QA回答：古代中国人的军队比欧洲人多得多，为什么他们不像欧洲人那样试图征服和奴役地球呢？

Imran Roy There were three reasons for that. First, China is a large country. I don't mean large, I mean large. Huge. Vast.

这有三个原因。 首先，中国是一个大国。我不是说大，我的意思是巨大。非常巨大。广阔无垠。

Image 1. Map of Asia. As easily visible, China is huge. Almost twice the size of India!

图片 1. 亚洲地图。正如很容易看到的，中国是巨大的。几乎是印度的两倍大！

The emperors of China had problems maintaining their reign over the border regions, with bandit gangs terrorizing trade caravans for centuries. The problem was so severe that a huge wall was built to safeguard the northern regions and establish a secure trade route to central Asian states.

中国的皇帝在维持对边境地区的统治方面存在问题，数个世纪以来，盗匪团伙一直在恐吓贸易商队。这个问题非常严重，以至于修建了一堵巨大的墙（长城）来保护北部地区，并建立了一条通往中亚国家的安全贸易路线。

I am almost certain no Chinese emperor had seen all of the land under his reign. They were perpetually embroiled with troubles and issues inside China to ever want to expand their territory. There were rogue governors to set right. Highwaymen and bandit gangs to eradicate. Oh and not to forget, conspiracies and schemes within the palace to keep an eye on.

我几乎可以肯定，没有哪位中国皇帝见过他统治下的所有土地。他们总是深陷中国内部的麻烦和问题之中，以至于从未想过要扩张领土。 有为非作歹的官员需要纠正。有需要剿灭的强盗和盗匪团伙。哦，别忘了，还有宫廷内部需要提防的阴谋诡计。

There's a Punjabi proverb succinctly summarizing the situation: جیڈا وڈا سر، ایڈی وڈی پیڑ, meaning: the bigger the head, the bigger the headache.

有一句旁遮普谚语简洁地概括了这种情况：جیڈا وڈا سر، ایڈی وڈی پیڑ，意思是：头越大，头痛越厉害。

Image 2. The bigger the crown, the heavier it weighs down.

图片 2. 皇冠越大，压力越重。

Whoever in their right mind would want to accumulate more headache and troubles by merging in more regions to his domain?

哪个头脑正常的人会想要通过将更多地区并入自己的领地来给自己增加更多的头痛和麻烦呢？

Secondly, in which direction would the Chinese emperors try to expand? East: sea. Beyond the sea, Korea. Beyond Korea, Nihon/Japan with fierce warlords and too far away to control. North: Mongolia. That's where they built the wall, to keep those raiding gangs and bandits out. Mountains and grasslands only. No fertile plains or irrigation networks supporting crops which could be taxed. West: Afghanistan. Again, barren mountain ranges, fierce warlords, no crops. Also the culture of Afghanistan was and is absolutely in contrast to that of China. There was no way that region could be controlled from within China. South: Tibet, India. While Tibet was indeed annexed when the emperors enjoyed periods of stability, they wouldn't even think about going further south. Himalaya mountain range is still a formidable barrier to cross for an army, even with modern technology. In the past it was utterly unthinkable.

其次，中国皇帝会试图向哪个方向扩张？ 东：大海。海那边是朝鲜。朝鲜再过去是日本，那里有凶悍的军阀，而且太远难以控制。 北：蒙古。他们建长城就是为了把那些劫掠的团伙和盗匪挡在外面。那里只有山脉和草原。没有支持可征税作物的肥沃平原或灌溉网络。 西：阿富汗。同样是贫瘠的山脉，凶悍的军阀，没有庄稼。而且阿富汗的文化过去和现在都与中国截然不同。那个地区根本不可能从中国内部进行控制。 南：*z、印度。虽然在皇帝享有稳定时期确实吞并了*z，但他们连再往南去想都不会想。喜马拉雅山脉对于军队来说仍然是一个难以逾越的障碍，即使是现代技术也如此。在过去，这完全是不可想象的。

Image 3. Where to expand into?

图片 3. 往哪里扩张？

Third and last reason was that China was a fertile and prosperous region with enough produce to tax. It also lay smugly with the silk road and trade routes between India and central Asia. It was easy to tax the trade caravans in exchange if providing safe passage and protection from bandits.

