under a not so prosperous China at the time:The prosperous Han changed all that however, and took Chinese Architecture to an all new level.Though the pre-Imperial dynasties of China had constructed their buildings mostly out of timber, the Han changed that. During the course of the Han Empire, the Chinese learnt to construct multi-story buildings built not only out of wood, but sometimes even from brick, stone and “rammed-earth” materials, to support their superstructures.The Han expanded Chinese Architecture to include multi-story buildings as this miniature pottery Han era replica so depicts:Unlike the previous pre-Imperial dynasties of China, they also constructed some of their architectures out of stone rather than just wood:And also unlike the previous dynasties, Han Architecture involved constructing and experimenting with rammed-earth materials as the Han section of the Great Wall of China so clearly depicts below:The greatest improvement in Han Architecture was evident with the Emperor’s Palaces however, which were improved to make them larger, taller and more sophisticatedly detailed on the exterior, where multi-story roofs and buildings can be observed:Author’s note: it must be stressed however that these particular images below, are of Han period reconstructions for the sole purpose of filming, so they may not be wholly reflective of genuine Han Architecture.However, that would be extremely unlikely as I have already taken the courtesy of doing “background checks” for you, and I assure you that they are very faithful reproductions indeed. So relax.Another replica of Han Architecture at Yangguan Pass in Gansu Province:During this “Golden Age” for Chinese Architecture, the Han also managed to construct the largest Palatial Complex by area, in the History of Mankind.The Weiyang Palace was a testament to Han Imperium and might.It was described as being 1,200 acres or 4.8 km^2, making it 11 times the size of Vatican City, or 6.7 times larger than the existing Forbidden City in Beijing or approximately 72 times the area of the Versailles Palace in France.Having been built 2,217 years ago at the request of the first Han Emperor Gaozu, it should be safe thus to assume the power, grandeur, ingenuity and wealth of the Han Empire.A computer generated imagined image of the Weiyang (Endless) Palace:Apart from being a revolutionary period for Architecture however, the Han Dynasty was also a time of unprecedented evolution for Chinese Art. Due to the inflows of foreign influences originating from along the Silk Road, this impacted Chinese artistic styles in many various ways.Examples of this include the “Gansu Flying Horse”, a dedication to the most prized military asset of the Han Imperial Army, which was sourced from overseas in the Kingdom of Ferghana along the Silk Road:The Han period of Imperial China in terms of Art, was also most remembered for the simple, yet abundant availability of lacquerware and ceramics, the area in which the Han developed to a high quality standard the most. These were items produced only by the most skilled artisans, as such, only the most wealthy of the Aristocracy could afford to purchase such luxurious items (lacquerware tray and ceramic jar pictured below):Han Ceramics even extended to focus on replicating entire buildings, which they did, producing vast multitudes of ceramic works including miniature replicas of the houses of the nobility (which has proven useful to contemporary Historians, as there are rarely any architectures left over from the Han period from which we can study today):Statues were of course also in full bloom, pictured below as an example, is a bronze statuette of the Qilin (Chimera), a creature which was believed by the Chinese to signal good luck, as their sighting by those lucky enough, was thought to signal the coming of an illustrious ruler:Thus, even in the realm of Art and Architecture, the Han set the standard for all dynasties to come.But yet again, despite all the advances in Art and Architecture, it was actually the consequences arising from the adoption and promotion of the State Ideology of Confucianism, by Emperor Wu, which had the greatest impact on the Han Dynasty of China, truly impacting the future of China, and shaping it all the way up until the end of the Imperial period merely 105 years ago.Confucianism taught that hard work was the key to success in a world with unlimited desires, limited time, limited money and limited resources. Everyone wanted to be great, to be strong and to be wealthy, and yet, it was not possible for everyone to do so, otherwise this would render those positions of power quite redundant.Acting on the advice of Confucius, in time, the beginnings of a Meritocratic Examination System was created under the Han Empire, for the purpose of using it to recruit the next generation of government officials.Though the process would not be entirely formalized until the Tang Dynasty several hundred years later, it was a process which begun with the Han. Using the exams as a filter to separate the sincere from the insincere, the Han asserted that only those who worked and studied for long and hard enough, could pass the exams and go onto to assist the Emperor in ruling the country.A depiction of Han Government Officials:Following on from the example of the Qin Empire, the Han promoted the Mandarin to the highest position in Han society (in alignment with Confucian values), and forced any candidates enrolling (who was hoping to become a Mandarin) to compete against each other in standardized examinations.It was hoped that in doing so, only the best, most sincere and most dedicated individuals would be able to hold it together for long enough, to eventually become an adviser to the Emperor himself.After the appropriate candidates were accepted into the Han Government, they were organized such that the Mandarins themselves were further split into two separate groups to better specialise in a certain field. The two factions were focused on dealing with either the Civilian or Military Administrative facets of the Han Empire:The first faction was dressed in red and wore a ministerial headgear equipped with two feathers, one on each side. This was the group composed of the Military Ministers who administered the Han Imperial Army. The Military faction often had personal battlefield experience and sat on the right side of the Emperor in the Imperial Palace’s main hall, existing to advise him on martial matters.Directly parallel to the Military faction, and seated on the left side of the Emperor during the times when Court was in session, were the Civil Ministers. They wore black and donned a ministerial headpiece with no feathers to signal their Civilian Affairs status, their primary responsibility of course included the running of the more peaceful facets of Imperial Administration.This thus ensured the existence of a strong political backbone, which was able to run the Han Empire efficiently as a result. New to the concept of a centralized power, the Han Emperors needed all the help they could get, thus the advice from the armies upon armies of such a learned men as that of the Mandarin Government Officials, was of course extremely welcomed.Although many millions of people criticise the usage of standardized testing even to this day, the fact remains that there are very few practical and effective alternatives to decide who is first, and who is last. Thus, in creating the Examination System, the Han invented one of the greatest and most relevant gifts to the entire world even in the 21st Century, yet another reason as to why the Han are most successful Chinese dynasty.Final Summary (to tie up any “loose ends” and conclude the answer)Thus the Han Empire was the most successful Chinese dynasty ever. They may not have been as glorious as the succeeding Cosmopolitan Tang Dynasty, nor as inventive and wealthy as the Pre-Industrialized society of the Song, nor were they an Economic Powerhouse like Ming, but that’s because the Han existed 2,000 years ago.Considering their limitations of being a naturally isolated country due to geography, the burden of being forced to keep China together in one piece after the tyranny that was Qin rule, and the very real threat of the Xiongnu, who would have otherwise completely wiped Chinese civilization off the face of the Earth, the Han did well.They were an all rounder who brought Chinese civilization to the world through Zhang Qian’s journeys westwards based solely on rumours. This unintentionally created the Silk Road, the first system of Globalization thus ensuring the prosperity of the Han for the rest of their rule.From the Silk Road, they imported from Central Asia the Ferghana Horse, which they used to bring their powerful nomadic northern neighbour to heel, after 65 years of domination and humiliation by their hands, thus saving China in the process.Furthermore, the adoption of Confucianism rather than Legalism, didn’t only contribute to Chinese culture today in an irreplaceable way, but contributed to the Han invention of the Meritocratic Examination System, which would benefit China for the next 2,000 years.Thus, it is completely reasonable (to me at least) that the Han Dynasty is the most successful Chinese dynasty of all time. It now remains to be seen whether the current ruling dynasty; the People’s Republic of China (PRC), can surpass their achievements, and set a new world record in the books of Chinese civilization.Sources Utilised Throughout My Answer (also for further reading):LegalismShihuangdi | emperor of Qin dynastyQin dynasty | China [221-207 BC]February 2013: Liu Bang, from Peasant Rebel to EmperorLu Jia 陸賈 (www.chinaknowledge.de)Wudi | emperor of Han dynastyWudi Emperor of the Han Dynasty (156- 87 BC), Story of Han Dynasty EmperorHan–Xiongnu War - WikipediaChao Cuo 晁錯 (www.chinaknowledge.de)Heavenly Horses of ChinaBattle of Mobei - WikipediaZhang Qian (Chang Ch’ien)Zhang QianZhang Qian - WikipediaTop 10 Explorers Of The Ancient World - ListverseSilk RoadImperial Chinese tributary system - Wikipedia3PerspMaps.htmlEconomyChang'an: four times the size of RomeScience and technology of the Han dynasty - WikipediaWeiyang Palace - WikipediaHan Dynasty Art - Ancient China - Quatr.ushttp://www.arthistory.net/han-dynasty-art/

There is no simple clear cut answer to this is going to be a long one. Our problems long began before CPEC and CPEC has little to do with what’s fundamentally wrong with the Pakistani economy.First, the state of the economy:When asked about worsening fiscal position where the deficit escalated to 8.9 percent of GDP for last fiscal year, the government said that out of total collected tax revenue of Rs3.8 trillion, debt servicing consumed Rs2.1 trillion and then after providing share to provinces, the government had to borrow to meet defence, development and running of the government expenditure.A comparison of macro-indicators at end fiscal year 2018 with FY 2019 suggests that there has been a fast track deterioration of the economic situation during the last one year of the PTI rule.The following are the key indicators showing how things have gone wrong with the Pakistan’s economy.- GDP growth was recorded at 5.8 percent in 2018. As a result of slowdown in economy, growth rate for 2019 is expected to be 3 percent or even less.- Fiscal deficit has increased to Rs3.4 trillion at the end of June 2019 compared to Rs2.2 trillion when PML-N government left in June 2018. Amount wise this is the largest ever deficit in our history. In terms of percentage, fiscal deficit has been recorded at 8.9 percent compared to 6.6 percent on June end 2018. As percentage of GDP, 8.9 percent is the highest in last 30 years and 8.9 percent also has to be seen against PTI’s own set target of 5.1 percent in September last year. Missing the target by miles reflect complete lack of understanding on the part of PTI’s economic team. The high fiscal deficit has a direct consequence on the amount of borrowing as the following debt numbers will reflect.