"Some idiots claimed this was one of our Four Great Inventions. If that line of thought were extended, it could lead to a denial of ancient technology."
Shen Shanden did not elaborate.
There was a long story behind it.
Simply put, the West always won, while this side always lost.
Western intellectuals, whether they were friendly toward China or opposed to it, all recognized the greatness of Chinese Civilization.
So they had long since done a great deal of work.
Joseph's Question was one example, and also a core subject in Oriental studies.
Although ancient China had made many important contributions to humanity's technological development, why had science and the Industrial Revolution not occurred here in modern times?
Why was "Joseph's Question" at the core of Oriental studies? Because they had first declared it a loss! They had set the tone!
Look at their liberal arts—they were impressive as hell!
With one question, they covered up all the rotten things the West had done—massacres, plunder, the sources of Renaissance technology, moral dilemmas, and so on—then turned around and struck back.
It was actually the same logic.
Why was Britain, the leader of the First Industrial Revolution, utterly crushed by Germany in the Second Industrial Revolution—the power revolution and electrical revolution—which had an even deeper impact on modern society?
How had the British, who led the world during the First Industrial Revolution, been utterly crushed by land-power Germany during the Second Industrial Revolution, handing in such a dismal report card? Could that not also prove the inherent flaws of the British?
Shouldn't the British reflect on themselves? And shouldn't your America, the conjoined twin father-and-son pair of Britain and America, reflect too?
Why was your America, which sucked blood from the world's economic arteries, worse at governing modern society than countries