第三个也是最后一个原因在于，中国这片土地肥沃富饶，物产丰足，税收来源充沛。更因其得天独厚的地理位置——丝绸之路与连接印度和中亚的商路在此交汇，使得征收过境商税尤为便利。作为交换，中国朝廷为往来商队提供安全通行保障，使其免受匪患侵扰。

These are the reasons why Chinese emperors never wanted to expand their territory. Simply put, there was no initiative. They already had all they wanted (and more) within China.

这些就是中国皇帝从未想过要扩张领土的原因。 简单来说，他们没有动力。他们在国内已经拥有了他们想要的一切（甚至更多）。

Nathan James China did fight many regional wars, as has every other nation in human history! This was normal. However, few nations have ever tried to build a far-ranging empire. There was Rome, and the Ottomans, and Portugal, Spain, Netherlands, France, Great Britain, and Soviet unx.

中国确实打过许多区域战争，就像人类历史上的其他所有国家一样！这是正常的。 然而，很少有国家试图建立一个疆域辽阔的帝国。有罗马、奥斯曼、葡萄牙、西班牙、荷兰、法国、大英帝国和苏联。

If China was so inclined, it could’ve joined this exclusive club. In the 15th century, China had the largest naval fleet in the world. Led by the legendary Admiral Zheng He, the fleet consisted of over 300 vessels, 62 of which were gargantuan ships that totally eclipsed Christopher Columbus’ ships!

如果中国有这个意愿，它本可以加入这个独特的俱乐部。15世纪，中国拥有世界上最大的海军舰队。在传奇将领郑和统帅下，这支舰队拥有300余艘船只，其中62艘巨舰的规模令哥伦布的船队相形见绌！

Carrying a large contingent of warriors, He could’ve conquered many lands. Instead, he sailed his mighty fleet all the way to the East coast of Africa on diplomatic missions.

带着大量的士兵，他本可以征服许多土地。然而，他却率领他的强大舰队一直航行到非洲东海岸执行外交使命。

China has always been insular, preferring to keep to itself. As long as it had regional security, China did not care about the rest of the world.

中国历来秉持独善其身的思想，倾向于专注自身发展。只要确保区域安全稳定，便对外部世界事务持超然态度。

Kate Alwyn Many people are used to looking at the ancient times from a modern perspective, which makes it impossible to understand history. East Asia and even Southeast Asia, separated from the West, communication under the ancient traffic conditions is very limited. Therefore, before the beginning of the age of great navigation, East Asia was a relatively independent system, whose biggest feature was the existence of China, a country in an absolute leading position. The state was not only a military force, but also an exporter of culture and goods, and Confucian culture was very influential in the region. As a result, small neighboring countries will join the tributary system of China for their own benefit. In other words, the international order in this region is completely established and maintained by China, and China has almost reached the limit of its domination and expansion in East Asia.

很多人习惯于用现代视角看待古代，这使得理解历史变得不可能。东亚甚至东南亚，与西方隔绝，古代交通条件下的交流非常有限。因此，在大航海时代开始之前，东亚是一个相对独立的体系，其最大特点是存在一个处于绝对主导地位的国家——中国。这个国家不仅是军事力量，也是文化和商品的输出者，儒家文化在该地区非常有影响力。因此，周边的小国会为了自身利益加入中国的朝贡体系。换句话说，该地区的国际秩序完全由中国建立和维持，中国在东亚的统治和扩张几乎达到了极限。

If we build an international order centered on ourselves, of course, we should treat others with the dignity and attitude of a big brother, such as peaceful trade, instead of stealing and robbing like a small western country. Economically, China offers high-value added goods in demand that can be marketed to make sufficient profits without having to rely on pirates to grab what they want. So why are they thinking about colonizing the entire planet?

如果我们建立一个以我们为中心的国际秩序，当然应该以大哥的姿态和尊严对待他人，比如和平贸易，而不是像西方小国那样偷窃和抢劫。经济上，中国提供需求量大的高附加值商品，可以进行市场销售以获得足够的利润，而无需依靠海盗去抢夺他们想要的东西。那么，他们为什么要想着殖民整个星球呢？

I think in the history of ethnic and national invasion, expansion and colonial behavior, are mostly based on the material benefits of direct drive, that is, when the obxtive conditions of the original social area already could not satisfy the ethnic group some of the urgent need, constitutes the increasingly acute contradictions, often through invasion expansion can quickly and efficiently resolve this contradiction. However, if there is no similar urgent need within the ethnic group, even if the economic and military strength reaches or even exceeds the conditions for aggression and expansion, the fact of aggression and expansion may not occur.