- Total debt and liabilities on the end of June 2018 was Rs30 trillion, which has now gone up to Rs40 trillion. This is the largest ever increase in debt and liabilities in one year. Pakistan’s total debt and liabilities in first 71 years was Rs30 trillion but under PTI government, one third more has been accumulated. This is unprecedented and reflects poor management of expenditure and revenue. If the trend continues like this, it is feared, the whole economic structure would collapse as our economy will not be able to sustain this.- Tax revenue was at a record level at more than Rs3,800 billion in 2018. First time in Pakistan history, tax revenue didn’t register any increase during 2019. During PML-N Government’s five years, the tax revenue increased 20 percent per annum in 4 out of 5 years. This was in spite of extremely low inflation and without significant devaluation - the two factors that automatically help increase tax revenues. It is said that the current revenue target of Rs5,550 billion seems very difficult to be achieved. It’s about 44 percent higher than the last year’s actual collection.- Inflation was at a record low at 3.9 percent in 2018. Last inflation figure reported by the present government is 10.3 percent.- SBP policy (interest) rate was 6.50 percent in mid-2018. It has been to 13.25 percent by the PTI government.- Stock Market was 42,847 at end PML-N government. It’s now hovering around 30,000 after touching 28,000.- Foreign exchange reserves were $15,913 million (SBP reserves $9,510 million) at end of PML-N government. Now it’s $15,630 (SBP reserves $8,271 million). This is in spite of around $12 billion obtained from friendly countries and IMF in last one year.- The only positive thing happened during the last one year is that the current account deficit which improved during PTI government. It was $19,897 million (6.3 percent of GDP) during 2018 fiscal year. It’s now $13,508 million (4.8 percent of GDP) in 2019. It’s ideal to reduce current account deficit by increasing exports. That has the best impact on the economy. The government, however, did it without increasing exports but due to reduction in imports. It is said that the policy to impact imports has considerably slowed down the economy.- Compared to GDP of $313 billion in 2018, our GDP has come down to $280 billion - a reduction of $33 billion only to achieve reduction of $4 billion in imports.- As a result of GDP decline, per capita GDP has gone down by more than 8 percent.- Large scale manufacturing has had negative growth during last one year.- Agriculture growth was less than 1 percent.- Massive currency devaluation took place with rupee going from 116 by end of PML-N government to around 160. This is the largest devaluation in last several decades with significant downside impact on our economy.- FDI (Foreign Direct Investment) has plummeted and is down by more than 50 percent.- As a result of significant reduction in growth and high inflation, the common Pakistani has been the worst affected. In last one year, more than 45 lac people have gone below the poverty line. In addition more than 15 lac people have lost their jobs.According to official projections, the GDP growth is expected to be around 2.4 percent while inflation will be in the range of 13 percent to 15 percent. The discount rate is expected to go further up in the range of 15 percent-16 percent.As a result, during the present fiscal year about five million people will go below the poverty line. This is on top of 4.5 million people who suffered this misery past one year. With declining growth rate, another 1.5 million or more Pakistanis will become unemployed.In the first two years of PTI rule, it is feared that about three million Pakistanis will become unemployed as against the party’s commitment of providing 10 million jobs over five years.Economic situation going from bad to worseThe Executive Summary is as follows:The debt crises of Pakistan began long before CPEC was even conceptualized. Pakistan currently is in the intial stages of a debt trap but to say it’s because of CPEC is a bad application of the correlation equaling causation fallacy.Pakistan’’s debt trap is due to its incredible inefficient and badly thought out government spending which is directed more towards plugging in leakages in it’s projects and public sector enterprises rather than meaningful investments for growth that lead to a high ROI in the future. Along with a non existent tax base that is actually shrinking even further.Lets go over the timeline first:Source: Pakistan’s Public debtSource: Pakistan’s Public debtThe following are the key insights to take away from this:CPEC was formally announced in April 2015. But Pakistan’s debt problem began in the 2007–2009 period, long before CPEC was announced.The primary cause of Pakistan’s debt is domestic debt rather than external debt. This is telling for a few reasons: External debt is normally tied to development projects. So a high external debt means that the country is borrowing loans from abroad to fund domestic development projects that spur growth and have good ROIs in the future that our coming generations can take advantage of.However, our external debt profile has not changed much. It’s our domestic debt that has sky rocketed. Domestic debt is tied closely to the government meeting it’s fiscal deficits or current expenditures. That is, the government is borrowing money from local banks or printing its own money just to meet it’s day to day expenditure.It’s ok for governments to take loans from abroad to fund major development projects and then pass on the debt for those projects to future generations as they will reap the harvest and return for those projects and it will lead to a betterment in their lives.If I borrow money today to buy a car for my son, I can make the payments for it as long as i live and then pass on the remaining to my son since he can take advantage of the car as well.But if i borrow money to pay for my booze and cigarettes and then pass on the debt i incurred for those to my son, I have curtailed his spending power in the future without passing on any meaningful betterment in his life in the future.That’s unfortunately what the Pakistan government has been doing: Borrowing from local banks to finance its day to day expenditures.Actually, we are currently borrowing to fund our entire defense, development and government administrative expenditures after paying back our debt obligations and our shares to the provinces.This has crowded out the private sector from bank capital for loans in order to grow their business as the banks would prefer to lend to the government as a safer bet. So the private sector growth has slowed leading to a lower tax revenue from businesses.Imran Khan has always been quite vocal about how Pakistan’s main problem is corruption, people not paying taxes and wealth stashed abroad. $200 billion stashed abroad in Swiss banks, which when bought back could be used to pay off our debt. Apparently the figure has been revised down to $12.5 billion and even that has not been bough back.As far as taxes go, the government keeps coming up with stats like “If every Pakistani paid 1000 rupees we could do blah blah blah”. Has Mr. Khan ever toured the rural countries from his Bani Gala residence? Nearly half of our population is below the age of 18 and earning below $2 a day. Where exactly are they supposed to scrounge up the money.Corruption then gets dragged in. I can honestly say anti-corruption drives in Pakistan and “Accountability” is used more as a political tool to keep civilian elected politicians in line more than anything. The Judiciary and Military and Civil service seem surprisingly immune from them.Also, Pakistan ranks on the same level of corruption as Vietnam which is growing at a rate of 6.8% and destined for a new Asian tiger ranking.The problem in Pakistan is legalized corruption: Where the law permits expenditures that the state has no business indulging in.An officers mess hall spending lakhs of rupees to upgrade the air conditioning of their living room and another few lakhs to maintain a pretty lawn outisde, it’s not considered corruption in Pakistan. But it is a waste.When the Director of some third rate government insitution gets a free fuel, a driver, a car, a house and perks and privileges in his formalized salary and work benefits, it’s not corruption. But it is a waste.We’ve restricted our scope to corruption because the idea of Zardari getting a 10% cut on a submarine deal or Sheikh Rashid accepting money bribes under the table inflames our passions. But most of the corruption in Pakistan doesn’t happen like that. Most of the corruption in Pakistan wouldn’t even be considered corruption.Its in the forms of perks, benefits, cars, drivers, petrol subsidies, free housing and countless other benefits distributed among elites and their networks of patronage which encompass millions of supporters for different political factions and entities.When the government distributes massive amounts of funds for discretionary spending by parliamentarians in their districts and said funds are spent on schools with no teachers, roads with no bidding and other pointless activities designed more to distribute resources among followers than actual growth, i have to ask if a poor country like ours can afford this.Pakistan’s problem isn’t a low tax base or corruption. It’s systemic waste. Legalized waste. Of precious tax payer money.On SOEs that run into billions of rupees in losses. On development projects that are offer no clear return on investments. Ghost schools. Inflated and bloated state organizations and their salaries. And countless other forms of legalized waste.Pakistan’s government institutions are often classified as “rent seeking” for a reason: they are still mired in the colonial era structures left behind by the British. The state was designed by the British colonialists to extract resources for the industrialization of England, to purchase the loyalty of local clan chiefs and tribal leaders who were loyal to the crown and to enable the aristocratic lifestyles of the ruling elite.We have barely gone beyond that way of thinking and the state currently continues to perpetuate it’s rent seeking strategy with long term economic plans being developed but continuously disrupted by political turmoil.And the political turmoil itself also bears discussion: The establishment would always prefer a weak parliament where no party has a strong majority so that civilian officials are unable to surmount a challenge to the unelected establishment.Unfortunately, weak civilian governments make weak economic policies since they are unable to gather the political will needed for tough economic measures. Especially when establishment agents are lurking around the corner to sponsor protests that cut civil leaders down to size.The military dictatorships often don’t fare much better either. While benefiting from massive amounts of US military and civil aid, their economic policies are not superior to the civilians despite protestations to the contrary.Actually, if you look at it from the data centric viewpoint, the PPP was actually the government from the 2000 to present day period that performed best in terms of boosting exports, and that too in a tough global environment during the 2008–2009 recession era.Which political party has been the best for Pakistan's economy? Trade stats reveal allOne of the core problems causing the debt crises in Pakistan is the current account deficit where imports have outstripped exports resulting in pressure on Pakistan’s dollar reserves when servicing foreign payments and debt obligations. Growing exports are a vital way to resolve this issue and to manage debt levels. Note that Pakistan’s current account deficit began during the Musharraf era and got carried on from there.Even if the trade deficit is growing, this is not necessarily a bad thing if the deficit is because of development related activities where machinery and infrastructure is being imported instead of luxury items like bulletproof BMWs (which the government imported massive quantities of). Countries like Turkey also have significant trade deficits but their trade deficits are due to productive imports that boost local economic growth.Also, the way that Pakistan has tried to reduce the current account defecit in terms of trade has been through constant currency devaluations in order to make exports more