Historical records and appraisals are not always reliable. Many are deceitful. As we all know, in a long dynasty, heroes abound; in a short one, most are villains. Why? Because a long dynasty chronicles its own history, hence eulogy; a short dynasty has its history written by its conqueror, hence denunciation. Lu Xun told his audience, in one of his 1927 lectures on the Wei-Jin era (coinciding roughly with the late Roman Empire). This is interesting but access to the full review is not free. Meanings of June the Fourth
“The West won the world not by the superiority of its ideas or values or religion (to which few members of other civilizations were converted) but rather by its superiority in applying organized violence. Westerners often forget this fact; non-Westerners never do.” —Samuel P. Huntington, The Clash of Civilisation and the Remaking of the World Order, 1996, p. 51