Why can farming civilization last for thousands of years in China?

Cultural form is largely determined by geographical environment, especially in ancient times. There are obvious differences between the agricultural cultural form based on thousands of miles of fertile land and the marine cultural form surrounded by vast oceans. China is a typical agricultural civilization, while ancient Greece and England are typical marine civilizations. The differences between the two civilization systems are manifested in many aspects.

First, the most obvious manifestation of farming civilization and marine civilization is the difference in life forms. In farming culture, people can rely on agriculture to develop self-sufficiency, which determines that farming civilization is going to a different place and does not tend to disrupt the existing living order and seek a comfortable living state. In marine culture, marine-based civilizations cannot be self-sufficient, which requires them to actively seek resources, expand outward, and seek a life state that advocates adventure.

Second, farming civilization is intertwined with men and women, taking the family as the unit and paying more attention to the family, so it emphasizes family ethics. However, marine civilization emphasizes going out, and its dependence on family is not as obvious as that of farming civilization, so its dependence on family is relatively weak, and its family ethics is not as strong as that of China, which can be seen from western mythology.

Third, the foreign strategies of farming civilization and marine civilization are different. In farming civilization, people can rely on endogenous resources to survive, and the desire to seek survival resources abroad is not strong, so basically foreign wars will not break out because of plundering resources. Therefore, in China, foreign aggression in search of resources rarely occurs. China has long been a unified country. Most wars in China are based on the idea of unity, not to plunder resources. However, marine civilization is different. It is difficult to rely on endogenous resources to survive, and we need to actively expand our territory to meet our own survival foundation. So marine civilization is more aggressive. As you can see, in the Republic, an important reason for establishing an army is to protect or plunder resources. This is particularly evident in the colonial behavior in modern Europe.

Fourth, farming civilization and marine civilization have different attitudes towards business. Since farming civilization can be self-sufficient, the demand for commerce is naturally weak, while marine civilization, with relatively simple production, needs to rely on commerce and trade to exchange needed commodities without colonization. So in China, commerce has been suppressed for a long time, and in marine civilization, trade occupies a very important position.

Fifth, agricultural civilization and marine civilization have different needs for innovation and change. Agricultural civilization has been able to meet basic needs, and naturally it is easy to breed inertia and meet immediate needs. However, marine civilization is forced by life and often faces an unstable environment, so it needs innovation and change, which can be seen in modern inventions.