competitive. This policy has been consistently failing for a decade. Pakistan’s exports are noncompetitive because we have some of the highest electricity rates for our textile factories and other businesses. And we have failed to invest enough in small technology firms that could have made a niche out for themselves as businesses that dont require much upfront capital investment but offer immense revenues in dollar denominated currencies.Pakistan’s largest resource pool right now is its young population and if we properly trained and educated even a fraction of them and helped them set up local companies or exported them as talented man power, we could boost our exports enormously. Right now our primary foreign exchange is coming in the form of remittances.But instead we keep devaluing the currency and manage to increase maybe $500 million to $1 billion increase in exports and 3–4 billion USD decrease in imports?While inflating our debt obligations by almost 40–50%, shaving $30–35 billion USD off of our economy, choking imports and reducing economic activity to a low 2–3%?For $4 billion in account deficit reduction?In any case, growing exports won’t do much when they are matched with increasing borrowing from local banks due to high government expenditures that are mostly to cover for massive losses from 5 key elements:The five real fault-lines in the rupee-based economy are:the Rs1.7 trillion circular debtRs1.6 trillion leakages in Public Sector Enterprises (PSEs)trillion-rupee leakages in public procurement projects$2 billion leakage in the gas sectorThe Rs734 billion debt in the government’s commodity operations.These are the five sectors that need wholesale reforms. And, these are the five serious fault-lines where our reform basket is absolutely empty (resulting in the skyrocketing of our debt to Rs40 trillion).Source: ContinuityThere is no point in talking about increasing the tax base when these massive leakages in government revenue exist. It’s akin to pouring water in a jug with a hole at the bottom.Imran Khan has looked at the yawning deficits and declared austerity on the solution to our problems.Government expenditures are being slashed, the monetary policy tightened and more taxes being imposed.Thing about the tax revenue increase programs this past decade is is that they always have the same story: Government announces new tax, agriculture and retail push back, the government withdraws the tax plan and tries to squeeze out more taxes from the current, already squeezed small tax base. This leads to current tax payers start to find ways to avoid taxes and leads to tax base actually shrinking.Which is whats happening right now.Also, the imposition of taxes on retail sector has been done in the worst way possible: Indirect taxation, which is always just passed on to the end user and leads to sky rocketing inflation while eating into the already tiny margins of retailers like street vendors.Tell me: What exactly is the point of maintaining humongous tax drains like the Federal Bureau of revenue when they are incapable of collecting taxes directly from tax payers?And in some places, we area actually spending Rs 1000 to collect Rs. 100 in tax…The failure to develop an adequate tax base combined with incredibly wasteful government expenditures is at the heart of our current economic crises, not CPEC.The tendency to blame China for Pakistan’s debt problems is an angle pushed far more from Washington, New Delhi and Tokyo than anywhere else simply because that narrative suits their strategic interests.And while the irony of the Indian government excusing Pakistan’s poor economic management causing debt to blame China instead is not lost on me, it’s simply not true.As the Pakistani public is well aware of by now, crisis interventions by outside donors are no more than a stopgap solution to what has become a chronic problem: Pakistan, for all intents and purposes, does not have a tax base. Only about 1 percent of the population pays income tax. According to an IMF working paper authored by Serhan Cevik in 2016, Pakistan had a “tax revenue gap” equivalent to 10 percent of national GDP (or roughly $28 billion in 2016) and could potentially double its tax revenue-to-GDP ratio.While not even high-income countries manage to collect the full total of their potential tax revenues, the paper pointed out that Pakistan’s collection rate falls “significantly below” even countries of comparable circumstances. Not much has changed in the last two years. Pakistan’s Federal Board of Revenue confessed this past June that it would miss its original revenue collection target for the 2017-2018 fiscal year by 162 billion rupees ($1.32 billion).Until it builds an adequate tax base, Pakistan’s fiscal stability will continue to rely on outside donors. In other words: there won’t be any fiscal stability.Wanted: A Solid Tax Base in PakistanIn any case, the only thing Imran Khan has done is to impost MORE taxes on the already burdened tax base which is small enough as it is. And the reaction to that has been current tax payers taking their money abroad or finding ways to hide it because even they have reached their breaking point.Meanwhile vast swathes of the underground economy remain untaxed. Indirect taxation continues to be favored over direct taxation. Small businesses are seeing their already small margins shrink.And the end result of this sad story is that the FBR has recorded its lowest recent revenue collection in the near past. And our tax base, small as it is, is actually declining now.The Catastrophe of the IMFI could not have said anything better than what has been said by Mr. Abdul Sattar in his incredible take down of the disaster that has been the IMF and it’s economic policies. The IMF is a rapacious institution run to serve imperialist resource extraction projects across the globe and to think the IMF and it’s packages are solution to our problems is a folly beyond imagining. And the dark past of the IMF’s “austerity” mantra has a long track record of wrecking developing world economies.Long but worthy read:The US's voting share in in the IMF is 17.16 percent and in the World Bank 16.41 percent. Japan holds the next highest voting shares with 6.27 percent and 7.87 percent respectively. Washington also has the unique privilege of appointing the president of the World Bank and is the only country entitled to a permanent place among the Bank’s executive directors.So, it is no surprise that these institutions were employed as a tool to serve the interests of the global hegemon, punishing states that dared to challenge the rapaciousness of Western capitalism. For instance Salvador Allende, the first elected socialist leader of Chile, infuriated the US and its Western allies by asserting that his country should take care of its own natural resources and run the economy. This did not go down well with the arrogant modern imperial powers that are then said to have forced the World Bank to stop giving loans to the elected government in 1972, triggering an economic chaos that culminated in a military coup. Soon after the coup, the doors were opened for military dictator General Pinochet, whose brutal regime not only assassinated Allende but also decimated up to 130,000 Chileans in a 17-year despotic rule. The World Bank showered $350.5 million between on Chile 1973 and 1976, almost 13 times the $27.7 million it gave during the three-year Allende presidency.Integration of the developing countries' economies was also one of the main purposes of these institutions. To achieve this, they came up with the idea of the Structural Adjustment Programme that sought to pressure the Third World countries into privatizing industries and the service sector, cutting in government spending, liberalizing capital markets (which leads to unstable trading in currencies), promoting market-based pricing (which tends to raise the cost of basic goods) and raising interest rates.The World Bank instituted its SAPs in 1980 and the IMF imposed them in 1986. According to a research paper by Asad Sami, during 1980-93, 70 developing countries were subjected to 566 stabilization and structural adjustment programmes – with disastrous consequences. The author claims that between 1984 and 1990, Third World countries under SAPs transferred $178 billion to Western commercial banks. The enormous capital drain prompted Morris Miller, a Canadian former World Bank director, to remark, “Not since the Conquistadors plundered Latin America has the world experienced such a flow in the direction we see today." Such policies led to the stagnation of growth in developing countries besides doubling their debt burden to over $1.5 trillion by the end of the 1980s, doubling again to $3 trillion by the end of the 1990s.The ruling elite of the Western capitalist world ruthlessly exploited the developing countries, especially those of Latin America and Africa. To understand how such policies ruined the lives of millions across the world, one needs to see what happened in Peru, Mexico and other parts of the globe. In 1990, an IMF-sponsored stabilization package produced catastrophic consequences in Peru. Within no time fuel prices increased 31 times – by 2,968 percent – and that of bread 12 times – by 1,150 percent. The prices of most basic food staples increased by six or seven times – 446 percent in a single month – yet wages had already been compressed by 80 percent in the period prior to the adoption of these measures in August 1990. IMF SAPs were first imposed on Mexico in 1982 and by 1992 infant deaths due to malnutrition tripled, the minimum wage fell by 60 percent and the percentage of the population living in poverty rose from less than half to more than two-thirds.Such policies also hit Africa. The situation of the continent was not rosy prior to the arrival of the international monetary institutions in 1980 but even then during 1960-1980, Sub Saharan Africa’s GDP per capita grew by 36 percent. Between the 1980s and 2000s, it actually fell by 15 percent. Dictation by the international monetary institutions led to the rise of rampant poverty and by 2015, 413 million people were living on less than $1.90 a day. Despite following these anti-people policies, the average life expectancy for Sub Saharan Africa is only 47 years (the lowest in the world), a drop of 15 years since 1980. Forty percent of the population suffers from malnutrition that causes low birth weight among infants and stunts growth in children.Advocates of a free market economy could brag about the increasing trade that the mineral rich continent witnessed from 1989 to 1999. It is estimated that Sub Saharan Africa’s trade as a percentage of GDP (a key indicator of globalization) increased from 78.1 percent to 95.6 percent; in dollar terms, trade grew from $175 billion in 1990 to $187 billion in 1999; for the same period, foreign direct investment jumped from $923 million to $7.9 billion in 1999.But contrary to the tall claims of international monetary institutions, export expansion and rising foreign investment in Africa neither increased growth nor reduced poverty or debt. In reality, most African exports are raw materials, and non-oil commodity prices dropped by 35 percent on average from 1997 and 2004. Tax holidays and profit repatriation might have helped foreign companies to accumulate immense wealth but made very little difference to the lives of millions of Africans.Per capita income, one of the tools to measures the development of a country, also fell between 1980 – when SAPs were imposed on 36 of Sub-Saharan Africa’s 47 countries – and 2004. It fell for most Sub Saharan countries by 25 percent during the 1980s and for 18 countries these incomes were lower in 1999 than in 1975. In 1960, Sub-Saharan Africa’s per capita income was about one-ninth of that in high-income OECD countries; by 1998, it had deteriorated dramatically to about 1/18.Africa’s external debt has increased by more than 500 percent since 1980, to $417 billion in 2017. SAPs have transferred more than $229 billion in debt payments from Sub-Saharan Africa to the West since 1980. Africa spends four times more on debt interest payments than on healthcare. This combined with cutbacks in social expenditure caused