The Geopolitical Blueprint

Why did China stop being creative after the Song dynasty (960-1279 CE)? In this talk to his Chinese high school students, Jiang Xueqin explains that it's because the Ming and Qing dynasties achieved a level of national unity that was not possible in the past. While this national unity ensured the longevity of the emperor and his imperial bureaucracy, it made the nation insular and stagnant. The imperial bureaucracy used three mechanisms to monopolize status, literacy, and culture. The "keju" (civil service examination) focused the energies and ambitions of local gentry. The "keju" tested for "wenyan" (classical literary Chinese), a language that was so difficult that students had to spend decades mastering it. Confucianism restricted openness and innovation.

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Genghis Khan is considered the world's greatest conquerer. Why was he so successful?In this talk to his Chinese high school students, Jiang Xueqin argues that Genghis Khan had the same characteristics as other great conquerors, such as Sargon of Akkad, Philip of Macedon, and Julius Caesar.Genghis Khan believed that he had a divine mission to re-make the world. In overcoming hardship and defeat, Genghis Khan came to recognize his mission, and committed himself to completing it. He united the warring Mongol tribes into a professional, meritocratic, and innovative army that would go on to conquer most of the Asian continent.

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What were the Crusades? Why did they start? Why did they end?In this talk to his Chinese high school students, Jiang Xueqin explores the history of Europe's late middle ages. He shows that while the Roman Catholic Church was dominant, there were still challenges to its authority. Muslims controlled the Holy Land, Muslim Iberia was more wealthy and innovative, and the Orthodox Church claimed sovereignty. As well, Catholic clerics were considered corrupt, which led to widespread dissent.In 1095, Pople Urban II hoped to channel his flock's religious energy, and direct it to warfare against Muslims and heretics in order to cement the authority of the Church. Crusaders captured Jerusalem, conquered the Iberian peninsula, and crushed the Cathars. The Crusades ended when a series of crises engulfed Europe in the fourteenth century. Biblical rains, famine, war, and the Black Death halved Europe's population. In his conclusion, Jiang explains that Europe's Crusading fever never died out. In the Age of Exploration, Europe's new Crusaders would cross the Atlantic.

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The Renaissance was a re-imagining of Classical Greece in a Christian European context, a spirit that would birth modernity.How did it start?Scholars argued that the Renaissance came about due to a perfect storm of structural factors. The build-up of commercial trade, the re-discovery of Greco-Roman thinkers, and the development of intellectual centers (such as universities and monasteries) were among the most important. In this talk to his Chinese high school students, Jiang Xueqin argues that it was Dante's Divine Comedy that would spark the confident self-expression and triumphant self-expression of the Renaissance.

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In this talk to his Chinese high school students, Jiang Xueqin explains how the Protestant Reformation birthed capitalism. Martin Luther and John Calvin saw the Catholic Church as inherently and irredeemably corrupt. Martin Luther proposed "justification by faith," which argued that Christians can only be redeemed by their unwavering faith in God (regardless of how much money they donated to the Church). John Calvin proposed the concept of "double pre-destination," which argued that God at the beginning of time had decided the fate of all (and thus buying "indulgences" from the Catholic Church was pointless).In accepting these two doctrines and rejecting Papal authority, Protestants now had to prove to themselves that they were among the faithful elect. In their anxiety, they focused on the accumulation of money.

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What is the Scientific Revolution, and how did it happen? Why did it happen in Europe, and not anywhere else? In this talk to his Chinese high school students, Jiang Xueqin explains that the Scientific Revolution happened because of a change in focus from asking "What is Truth?" to asking "How can we know Truth?". To resolve the geocentric vs. heliocentric debate, Europeans pioneered the Scientific Method, a system of processes and protocols to test and refine hypotheses. This led to an explosion of technological innovation. Jiang Xueqin concludes by arguing that the Scientific Method has ossified into an imperial bureaucracy. Today, geniuses like Galileo, Newton, and Einstein would be shunned for their eccentricities. Have we come to the end of the Scientific Revolution?

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How did a few thousand Spanish Conquistadors subdue and conquer millions of Aztecs, Incas, and Mayans.Most scholars believe it's a combination of superior Spanish military technology, spreading of deadly infectious diseases, and internal tribal conflict that led to the demise of once powerful empires. In this talk to his Chinese high school students, Jiang Xueqin argues that it was the religious practices and beliefs of the native peoples of Central and South America that made them vulnerable to invasion and conquest.The natives had a strict religious hierarchy that established priest-kings as divine beings. When the Spanish executed their priest-kings, they broke the ultimate taboo. This left many Aztecs and Incas helpless and hopeless.

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The Ottomans, Safavids, Mughals, and Chinese were the first four gunpowder empires. So how did Europe come to conquer the world?In this talk to his Chinese high school students, Jiang Xueqin explains that it's because Europe adopted a whole society approach to warfare. Because of open co-operative competition within Europe, nations were forced to transition from feudalism to the nation-state, from agriculture to industry, and from religion to science. Though these transitions would turn Europe into the dominant military power in the world, they would also unleash social, economic, and political forces that would challenge the status quo, leading to the American and French Revolutions.

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This video begins a three-part series on the French Revolution. The over-arching thesis is that the French Revolution was a religious crusade, and it was made successful by the contributions of three geniuses. Jean-Jacques Rousseau was the Poet of the Revolution who dreamed of a better world based on Reason.Maximilien De Robespierre was the Prophet who had the courage and conviction to lead his people into this new world. Napoleon Bonaparte was the Prince who had the skill and resolve to conquer this new world, and make the world bend to his vision.In this first talk, we examine the major thinkers of the Enlightenment (mainly Descartes, Kant, and Rousseau), and how their ideas and arguments would underpin and drive the French Revolution.

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The French Revolution allowed for the meteoric rise of an idealistic provincial lawyer. During the Reign of Terror, Robespierre could have been king, but ultimately fell to the guillotine, like thousands of his victims. What explains his spectacular rise and fall?In this talk to his Chinese high school students, Jiang Xueqin argues that Robespierre saw himself as the Prophet of the French Revolution, and was determined to achieve the Revolution no matter what. For the weak and oppressed, Robespierre became Jesus, and as such he would come to share the same fate.

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