jlktrl

The comparison of the Roman Empire and the Chinese civilization is very flawed. First of all, Rome did not unite neighboring groups in Italy as a culture, never mind Europe. The lands and tribes they conquered simply used Latin for trade and as a lingua franca. It never became the mother tongue for any of those people. In China, for thousands of years, you have people from every province celebrating many of the same festivals, educated people reading the same script and Mandarin speaking officials reporting to the Emperor. Furthermore, pretty much everyone in Northern and Western China spoke some variation of Mandarin. The other main language group was Yue in the South and Wu to the East. To add to this, the major historical events in China are much more important than any local ones. Yet, if you ask a French or Italian person about their history, they would tell you very different things.