healthcare spending in the 42 poorest African countries to fall by 50 percent during the 1980s. More than 200 million Africans have no access to health services as hundreds of clinics, hospitals and medical facilities have been closed.The catastrophic impacts of the policies imposed by international monetary institutions were not confined to Africa and Latin America, as discussed in the first part of this article; they also played havoc with the lives of millions in Asia and other parts of the world as well. In Asia, the IMF and the World Bank first encouraged financial liberalization that partly led to the financial crisis in South East Asia during the decade of the 1990s, and they then prescribed a disastrous recipe to address this crisis.Several experts believe that the crisis was caused in large part by South Korea, Thailand, the Philippines, Malaysia and Indonesia's heavy reliance on short-term foreign loans and openness to hot money. When it became apparent in 1997 that private enterprises would not be able to meet their payment obligations, international currency markets panicked and Asian currencies plummeted. What they forget to mention is the ideology of international monetary institutions that encourage the reliance of countries on short-term foreign loans and openness to hot money which help speculators fulfill their gargantuan appetite for profit and money.After pushing these countries towards a crisis, the IMF treated the Asian meltdown like other emergency situations, giving assistance only in exchange for structural adjustment policies, which was totally unnecessary because these states were not facing a budgetary deficit issue. Nonetheless, the fund instructed governments to cut spending, which deepened the economic slowdown. In South Korea, for example, a country whose income approached European levels, unemployment skyrocketed from approximately 3 percent to 10 percent. 'IMF suicides' became common among workers who had lost their jobs and dignity.In Indonesia, the worst-hit country, poverty rates rose from an official level of 11 percent before the crisis to 40-60 percent, and GDP declined by 15 percent in one year. Malaysia stood out as a country that refused IMF assistance and advice. Instead of further opening its economy, Malaysia imposed capital controls, in an effort to eliminate speculative trading in its currency. While the IMF mocked this approach when adopted, the Fund later admitted that it succeeded.The IMF recipe proved to be very disastrous for the common Indonesian who greatly suffered because of the policies imposed by the global financial body. Prior to the 1997-98 financial crisis, Indonesia had a relatively comfortable debt situation. The government borrowed primarily from the World Bank, Asian Development Bank, and a group of bilateral donors grouped in the Consultative Group on Indonesia (CGI), for funding its development budget. Jakarta approached IMF in 1997 for a $43 billion bailout and within a few years, the bailout turned out to be a great curse for the masses, adding to their miseries and making their lives difficult. In January 2003, the government of the then president Megawati Soekarnoputri raised the prices on fuel (22 percent), telephone (15 percent) and electricity (6 percent). This was happening in a country where inflation was 10 percent in 2002 and more than half of the country's 220 million population lived on less than $2 a day and burdened with more than 40 million unemployed souls.To tide over the crisis, it was suggested that Indonesia should take specific steps to liberalise trade and investment which included: reducing tariffs on all imported food products to five percent and cutting non-agricultural tariffs to 10 percent by 2003; opening banks to foreign ownership by June 1998; and lifting restrictions on foreign banks by February 1998. Despite taking these drastic measures, the country's financial woes did not decrease. The official debt burden increased from 27 percent of GDP prior to the crisis to more than 100 percent by the end of 1999, before declining gradually. In fact Indonesia, which was ranked as middle-income and middle-indebted before the crisis (at the same level as its neighbours, Thailand and the Philippines), came to be ranked as belonging to the SILIC (severely indebted low income countries) category.Such reckless policies also contributed to the immiserating of the people in the Philippines where the government kept domestic wages low at the behest of the international financial bodies. This badly affected the marginalized sectors of society, forcing 54 percent of the population to live in absolute poverty while the government debt service was eating up 50 percent of the national budget.This was the brief history of the disastrous impacts caused by the policies of the global financial institutions. It is difficult to imagine why we still insist on going to such institutions. The policies of international monetary institutions clearly indicate that they seek to benefit the Global North. Their agenda is to facilitate the plundering of third-world countries by the advanced capitalist states. Their mission is not opaque. Their purpose is not mysterious. They are very vocal in making it clear that the Structural Adjustment Programmes are meant to promote the free market. They want developing countries, including Pakistan, to reduce import restrictions, work for the advancement of exports, carry out the privatization of public industries, control wages and leave the social sector at the mercy of market forces.Which of these points could help the economy? Let us begin with privatization. The mantra of selling state concerns was used to convince people that it would help the country repay loans. We started the process of privatization in the 1980s, which gathered pace after the restoration of democracy in 1988. According to the finance ministry our total debt and external liabilities was $20.90 billion in 1990, rising to $38.86 billion in 2007 and $99.1 billion now. We have sold out more than 160 state-run entities since the 1980s, rendering hundreds and thousands of people jobless. Instead of seeing the country free from debt, what we see today is nothing but a phenomenal surge in our external debt and liabilities which is likely to haunt our coming generations for decades or maybe centuries.Did these much-vaunted reforms at the behest of international monetary institutions bring any positive change in the lives of millions of Pakistanis? The answer is not difficult to imagine. While the World Bank claims poverty has been reduced, asserting it fell to 29.5 percent in 2014 from 64.3 percent in 2002, Pakistan’s first ever official report on multidimensional poverty, launched by the PML-N government in 2016, says nearly 39 percent of Pakistanis live in multidimensional poverty. The other social development indicators that were meant to be visible after the economic reforms seem to be nowhere either. The country houses more than 25 million out-of-school children. More than 40 percent of children are stunted. Infant mortality rate was 63.3 deaths per thousand live births in 2018. Eighty percent of diseases are caused by contaminated water which is a rare commodity for the majority of the poor, and Hepatitis has become an epidemic in several parts of the country.Since the arrival of the Tabdeeli Sarkar, inflation has skyrocketed. The prices of petrol and gas have witnessed a phenomenal surge. The champions of employment creation are planning to render tens of thousands workers jobless by privatizing state-run concerns. Given all this, it is more likely that the prescription of the IMF will further add to the miseries. Therefore, it is important that we think of the alternatives. Following the IMF's dictation will do no good. If the advisers of Zardari, Nawaz and Imran are unanimous in seeking help from global financial bodies then the people must realise that they just want to draw to hefty salaries from the public exchequer but want workers' wages to be stagnated. They want to see austerity in the lives of millions of people but would love to stay in five-star hotels and make expensive foreign trips from the taxes of common people. It is time we came up with our own alternative.Source #1 :Is the IMF the cure?Source #2: Is the IMF the cure?We have been under IMF led programs for decades. They said privatize industries, we privatized nearly 160 industries since the 1980s and yet our debt levels have gone up rather than down. We have devalued a currency to the point that it’s 160 rupees to a dollar now, yet our exports are meager while our debt obligations and economic size has shrunk.We shouldn’t blame the IMF: We should blame ourselves. The IMF was never set up to help us. Their macro stabilization programs have had mixed successes and are a generalized template solution that doesn’t take into account region or country specific condition. They apply one size fits all solutions to countries as diverse as Laos, El Salvador. Egypt and Pakistan.The IMF is designed to serve the interests of the people who hold voting shares in it’s board. The IMF conditions and strings that are applied to it’s loan programs are designed to kick down the doors of protections for local, developing economies so they can be rapaciously exploited by American companies and firms. Wages are slashed, social safety nets discarded, taxes on businesses and industries withdrawn, mineral rights given away at throw away prices. The IMF is designed to enable the neo-colonial exploitation of the Global south and has played it’s part in the wealth transfer from the south to the Developed North long after those countries stopped being colonies on paper.It’s time we parted ways with this parasitic institution and looked for home grown solutions and alternative financing institutions like the AIIB.GrowthThe Austerity driven model of economic stabilization proposed by the IMF and other economic institutions had disastrous results, not just in the above mentioned states but also Greece during the recent economic crises.The incredible disaster of the Greek austerity debacle is something that will go down in history books. There are many fingers to point in this drama: The IMF (to a lesser extent this time) and the Greek government with their own bad spending and number fudging. The EU banks and the political chiefs who steered it’s fate perhaps gave the single greatest blow to the EU project when they pushed for austerity to “punish” Greece for some perceived sin.When the recession hit, and a new Socialist government exposed New Democracy’s cooked books, investors fled. The Greek government could not rollover its debt and risked default. Greek banks, which held large amounts of government debt, became precarious. German and French banks also had invested so heavily in Greece that their stability was in jeopardy. The Greek government and banks were so closely intertwinedthat a default by one could bring down the other.The sensible solution at this point would have been to compel foreign banks to write off large parts of their Greek investments. The banks knew the risks when they made their loans and presumably priced that into the interest they charged. The European Central Bank stoutly resisted this, fearing for the stability of these imprudent banks.Instead, the EU and other international financial institutions offered what has widely been described as a “bail-out.” This was not, for the most part, money to support human services or other forms of consumption. Instead, this was money for Greece to send right back to its external creditors. In essence, the international institutions were bailing out their own irresponsible banks but laundering the money through the Greek government.As a price for this “bail-out,” the EU and its partners demanded crippling austerity: tax increases, widespread lay-offs of public employees, and massive cuts in pensions and other social supports. Laying off so many workers and pauperizing pensioners sharply reduced demand, which triggered further lay-offs and wage cuts in the private sector. As the depression deepened, unemployment topped 25 percent. When austerity devastated the Socialists’ working-class constituency, the party was