我认为，在民族和国家的入侵、扩张和殖民行为史上，大多是基于直接驱动的物质利益，也就是说，当原有社会区域的客观条件已经无法满足民族某些迫切需求，构成日益尖锐的矛盾时，往往可以通过入侵扩张来快速有效地解决这一矛盾。然而，如果民族内部没有类似的迫切需求，即使经济和军事实力达到甚至超过了侵略扩张的条件，侵略扩张的事实也可能不会发生。

For European countries, land was a severely scarce resource, not to mention peasants without land, even the aristocracy could not feed themselves. When the technology of navigation developed, people realized that there was so much land that they could easily occupy it, and of course colonized it like crazy. As we know, a colony is an overseas territory established for profit. Colonies play three major roles: plunder of resources, plunder of labor, and dumping of goods. But before these three goals could be achieved, the colonization needed investment. The newly conquered colonies were largely wasteland. China had vast territory and abundant arable land, so there was no need for colonization at that time. They would not have expended large amounts of troops and manpower to conquer other areas.

对于欧洲国家来说，土地是极其稀缺的资源，更不用说没有土地的农民了，即使是贵族也无法养活自己。当航海技术发展起来后，人们意识到有如此多的土地可以轻易占领，当然就疯狂地殖民了。众所周知，殖民地是为了盈利而建立的海外领土。殖民地有三个主要作用：掠夺资源、掠夺劳动力和倾销商品。但这三个目标实现之前，殖民需要投入。新征服的殖民地大部分是荒地。中国当时幅员辽阔，耕地充足，因此没有殖民的必要。他们不会花费大量的军队和人力去征服其他地区。

The cultural reason may be the influence of Confucianism. Due to the ideological education China has received, the army must have sufficient justice reasons to wage a war, otherwise it will be humiliated by all the people. Of course, the most important thing is that the Chinese people are not a warlike group. Isn't it comfortable and leisurely for people to plough the fields, drink tea, play the zither and write poems? When the country is peaceful and unified, no prince wants to start a war for no reason except to take back his land. Moreover, the Chinese people are reluctant to leave their hometowns and move to foreign colonies. So in a completely different historical and cultural context from the West, China would not choose to conquer the entire planet even if it had a strong military force.

文化原因可能是儒家思想的影响。由于中国所接受的思想教育，军队必须有充分的正义理由才能发动战争，否则会遭到全国人民的唾弃。当然，最重要的是，中国人不是一个好战的民族。耕田、喝茶、弹琴、写诗，这不是件惬意悠闲的事吗？当国家和平统一时，除了收复失地之外，没有哪个王爷会无缘无故地发动战争。而且，中国人不愿意背井离乡，搬到海外殖民地。因此，在一个与西方完全不同的历史和文化背景下，即使拥有强大的军事力量，中国也不会选择征服整个星球。

Leon Trotsky Let's observe the map of China.

让我们看看中国的地图。

Opps, this map is from HOI4, when I play as Kuomintang after the Ver0.18 Kaiserreich released yesterday. And I’ll spank the Japs after the unification.

哎呀，这张地图来自《钢铁雄心4》——昨天0.18版《凯撒瑞克》模组更新后，我正用国民党阵营开局。等完成统一，定要痛揍小日本。

China, even by now, always have the most population in the world, with the majority are the Han Chinese that lived in the China proper(the area south to the Great Wall). If we read the history, we can realize that the defined Chinese dynasty are the ones that occupied the China proper(sometime not all) and ruled the Han Chinese while Han Chinese support this regime. Of course, the northeast, northwest and southwest part also belong to the China, and Tibetan Chinese, Mongolian Chinese, etc are all Chinese, but compared with Han, they are in a small scale.

即使到了现在，中国也一直拥有世界上最多的人口，其中大部分是居住在中国本土（长城以南地区）的汉族人。如果我们回顾历史，就会发现，被定义为中国王朝的，是那些占据了中国本土（有时并非全部）并统治汉族人，同时得到汉族人支持的政权。当然，东北、西北和西南地区也属于中国，藏族中国人、蒙古族中国人等等都是中国人，但与汉族相比，他们的规模较小。

So now, assume you are the emperor of a Chinese dynasty, the majesty of the the nation, the great leader of your Heaven Army, and you want to launch some campaign against others, what do you want from the invasion and who will be the target?

