>>1847992>Basically china was a land empire with no aspiration of naval power. Half right. Unlike Great Britain or really, most of Western Europe, the Chinese were never wanting for lands to expand into or stuff to acquire. If their population grew, they simply moved the frontier. Europeans came for their stuff, and not the other way around, as the Qing Empire was the manufacturing powerhouse of the world up until the Industrial Revolution.
Naval power was mostly concentrated in the rivers, coastal areas, and inland bodies of water where most commerce and transportation took place.
>Then british arrived and opiumd them to death.Already starting to fall apart. If anything, Europeans gave the Qing a shot in the arm.
>>1848029>Didn't the Chinese also create a huge fleet at a time but then decided not to sail out and colonize the worlds but then decided that it wasn't worth it and destroyed their fleet?The Ming sent out several expeditions westwards (i.e. where much of the known world was) in a show of power, but it was very expensive. Then there were troubles at the northern border (as always) so the court had to redirect its attentions there.