effectively destroyed.As powerful as the EU is, however, it was unable to rewrite the basic rules of economics. Each round of austerity further depressed the economy, reducing revenues and increasing Greece’s deficit. Even from the creditors’ perspective, austerity was self-defeating.Rather than recognizing the error of their ways, the international organizations doubled down on austerity, demanding still deeper cuts to government employment and basic public services. The hypocrisy was rich: Greece’s deficit was growing precisely because it was complying with the EU's austerity plan, whose implementation predictably misfired.With their economy in free-fall and the EU showing no inclination to reduce the pressure, Greek voters turned to anti-austerity parties. On the right, this elevated the neo-fascist, swastika-flashing Golden Dawn, whose leaders faced charges for killing political opponents. The majority, however, went to Syriza, a leftist group that pledged to stare down the EUand end austerity.The EU, however, stonewalled, forcing Syriza to choose between taking Greece out of the EU and implementing further rounds of crushing austerity. Syriza blinked in this stare-down, fracturing its membership and earning the ire of its voters. Since then, it has been governing in fragilecoalitions with small conservative parties, largely abandoning the aspirational program it ran on.Eventually, the International Monetary Fund pressured the EU to relent on austerity. But by then, the Greek economy had shrunk by more than a quarter, numerous Greek families had horror stories of losing their homes, being unable to support themselves, or lacking medical care for treatable conditions, and Syriza had been thoroughly discredited with Greek voters.Will we learn from the Greece austerity debacle?Contrast the EU’s austerity push with the Keynesian Stimulus driven economic recovery championed by President Obama in the US during the 2008 recession which urged that in the face of slowing Economic Growth the government must inject a stimulus into the economy to stir up consumption and spending and avoid a short recession turning into a long one.Another group, the Keynesians, subscribed to the policies advocated by their namesake in the aftermath of the Great Depression, when John Maynard Keynes argued that, by taking care of unemployment, the economy would look after itself: the need was to stimulate consumption and demand to prevent a negative spiral of declining confidence, lower spending, and more job losses and firm bankruptcies. This is, in effect, the policy pursued by President Obama, with large-scale stimulus packages (although the magnitude has been debated), including substantial investment in the automobile industry. A third group of supply-side economists argued that the problem was over-regulation, or ‘red tape’, and advocated massive deregulation. They believed that abolition of employment rights would enable wages to fall and unwanted labour to be shed, allowing firms to compete better in a global market. However, a new school of thought emerged, labelled ‘austerions’ by the economics Nobel Laureate Paul Krugman.Five years on, the results of the ‘great austerity experiment’ are at last becoming clear (Fig 1). In the USA, where a Keynesian approach was adopted, the economy has recovered and is now on a sustained upward trajectory. The Eurozone is experiencing mixed fortunes. Some countries, such as Germany, are also experiencing sustained growth, but those that adopted stringent austerity policies, such as Ireland, Greece, Spain and Portugal, have yet to recover. Iceland, one of the worst affected countries, held a referendum on austerity; 93% of the population rejected it and, so far, austerity has been delayed and limited. As a result, Iceland has had much better economic performance than the latter group of austerity cases (in part, enabled by its ability to devalue its currency and, in so doing, boost fishing exports). Paradoxically, the credit-rating agencies, which were once in the vanguard of calls for austerity, are now downgrading Italian banks explicitly because of concerns that austerity is choking off growth.The UK did make an initial recovery but there too the imposition of stringent austerity measures by the newly elected coalition government in 2010 arrested it. This evidence has not gone unnoticed and, in a series of elections across Europe in 2012, voters have rejected austerity and elected politicians offering an alternative, most notably in France but also in German regional elections. Yet their reasons for doing so are not simply because these policies have failed to fix the economy. They are also rejecting them because they are seeing the signs of the human cost that they incur, something that many politicians have sought to ignore.Austerity: a failed experiment on the people of EuropeWhen Austerity has been such a debacle across the Globe as a policy measure to stabilize economies, why exactly should the government engage in it yet again at a time when the economy is slowing down and austerity measures will heap unnecessary pain on already hapless masses?The Keynesian stimulus approach has already show tried and true effectiveness in the US and other western hemisphere economic recoveries. CPEC as an investment tool is an excellent way to achieve such a stimulus by spurring economic activity and growth and allowing the government to stabilize it’s finances while it works to cut away the wasteful and nonproductive expenditures and grow its tax base at the same time.CPEC transitions economy away for global warming eraRecently I shared this news clipping about Pakistani and Chinese scientists on the verge of a scientific breakthrough where they could develop a strain of hybrid rice that can withstand drought and high heat conditions:Pakistan, Chinese researchers on the brink of hybrid rice breakthroughI recall that 2 or 3 years ago when the CPEC master plan was revealed and there was a huge concern over a previously unrevealed agricultural aspect of CPEC. Everyone up until then had assumed it was an infrastructure, energy and logistics related project.In all honesty, I consider the agricultural aspect of CPEC to be the most important one because it’s based around three core objectives:Transition Pakistan’s agriculture away from water intensive crops to crops that utilize less water but contribute more to the GDPTransition from current breed of crops to a new strain that are more resistant to the drought and arid conditions we will face in the 21st century of Global WarmingTransition from the British canal based system of watering crops via flood irrigation which is incredibly wasteful to new systems like Drip Water irrigation and crop zoning etc that are more efficient at water usage.Pakistan is lunging into a serious water crisis. The country is rapidly moving from being a water abundant country to a water-scarce country.With its annual water availability falling below 1,000 cubic metres per person, it may in fact have already crossed this threshold. This is partly due to depletion of its fresh water resources because of increasing population, adverse climate variations like drought and inconsistent monsoon patterns, and lack of storage facilities. And it is partially due to the unchecked demand for these many limited available resources.The scope of the crisis can be demonstrated by a few key facts: About 92 percent of Pakistan is classified as semi-arid to arid and the vast majority of Pakistanis are dependent on surface and groundwater sources from a single source – the Indus River basin.More than 90 percent of the country’s water is being used by the agriculture sector where conventional irrigation methods are undertaken.About 90 percent of the country’s agricultural production comes from land irrigated by the Indus Basin Irrigation System, firmly linking national food security to water levels in the Indus River basin. And, Pakistan’s water storage capacity is limited to a maximum 30-day supply, far below the 1,000-day storage capacity recommended for a country with its climatic characteristics.With water availability per person declining year by year, and demand for food production continuously increasing, Pakistan faces not only a water crisis but also serious concerns regarding its future food security. This situation also has clear implications for the government’s efforts to become an upper middle income country by 2025.The relevant authorities should carry out a study to assess the national water demand which should focus on different water users, water balance, traditional and emerging demands, and the impacts of climate change on demand by 2025 and 2050. In order for the government to take informed decisions, sectoral demands have to be estimated for all sectors. This will give an idea to the policymakers about which sectors consume most water.Studies like these will also help realize the contribution each sector makes towards the national economy as per their water usage. For instance, according to a report, four major crops that consume about 80 percent of the country’s water resources (wheat, rice, cotton and sugarcane) generate less than five percent of the national GDP.Furthermore, experts suggest that rain water harvesting must be introduced in local households, in both urban and rural areas. Flood irrigation should be a criminal act that is still being practiced in Pakistan; this has to stop. Improved irrigation methods and crop zoning are the country’s need at the moment. There is a need to reuse water in houses; for example, the water used in our kitchens can be reused in our toilets.Disappearing waterI understand that agriculture is not the most interesting subject and in this day and age we have just assumed the constant availability of food.But climate change is going to complete alter the environmental, economic and social landscape of the Pakistani territories. And it is imperative that we pursue the agricultural related initiatives of CPEC at all costs and as fast as possible.Let me stress that a little more strongly: Even if we take on $100 billion of debt under CPEC, it will be worth it if for no other reason, we can get our agriculture to survive in the Global Warming era.It is disingenuous to talk about finances when we are talking about the very survival of the country. If you think I’m being over dramatic, I would urge you to read up on the catastrophic consequences of what will happen if we continue to keep our water usage and agriculture as is and refuse to adapt. We are seeing a mini version of this dark future in Karachi where water mafia must be paid to get your water tanks filled and access to clean water is shrinking every day.Imagine that on a nationwide level with violent mobs and riots over water shortages, food prices sky rocketing due to crop failures and militarization of water access to secure scarce water resources for the state and it’s elite.The Maldives are currently on the chopping block of Climate Change and people believe that they as a state will be wiped out by rising sea levels. Should we tell the Maldives that it’s not financially feasible to construct infrastructure that will adapt them to the Climate change era?Quorans who are often suspicious of CPEC as a colonization project: India is one of the key partner with Israel on how to adapt biotechnology in the agricultural sector so that water usage is optimized and crops adapt to the hot, arid and water stressed future. And even increase their yields in some cases. So if it’s ok for India to undertake such projects, then why not Pakistan?One more thing: While ~50+% of our economy stems from the services sector, the other half is predominately still agricultural at 23% and Industrial at 18%.Besides ensuring that our agricultural sector survives into the 21st century with the adaption of cutting edge agricultural tech from China, CPEC also allows us to begin to transition our economy away from sectors that are in danger from climate change towards new sectors that will surive the global warming era.An example of that is trade logistics: CPEC’s massive road, rail, port and highway network is planned to be integrated into China’s OBOR project so that we can develop new sources