那么现在，假设你是一个中国王朝的皇帝，国家的威严象征，你的天兵天将的伟大领袖，你想对外发动一些战役，你希望从入侵中获得什么，目标是谁？

Land, population and treasures are what you want, and target you should choose.

土地、人口和财富是你想要的，也是你应该选择的目标。

South——South China sea and Viet You can get fish from the sea and waves that may eat you.. Not a great choice. Viet is a great target and used to be under control, but the forests except the Hounoi delta are not worthy to conquer.

南方——南海和越南 你可以从海中获取鱼获，但也可能遭遇吞噬你的惊涛骇浪...这并非明智之选。越南曾是被控制的绝佳目标，但除了红河三角洲外，那些丛林地带根本不值得征服。

Maciej Kania The most important thing to realize is that real countries, unlike ones in computer games, do not have their own interests and agendas. Only people have some, including rulers.

最重要的是要明白：真实的国家与电子游戏中的不同，它们本身并没有自身的利益和议程。真正拥有这些的只有人——包括统治者。

In the time China was the world's most advanced civilization, it was also very isolationist. The reason for this was it was one big empire, and like every big empire it was torn by internal strifes. All Chinese governments were focused on internal stability. The Chinese emperors have no interest in expanding China overseas, because this won't give them more power, but could only weaken their authority, as colony “managers" would be powerful, rich and virtually untouchable people, potential rivals in the power struggle.

在中国作为世界最先进文明的时期，其对外政策却极为封闭。究其根源，这个庞大帝国如同所有大帝国一样，始终深陷内部纷争的泥沼。历代中国政权都将维持内部稳定作为首要之务。中国君主们对海外扩张毫无兴趣，因为这种扩张不仅不能巩固皇权，反而可能削弱中央权威——那些远在殖民地的"管理者"将逐渐成为手握重金、权势熏天且难以制约的群体，最终蜕变为权力角逐中的潜在威胁。

No European monarch after fall of Rome was able to create pan-European empire, even if some tried this. Europe was a bunch of Independent kingdoms competing and warring with each other constantly. This means acquiring some wealth from overseas would give one monarch an advantage against competitors, and it was worth the risk of reducing own authority towards powerful and wealthy subjects.

自罗马帝国衰落后，欧洲再未有任何君主能重建泛欧帝国，尽管不乏尝试者。这片大陆始终是众多独立王国相互征伐的竞技场。正因如此，从海外攫取财富能为君主赢得对抗竞争对手的优势，即便这意味着要承受削弱中央权威的风险——毕竟面对那些因殖民活动而日益强大的臣属阶层，这种冒险仍是值得的。

West_——Plateau and desert

西方——高原和沙漠

Emm, why I order my people to drink the wind and eat the sand?

嗯，我为什么要让我的子民喝风吃沙？

North——Steppe

北方——草原

Steppe is beautiful? right? But only in Summer, the storm and snow will eliminate everything, and you also have to be aware of the Barbarians.(You are richer than them, and you will be the target)\\\\\\\\

草原很美？对吧？但只在夏天如此，风暴和雪会吞噬一切，而且你还得提防野蛮人。（因为你比他们富有，你会成为别人的目标）

4.East—- Korea and Japan

东方——朝鲜和日本

Korea and Japan are rich, from the prospect in 21st century. But in ancient times… I can just say Korea had already been a puppet of China and Japan wanted to become a puppet of China(Toyotomi Hideyoshi gives an upvote). While in China’s view, it’s better to let them to remain independent for the cost will surpass the earning if the war launched.

从21世纪的视角看，朝鲜与日本确属富庶之地。但回溯古代...朝鲜早就是中原王朝的附庸，而日本甚至曾主动寻求成为附庸（丰臣秀吉默默点赞）。但在中国统治者眼中，与其劳师远征得不偿失，不如任其保持独立——毕竟战争成本必将远超收益。

Some may say, the southeast Asia and America are also great choices, why these areas were also lost to the Europeans? During Ming dynasty, a great scale of Chinese people had already lived here, but this area was conquered by the European first. And America, the Pacific ocean is not peaceful… This is just one reason I know. If there remains more, I’ll be glad to discuss~

有些人可能会说，东南亚和美洲也是很好的选择，为什么这些地区也落入了欧洲人手中？ 明朝时期，已经有大量的中国人居住在这里，但这个地区首先被欧洲人征服了。至于美洲，太平洋并不平静…… 这只是我知道的一个原因。如果还有更多原因，我很乐意讨论~