What factors limited ancient China from expanding to the southeast

Looking at the history of ancient China, we all found a special phenomenon, that is, the expansion of China's territory in ancient times basically appeared in the north, while in Southeast Asia but rarely. The nomadic forces in the north were far more difficult to deal with than the jungle peoples in the south, so why did all of China's ancient territorial expansion favor the north?

One, why China's territory is always expanding to the north

We must first analyze the problem from the economic point of view. Ancient China is a traditional farming civilization, the expansion of the Middle Kingdom generally only occupy areas suitable for agricultural development. The earliest agricultural areas were the Huanghuaihai Valley and the Yangtze River Valley, and China's earliest boundaries were limited to these two areas. After the unification of the Qin Dynasty, all the successive unified dynasties of China expanded to their neighbors, but basically to areas suitable for farming. Examples include the Liaodong Peninsula in the northeast, the Hetao Plain in the north, the Hexi Corridor and the Huangshui Valley in the northwest, as well as the Pearl River Basin and the Red River Plain in southern China. These areas became the ancient so-called ? Hanland? or? hinterland?

From the point of view of national habits, the farming people are conservative, and the habit of settling down, so they are not very fond of foreign expansion. The nomadic peoples of the steppe are different. Grassland people's material production capacity is very poor, animal husbandry is also very unstable, so they must rely on plunder to supply. As a result, the nomads became very aggressive. Throughout ancient history, the nomadic peoples have never stopped attacking the farming areas.

Faced with the attacks of the nomads, the farming peoples counterattacked. But it was very difficult for the farming peoples to counterattack the nomads. The nomads are too mobile, so they may not be able to find their main force, and if they do, they may not be able to defeat them, and if they win, they may not be able to defend themselves. If they could not defend themselves, they withdrew, and soon the nomads resurfaced. Ancient Chinese dynasties in the central plains are generally the first to send troops to occupy the more suitable for farming Liaodong, Hetao, Hexi Corridor, the Western Region, Huangshuang Valley, carried out a cantonment, stationed troops, the construction of the Great Wall. In this way, it was possible to prevent the nomads from moving southward more effectively. Occupying these areas would have brought about the expansion of the frontier to the north.

The other northward expansion was brought about by the nomads. It was the nomads who entered the Central Plains and incorporated the northern territories into China. For example, the rise of Liao, Jin, Yuan, and Qing allowed China to expand its territory throughout the Mongolian Plateau, the Heilongjiang Valley, the Western Regions, and the Tibetan Plateau. It was difficult for the farming peoples to conquer the nomadic peoples, but the nomadic peoples could conquer the farming peoples more easily. However, the nomads' lack of culture meant that they were quickly assimilated, and the territories they expanded into became part of China's territory. In this way, China became a dualistic state composed of agrarian and nomadic peoples. nomadic state.

Two, why China did not expand to Southeast Asia in ancient times

Much of Southeast Asia in ancient times was unsuitable for agriculture because of its hot climate, dense forests, and complex terrain. Although there are relatively open plains such as the Mekong River and the Red River, these were also not well developed in ancient times and are basically forested. After the Qin dynasty used an army of 500,000 to open up the Red River plains in the Pearl River basin, the Middle Kingdom could no longer push south.

The jungle peoples of Southeast Asia posed little threat to China. They were relatively well supplied with living materials, but their societies were backward in development, so they were at peace with China for a long time. In such a state of affairs, the Chinese dynasty would not have spent a great deal of money to march into Southeast Asia. Zhu Yuanzhang once said? The four barbarians, are limited to the mountains across the sea, secluded in a corner, to get their land is not enough to supply, to get their people is not enough to make order. If they do not measure themselves, come to scratch my side, then they are ominous. Even if he is not China's trouble, and I raise troops to lightly violate, but also ominous. I am afraid that future generations will rely on China's wealth and strength, greedy for a moment of success, without reason to raise troops, resulting in injury to human life, remember not to?

Another strange phenomenon is that China's Confucian culture is also difficult to spread in Southeast Asia. In fact, the spread of Confucian culture to neighboring regions is also limited to Japan, Korea and Vietnam, far less than the spread of Christian culture and Indian culture. Why is this so? The reason is that Confucian culture is what is best suited to the farming peoples in the monsoon climate of East Asia, and when it goes out of this part of East Asia, it is incompatible with the living customs of others. The reason that most of ancient Southeast Asia became the sphere of influence of Indian culture is that Indian religious culture was more expansive and applicable to agrarian, steppe, and jungle peoples.

So could ancient China expand into Southeast Asia by some special means? Actually it could, but it had to be done in the manner of a maritime nation. That is, when China's population swelled and then became socially acrimonious, the government encouraged people to emigrate overseas and set up colonial strongholds in anarchic lands to clear the land. In this way, the interior and pressure could be relieved and the development of Southeast Asia could be accelerated. However, China, as an agrarian nation, has always been worried about population loss and has never thought of colonization. For example, the Ming Dynasty Zheng He traveled to the West, encountered overseas Chinese, are hoping to let them return to their country, otherwise they will not be too polite.