of revenue in the form of logistics related fees from Chinese companies and traders utilizing CPEC infrastructure.This is a good example of an economic sector Pakistan currently doesn’t have but it will definitely need in the future to diversify away from purely Agricultural related exports.Take a look at some of our exports by category data in 2018:source: Pakistan Exports By CategoryOne of the more sensible and realistic calculations for our earnings from CPEC toll fees was given at $2-$2.5 billion USD a year.CPEC toll income — myth and reality | The Express TribuneOur agricultural exports in 2018 are at $15 b USD a year.With 2.5 billion USD in toll fees, we have managed to diversify our export or dollar related earnings by around 16% away from our top earning crops.This is a good start. And we need to continue building on it. Our economy must transition away from purely agriculture related earnings in the Global Heat Wave of the future and move towards sectors that are immune or semi immune to Global Warming.This is how CPEC plans to accomplish this using a mix of financing for the agricultural sector, new plans for fertilizer usage, new watering techniques and sustainable agriculture through more revenue per crop capita:For agriculture, the plan outlines an engagement that runs from one end of the supply chain all the way to the other. From provision of seeds and other inputs, like fertiliser, credit and pesticides, Chinese enterprises will also operate their own farms, processing facilities for fruits and vegetables and grain. Logistics companies will operate a large storage and transportation system for agrarian produce.It identifies opportunities for entry by Chinese enterprises in the myriad dysfunctions that afflict Pakistan’s agriculture sector. For instance, “due to lack of cold-chain logistics and processing facilities, 50% of agricultural products go bad during harvesting and transport”, it notes.Enterprises entering agriculture will be offered extraordinary levels of assistance from the Chinese government. They are encouraged to “[m]ake the most of the free capital and loans” from various ministries of the Chinese government as well as the China Development Bank. The plan also offers to maintain a mechanism that will “help Chinese agricultural enterprises to contact the senior representatives of the Government of Pakistan and China”.The government of China will “actively strive to utilize the national special funds as the discount interest for the loans of agricultural foreign investment”. In the longer term the financial risk will be spread out, through “new types of financing such as consortium loans, joint private equity and joint debt issuance, raise funds via multiple channels and decentralise financing risks”.The plan proposes to harness the work of the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps to bring mechanization as well as scientific technique in livestock breeding, development of hybrid varieties and precision irrigation to Pakistan. It sees its main opportunity as helping the Kashgar Prefecture, a territory within the larger Xinjiang Autonomous Zone, which suffers from a poverty incidence of 50 per cent, and large distances that make it difficult to connect to larger markets in order to promote development. The prefecture’s total output in agriculture, forestry, animal husbandry and fishery amounted to just over $5 billion in 2012, and its population was less than 4 million in 2010, hardly a market with windfall gains for Pakistan.However, for the Chinese, this is the main driving force behind investing in Pakistan’s agriculture, in addition to the many profitable opportunities that can open up for their enterprises from operating in the local market. The plan makes some reference to export of agriculture goods from the ports, but the bulk of its emphasis is focused on the opportunities for the Kashgar Prefecture and Xinjiang Production Corps, coupled with the opportunities for profitable engagement in the domestic market.The plan discusses those engagements in considerable detail. Ten key areas for engagement are identified along with seventeen specific projects. They include the construction of one NPK fertilizer plant as a starting point “with an annual output of 800,000 tons”. Enterprises will be inducted to lease farm implements, like tractors, “efficient plant protection machinery, efficient energy saving pump equipment, precision fertilization drip irrigation equipment” and planting and harvesting machinery.The plan shows great interest in the textiles industry in particular, but the interest is focused largely on yarn and coarse cloth.Meat processing plants in Sukkur are planned with annual output of 200,000 tons per year, and two demonstration plants processing 200,000 tons of milk per year. In crops, demonstration projects of more than 6,500 acres will be set up for high yield seeds and irrigation, mostly in Punjab. In transport and storage, the plan aims to build “a nationwide logistics network, and enlarge the warehousing and distribution network between major cities of Pakistan” with a focus on grains, vegetables and fruits. Storage bases will be built first in Islamabad and Gwadar in the first phase, then Karachi, Lahore and another in Gwadar in the second phase, and between 2026-2030, Karachi, Lahore and Peshawar will each see another storage base.Asadabad, Islamabad, Lahore and Gwadar will see a vegetable processing plant, with annual output of 20,000 tons, fruit juice and jam plant of 10,000 tons and grain processing of 1 million tons. A cotton processing plant is also planned initially, with output of 100,000 tons per year.“We will impart advanced planting and breeding techniques to peasant households or farmers by means of land acquisition by the government, renting to China-invested enterprises and building planting and breeding bases” it says about the plan to source superior seeds.In each field, Chinese enterprises will play the lead role. “China-invested enterprises will establish factories to produce fertilizers, pesticides, vaccines and feedstuffs” it says about the production of agricultural materials.“China-invested enterprises will, in the form of joint ventures, shareholding or acquisition, cooperate with local enterprises of Pakistan to build a three-level warehousing system (purchase & storage warehouse, transit warehouse and port warehouse)” it says about warehousing.Then it talks about trade. “We will actively embark on cultivating surrounding countries in order to improve import and export potential of Pakistani agricultural products and accelerate the trade of agricultural products. In the early stages, we will gradually create a favorable industry image and reputation for Pakistan by relying on domestic demand.”Exclusive: CPEC master plan revealedAnd Logistics is only part of the equation: Chinese investments are a diverse portfolio of energy, tourism, mining, public transportation and real estate to give a few examples. Most if not all of these are good diversification away from climate change impacted economic sectors that we expect major disruptions in once water shortages and droughts start to hit more frequently in the next decade.I really want to under line this point again because recall that in the beginning of the answer I talked about how it’s ok to take on debt that ensures the survival and prosperity of our future generations, we should only avoid debt that is for day to day running of current government expenses.CPEC debt is a debt that we are undertaking today to ensure that our children have a future in an era where the Indus Basin will begin turning into a desert and our children will grow up eating crops and meats that are far different from the ones we grew up eating because in their era, those crops and sources of food might not exist in our region anymore.The TLDR Conclusion:Pakistan’s Debt is because of two major reasons:Lack of tax baseEnormous wastage and leakages in government spendingPakistan has been under IMF programs for decades and they have never fixed the government’s problems because the IMF exists to push for a neo-liberal free market order that favors the US rather than fix Pakistan’s problemsAt a time of slow economic growth, embracing an IMF led austerity drive is a suicidal quest. The 2008 economic crises and government responses to it showed that Keynesian style stimulus packages to stir up the economy is what leads to recovery.CPEC is a Keynesian style stimulus for the Pak economy at a time when it’s slowing down. The OBOR, AIIB and CPEC style of infrastructure and trade led growth is critical for low growth developing countries to stir economic growth and avoid the misery of Greek austerity.Beyond just stirring economic growth, CPEC is part of Pakistan’s transition away from an agricultural/semi industrialized country to a more balanced mix of logistics/industry/trade/agriculture/consumption. It also allows the country to adapt to the water stressed, heat wave era of the Climate Change epoch of history.Not everything about CPEC is rosy. This would be a dishonest answer if I said that. We do need to investigate how much our local industries would be impacted by Chinese imports. We do need to investigate that the projects in CPEC have the right ROIs given their expenditure. That these projects are aligned with our long term aims. And that the debt repayments can be met with the ROI from these projects. These are basic precautions.But in general, CPEC is a lifeline for a country like ours thats trapped in debt and low growth in the face of annihilation from climate change. We’re supposed to face the potential heat death of the planet with our economy chained to a wall.The old Pakistan is gone. This will be our second major transformation after 71. And in some ways, it will be more dangerous to navigate and more critical to our survival. The Indus Basin has always been there in the living memory of mankind. It might not be in the near future.We will be walking our children to schools in the deserts of southern Punjab. And driving past the dried out caverns of the now dead Ravi. The very rice we eat will taste different. I’ll tell my children stories of how fruit used to be so cheap and abundant in my life time. How we’d let water run into the street while washing our cars. How Monsoon used to be a fun time to play in the canal rather than a tropical flood that washed away entire communities.A memory can only survive in the minds of the living. When the earth changes, we must change with it. The age of arrogant men telling women to stay in the home is over. The age of you turning your nose up at your neighbor because his faith is different from you is over. It’s a fight to survive the heat death of the earth, we will need all the help we can get. We need to rethink our ideas about “honor” and “Izzat” and right and wrong. The uncaring laws of the universe dont care for our mortal hang ups.CPEC will turn farmers into truck drivers, gun smiths into bio tech technicians and cloth weavers into aqua farmers.I suppose in a way, it’s like changing shape and form, changing bodies and the chemicals that animate them. CPEC will change us all. And there might be no future without it.The translucence of flames beat against the airagainst our skins. This can be done withor without clothes on. This can be done withor without wine or whiskey but never without water:evaporation is also ongoing. Most visibly in this casein the form of wisps of steam rising from the just washed hairof a form at the fire whose beauty was in the earth’sturning, that night and many nights, transcendent.I felt heat changing me. The word for this istransdesire, but in extreme cases we call it transdireor when this heat becomes your maker we saytransire, or when it happens in front of a hearth:transfire.On Trans by Miller ObermanA man drives an improvised motorcycle truck, balancing a precarious load behind him. Perhaps the best image to portray our economy, straddled by debt, innovating it’s way to survival in the 21st century.Image source: China’s $62 Billion Bet on Pakistan

See paragrah 8.4. But when a design incorporating the stars and stripes is printed as fabric and used for clothing, that is a different issue. My patriotic tie, for example, has a flag design and once was actually used to represent the flag of the United States when reciting the Pledge of Allegiance.U.S. Flag CodeThe rules for handling and displaying the U.S. Flag are defined by a law known as the U.S. Flag Code. We have excerpted the federal regulations here without any changes so you can find the facts here.The following is the text of the found in United States Code Title 4 Chapter 1.§1. Flag; stripes and stars onThe flag of the United States shall be thirteen horizontal stripes, alternate red and white; and the union of the flag shall be fifty stars representing the fifty states, white in a blue field§2. Same; additional starsOn the admission of a new State into the Union one star shall be added to the union of the flag; and such addition shall take effect on the fourth day of July then next succeeding such admission§3. Use of flag for advertising purposes; mutilation of flagAny person who, within the District of Columbia, in any manner, for exhibition or display, shall place or cause to be placed any word, figure, mark, picture, design, drawing, or any advertisement of any nature upon any flag, standard, colors, or ensign of the United States of America; or shall expose or cause to be exposed to public view any such flag, standard, colors, or ensign upon which shall have been printed, painted, or otherwise placed, or to which shall be attached, appended, affixed, or annexed any word, figure, mark, picture, design, or drawing, or any advertisement of any nature; or who, within the District of Columbia, shall manufacture, sell, expose for sale, or to public view, or give away or have in possession for sale, or to be given away or for use for any purpose, any article or substance being an article of merchandise, or a receptacle for merchandise or article or thing for carrying or transporting merchandise, upon which shall have been printed, painted, attached, or otherwise placed a representation of any such flag, standard, colors, or ensign, to advertise, call attention to, decorate, mark, or distinguish the article or substance on which so placed shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor and shall be punished by a fine not exceeding $100 or by imprisonment for not more than thirty days, or both, in the discretion of the court. The words "flag, standard, colors, or ensign", as used herein, shall include any flag, standard, colors, ensign, or any picture or representation of either, or of any part or parts of either, made of any substance or represented on any substance, of any size evidently purporting to be either of said flag, standard, colors, or ensign of the United States of America or a picture or a representation of either, upon which shall be shown the colors, the stars and the stripes, in any number of either thereof, or of any part or parts of either, by which the average person seeing the same without deliberation may believe the same to represent the flag, colors, standard, or ensign of the United States of America.§4. Pledge of allegiance to the flag; manner of deliveryThe Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag: "I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one Nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.", should be rendered by standing at attention facing the flag with the right hand over the heart. When not in uniform men should remove any non-religious headdress with their right hand and hold it at the left shoulder, the hand being over the heart. Persons in uniform should remain silent, face the flag, and render the military salute.§5. Display and use of flag by civilians; codification of rules and customs; definitionThe following codification of existing rules and customs pertaining to the display and use of the flag of the United States of America be, and it is hereby, established for the use of such civilians or civilian groups or organizations as may not be required to conform with regulations promulgated by one or more executive departments of the Government of the United States. The flag of the United States for the purpose of this chapter shall be defined according to title 4, United States Code, Chapter 1, Section 1 and Section 2 and Executive Order 10834 issued pursuant thereto.§6. Time and occasions for displayIt is the universal custom to display the flag only from sunrise to sunset on buildings and on stationary flagstaffs in the open. However, when a patriotic effect is desired, the flag may be displayed twenty-four hours a day if properly illuminated during the hours of darkness.The flag should be hoisted briskly and lowered ceremoniously.The flag should not be displayed on days when the weather is inclement, except when an all-weather flag is displayed.The flag should be displayed on all days, especially onNew Year's Day, January 1Inauguration Day, January 20Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday, third Monday in JanuaryLincoln's Birthday, February 12Washington's Birthday, third Monday in FebruaryEaster Sunday (variable)Mother's Day, second Sunday in MayArmed Forces Day, third Saturday in MayMemorial Day (half-staff until noon), the last Monday in MayFlag Day, June 14Father's Day, third Sunday in JuneIndependence Day, July 4Labor Day, first Monday in SeptemberConstitution Day, September 17Columbus Day, second Monday in OctoberNavy Day, October 27Veterans Day, November 11Thanksgiving Day, fourth Thursday in NovemberChristmas Day, December 25and such other days as may be proclaimed by the President of the United Statesthe birthdays of States (date of admission)and on State holidays.The flag should be displayed daily on or near the main administration building of every public institution.The flag should be displayed in or near every polling place on election days.The flag should be displayed during school days in or near every schoolhouse.§7. Position and manner of displayThe flag, when carried in a procession with another flag or flags, should be either on the marching right; that is, the flag's own right, or, if there is a line of other flags, in front of the center of that line.The flag should not be displayed on a float in a parade except from a staff, or as provided in subsection (i) of this section.The flag should not be draped over the hood, top, sides, or back of a vehicle or of a railroad train or a boat. When the flag is displayed on a motorcar, the staff shall be fixed firmly to the chassis or clamped to the right fender.No other flag or pennant should be placed above or, if on the same level, to the right of the flag of the United States of America, except during church services conducted by naval chaplains at sea, when the church pennant may be flown above the flag during church services for the personnel of the Navy. No person shall display the flag of the United Nations or any other national or international flag equal, above, or in a position of superior prominence or honor to, or in place of, the flag of the United States at any place within the United States or any Territory or possession thereof: Provided, That nothing in this section shall make unlawful the continuance of the practice heretofore followed of displaying the flag of the United Nations in a position of superior prominence or honor, and other national flags in positions of equal prominence or honor, with that of the flag of the United States at the headquarters of the United Nations.The flag of the United States of America, when it is displayed with another flag against a wall from crossed staffs, should be on the right, the flag's own right, and its staff should be in front of the staff of the other flag.The flag of the United States of America should be at the center and at the highest point of the group when a number of flags of States or localities or pennants of societies are grouped and displayed from staffs.When flags of States, cities, or localities, or pennants of societies are flown on the same halyard with the flag of the United States, the latter should always be at the peak. When the flags are flown from adjacent staffs, the flag of the United States should be hoisted first and lowered last. No such flag or pennant may be placed above the flag of the United States or to the United States flag's right.When flags of two or more nations are displayed, they are to be flown from separate staffs of the same height. The flags should be of approximately equal size. International usage forbids the display of the flag of one nation above that of another nation in time of peace.When the flag of the United States is displayed from a staff projecting horizontally or at an angle from the window sill, balcony, or front of a building, the union of the flag should be placed at the peak of the staff unless the flag is at half-staff. When the flag is suspended over a sidewalk from a rope extending from a house to a pole at the edge of the sidewalk, the flag should be hoisted out, union first, from the building.When displayed either horizontally or vertically against a wall, the union should be uppermost and to the flag's own right, that is, to the observer's left. When displayed in a window, the flag should be displayed in the same way, with the union or blue field to the left of the observer in the street.When the flag is displayed over the middle of the street, it should be suspended vertically with the union to the north in an east and west street or to the east in a north and south street.When used on a speaker's platform, the flag, if displayed flat, should be displayed above and behind the speaker. When displayed from a staff in a church or public auditorium, the flag of the United States of America should hold the position of superior prominence, in advance of the audience, and in the position of honor at the clergyman's or speaker's right as he faces the audience. Any other flag so displayed should be placed on the left of the clergyman or speaker or to the right of the audience.The flag should form a distinctive feature of the ceremony of unveiling a statue or monument, but it should never be used as the covering for the statue or monument.The flag, when flown at half-staff, should be first hoisted to the peak for an instant and then lowered to the half-staff position. The flag should be again raised to the peak before it is lowered for the day. On Memorial Day the flag should be displayed at half-staff until noon only, then raised to the top of the staff. By order of the President, the flag shall be flown at half-staff upon the death of principal figures of the United States Government and the Governor of a State, territory, or possession, as a mark of respect to their memory. In the event of the death of other officials or foreign dignitaries, the flag is to be displayed at half-staff according to Presidential instructions or orders, or in accordance with recognized customs or practices not inconsistent with law. In the event of the death of a present or former official of the government of any State, territory, or possession of the United States, or the death of a member of the Armed Forces from any State, territory, or possession who dies while serving on active duty, the Governor of that State, territory, or possession may proclaim that the National flag shall be flown at half-staff, and the same authority is provided to the Mayor of the District of Columbia with respect to present or former officials of the District of Columbia and members of the Armed Forces from the District of Columbia. The flag shall be flown at half-staff 30 days from the death of the President or a former President; 10 days from the day of death of the Vice President, the Chief Justice or a retired Chief Justice of the United States, or the Speaker of the House of Representatives; from the day of death until interment of an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court, a Secretary of an executive or military department, a former Vice President, or the Governor of a State, territory, or possession; and on the day of death and the following day for a Member of Congress. The flag shall be flown at half-staff on Peace Officers Memorial Day, unless that day is also Armed Forces Day. As used in this subsection —the term "half-staff" means the position of the flag when it is one-half the distance between the top and bottom of the staff;the term "executive or military department" means any agency listed under sections 101 and 102 of title 5, United States Code; andthe term "Member of Congress" means a Senator, a Representative, a Delegate, or the Resident Commissioner from Puerto Rico.When the flag is used to cover a casket, it should be so placed that the union is at the head and over the left shoulder. The flag should not be lowered into the grave or allowed to touch the ground.When the flag is suspended across a corridor or lobby in a building with only one main entrance, it should be suspended vertically with the union of the flag to the observer's left upon entering. If the building has more than one main entrance, the flag should be suspended vertically near the center of the corridor or lobby with the union to the north, when entrances are to the east and west or to the east when entrances are to the north and south. If there are entrances in more than two directions, the union should be to the east.§8. Respect for flagNo disrespect should be shown to the flag of the United States of America; the flag should not be dipped to any person or thing. Regimental colors, State flags, and organization or institutional flags are to be dipped as a mark of honor.The flag should never be displayed with the union down, except as a signal of dire distress in instances of extreme danger to life or property.The flag should never touch anything beneath it, such as the ground, the floor, water, or merchandise.The flag should never be carried flat or horizontally, but always aloft and free.The flag should never be used as wearing apparel, bedding, or drapery. It should never be festooned, drawn back, nor up, in folds, but always allowed to fall free. Bunting of blue, white, and red, always arranged with the blue above, the white in the middle, and the red below, should be used for covering a speaker's desk, draping the front of the platform, and for decoration in general.The flag should never be fastened, displayed, used, or stored in such a manner as to permit it to be easily torn, soiled, or damaged in any way.The flag should never be used as a covering for a ceiling.The flag should never have placed upon it, nor on any part of it, nor attached to it any mark, insignia, letter, word, figure, design, picture, or drawing of any nature.The flag should never be used as a receptacle for receiving, holding, carrying, or delivering anything.The flag should never be used for advertising purposes in any manner whatsoever. It should not be embroidered on such articles as cushions or handkerchiefs and the like, printed or otherwise impressed on paper napkins or boxes or anything that is designed for temporary use and discard. Advertising signs should not be fastened to a staff or halyard from which the flag is flown.No part of the flag should ever be used as a costume or athletic uniform. However, a flag patch may be affixed to the uniform of military personnel, firemen, policemen, and members of patriotic organizations. The flag represents a living country and is itself considered a living thing. Therefore, the lapel flag pin being a replica, should be worn on the left lapel near the heart.The flag, when it is in such condition that it is no longer a fitting emblem for display, should be destroyed in a dignified way, preferably by burning§9. Conduct during hoisting, lowering or passing of flagDuring the ceremony of hoisting or lowering the flag or when the flag is passing in a parade or in review, all persons present in uniform should render the military salute. Members of the Armed Forces and veterans who are present but not in uniform may render the military salute. All other persons present should face the flag and stand at attention with their right hand over the heart, or if applicable, remove their headdress with their right hand and hold it at the left shoulder, the hand being over the heart. Citizens of other countries present should stand at attention. All such conduct toward the flag in a moving column should be rendered at the moment the flag passes.§10. Modification of rules and customs by PresidentAny rule or custom pertaining to the display of the flag of the United States of America, set forth herein, may be altered, modified, or repealed, or additional rules with respect thereto may be prescribed, by the Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces of the United States, whenever he deems it to be appropriate or desirable; and any such alteration or additional rule shall be set forth in a proclamation.Want To Learn More About Military Life?Whether you're thinking of joining the military, looking for fitness and basic training tips, and keeping up with military life and benefits, Military and Veteran Benefits, News, Veteran Jobs has you covered. Sign up for a free Military.com membership to have military news, updates, and resources delivered directly to your inbox.Related TopicsFlag Day© Copyright 2019 Military and Veteran Benefits, News, Veteran Jobs. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.You May Also LikeRules for Saluting US FlagNon uniformed servicemembers, military retirees, and veterans may render salute to flag.Flag Etiquette And The U.S. Flag CodeFlag Day isn't simply about honoring a particular design on a cloth.Patriot Day and the US FlagOn September 11 we honor the lives lost during the 2001 terrorist attacks by flying the U.S. flag.American Legion Offers Text Alerts When Flag Is To Be At Half-StaffDon't fly it wrongMilitary HolidaysAir Force BirthdayArmy BirthdayCoast Guard BirthdayFlag DayIndependence DayMarine Corps BirthdayMemorial DayMilitary Appreciation MonthMilitary Family Appreciation MonthMilitary Spouse Appreciation DayNational Guard BirthdayNavy BirthdayVeterans DaySelect ServiceARMYMARINESNAVYAIR FORCENATIONAL GUARDCOAST GUARDSPOUSELOGINFlag DayThe Importance of Flag DayFlag Etiquette And The U.S. Flag CodeRules for Saluting US FlagU.S. Flag CodeHow to Retire Your FlagEarly American FlagsThe Flag HouseJoin the discussion...Log in to comment370190066 months agoI have a question about flag procedure. When posting flags into the ships, before posting we say the pledge of allegiance, can the flags do an about face to place them in the ships? Thank you for your reply.Reply370131416 months agoI plan on putting up 50 US Flags (3x5 on 9' pole) outside our manufacturing site for the upcoming Veterans Day. What are the guidelines for how many days prior & after Veterans Day that would be acceptable to keep them up?ReplyMe Me8 months agoExcept the Supreme Court long ago ruled the Flag Codes unconstitutional and void a few years after the Pledge of Allegience was deemed a violation of religious freedom. (except half staff stuff is still legal for government) Even had to overrule a few states who thought it was relegated to states rights domain.Thus any one can honor or dishonor the flag as they deem fit ...unless on duty in military. Leading to loads of room for additional conflict over what is respect or not respect. Plenty of younger folk consider it honoring flag to wear it as clothes.( Might also be some legal vestiges in federal services like USPS but I suspect that is just lots of old conservatives still in office and former military moving in to preserve traditional observances. )Of course strict observance of the Flag Code by civilians is still a sign of extreme respect...a ultra conservation one at that if not former military.Reply367526011 year agoIs not the picture of the temporary flags shown in the article "Early American Flags" against Section 8 paragraph i? The people are waving temporary flags that would be discarded. This is a page about proper flag etiquette and respect, but that picture seems to go against what the code states. Or am I misinterpreting? Help me out, please.I also am wondering - what about people who make images of flags out of wooden tables to be on display outdoors in the weather which will deteriorate over time? Does that not go against the Flag Code?Also, when the color guard at a military funeral tuck empty shell casings in a folded flag to present to the survivor of a service person, isn't that against Section 8 paragraph h?It seems there are a lot of Code violations going on and no one speaking up about them. Why is that?ReplyRon Prasuhn3675260110 months agoNo U.S. Flag is temporary, regardless of size. What I believe you are interpreting as 'temporary' is the printing of the flag on napkins, paper plates, etc. whic is in violation of the current flag code.The small flags shown in the picture you refer to are to be given the same respect and care as any other flag flown from a flag mast/pole or staff from the 3x5 foot on up. How they are 'actually' treated is on the individuals carrying/waving them and how deep their patriotism runs through their system (hearts). Granted, many...if not all...of these type flags do end up on the ground and eventually in trash recepticles and the city/county dump, they are not in violation of Section 8 paragraph i. That's not to say that they shouldn't be given the same respect and treatment as a 3x5 or larger flag and be cermoniously destroye by fire (properly folded and encased in a plain paper bag at tim of burning).I'm not familiar with your mention of an honor guard placing spent casings from the 'gun salute' in the folded flag presented to the spouse or family member of a fallen soldier; but would suspect that is an 'exception to the rule' and not considered to be against Section 8 paragraph h, in respect to 'transporting' anything/something unrelated to the purpose of the folded flag and ceremony.There are several flag designs made of other than cloth of the U.S. Flag...i.e., wooden flags for use as wall hangings...which are not noted to be against the flag code, provided thy are given the same honor and respect as if they were made of cloth since they do represent the natona flag. However, such things as beach towels and other such items of clothing or apparal or even benches (as seen in a recent post on social media) being painted up to resemble the U.S. Flag and which will touch the ground for any lengthy period or be in a position to be stepped on (as in using a bench to place a foot on while tieing a show lace or stepping on it to reach something or even to just be standing on the bench for whatever reason) would be agains the flag code and fall under the sub paragrahs covering handling, display and treatment of the flag.Bottom line is pretty much how people interpret the U.S. Flag Code; how well they take it all to heart and how patyriotic they happen to be in caring and respecting the flag that gives and stands for the ability (freedoms) fr them to treat the flag as they do. Some of us are just more sensitive to how 'our' flag is treated and respected, where others who claim to be patriotic Americans treat it like a piece of trash. That's something those of us who love and respect our flag will have to put up with since there is no 'real' punishment for doing otherwise as their once was.Reply322163731 year agowhat items if any can be placed above the Americsn flag on a flag pole or halyard .ReplyRon Prasuhn3221637310 months agoGenerally, 'No' items or flags can or are authorized to be place above the U.S. Flag in any manner of its display.If displayed on a flag pole...veritcal in ground, or from a mast from a building...the U.S. Flag is to be the only flag on the pole/staff, or can have a state flag directly beneath it.The only flag authorized to be flown above the U.S. Flag on the same mast or staff is the Christian flag and then only on board ship and only during religious services.Most generally and best practice to preclued any problems is to fly ONLY the U.S. Flag on one mast/pole/staff; with the exception of the Christian church services noted previously.ReplyServices: Air Force Army Coast Guard Marine Corps National Guard NavyAbout Military and Veteran Benefits, News, Veteran Jobs: About Us & Press Room FAQ Help & Feedback Advertise With Us RSS Mobile Apps User Agreement Privacy Policy Site Map© 2019 Military AdvantageAdChoicesShare to FacebookShare to TwitterShare to PinterestShare to EmailMore AddThis Share options