Why did China survive for over 2000 years while the Roman empire did not?

为什么中国能延续2000多年，而罗马帝国消失了？

以下是Quora网友的评价：

Tomaž Vargazon

Nothing. China did fall like the Romans. Repeatedly.

中国也和罗马人一样衰落了。而且不止一次。

Five dynasties and ten kingdoms period, China is more fractured than Europe at the time

The only noteworthy difference is that the map of Europe is strategically unique. I don’t mean unique just in the sense there’s nothing else like it in the world, I mean in the sense it’s a more interesting strategic gaming map than any map created (thus far) for the purpose of being interesting.

五代十国时期，中国比当时的欧洲更加支离破碎。

唯一一个明显的区别在于，欧洲地图在战略上是独一无二的。我所说的独特并不是说世界上没有其他类似地图，我的意思是，它是一个十分有意思的战略游戏地图。

Europe

欧洲

Notice the following features:

There are four distinct regions, enclosed by the sea, mountain ranges and a major river: France, Iberian peninsula (Spain and Portugal), Apenine peninsula (Italy), the British isles. These regions are roughly comparible in size, have broadly similar advantages and disadvantages and each enables the formation of a major power that would be comparibly strong to the other three. This is exactly what happened historically, at different times.

East of the Rhine you have Germany and beyond that the Eurasian steppe that also allows for formation of major agricultural powers at least, although it’s not as neatly enclosed as those four.

请注意以下特征：

法国，伊比利亚半岛(西班牙和葡萄牙)，亚平宁半岛(意大利)，不列颠群岛这四个不同的地区，被海洋、山脉和一条主要河流包围。这些地区的规模大致相当，优势和劣势大致相似，每个地区都能形成一个可以和另外三个地区势均力敌的大国。这也正是欧洲大陆在历史不同时期发生的事情。

莱茵河以东是德国，再远一点是欧亚大草原，能够形成农业大国，但不像那四个地区一样紧密相连。

You have the Mediterranean, an almost enclosed inland sea, with just a tiny breathing hole at the western edge and clearly separated into several distinct regions: western and eastern Mediterranean, Adriatic sea, another tiny breathing hole into the Black sea and of course a major city closing the Bosphorus and acting as an ancient capital. You have islands of enormous strategic value, Sicily is rich and fertile, Cyprus is essential for naval control of eastern Mediterranean. You have Balears, Greek islands and Malta, each with strategic value. South of that you have northen Africa, a narrow fertile strip of land on top of the Sahara desert that is not as rich, but still valuable to hold and as the same time not at all easy to take. You have Egypt, an agricultural powerhouse right nexto Jerusalem, a city coveted for spiritual reasons.

欧洲有地中海，这是一个几乎封闭的内陆海，仅在西面边缘留有一个小小的呼吸孔，这个地区被明显分成几块不同的区域：地中海西部和东部，亚得里亚海，另一个通往黑海的呼吸孔，当然了，还有一个封锁住博斯普鲁斯海峡的大城市，曾经是历史古都。欧洲有许多具有巨大战略价值的岛屿，西西里岛富饶肥沃，塞浦路斯是控制地中海东部的海上要地，巴利耳群岛、希腊群岛和马耳他岛也都具有重要的战略价值。再往南，就到了北非，这里是撒哈拉沙漠上一片狭长肥沃的土地，虽然不那么富有，但也很有价值，易守难攻。还有埃及，一个紧邻耶路撒冷的农业大国，一个因精神文明而令人神往的地方。

You have Balkans, a tough land with marginal resources, limited by a major river - the Danube - which enables significant seaborne trade between the Black sea and the Eastern mark (Austria) and enables what would otherwise be an agricultural backwater to grow into a potential superpower.

To the north you have Scandinavia, agriculturaly poor but endowned with vital mineral resources and well protected by frigid seas and harsh climate both.

巴尔干半岛是一片贫瘠的土地，资源匮乏，受制于多瑙河。多瑙河促进了黑海和东部关口(奥地利)之间的重要海上贸易，使这个原本农业落后的地区逐渐变成一个潜在的超级大国。

北面是斯堪的纳维亚半岛，农业贫瘠，但拥有重要的矿产资源，并受到寒冷的海洋和恶劣气候的保护。

All this is before we even begin to consider the human geography, with Christianity and its own anticts of disunity of 1000 C.E., a later introduction of Islam, then the Protestant reformation. Linguistically you have three major groups (Germanic, Latin, Slavic) and at least three minor but nonetheless important groups (Greek, Ugro-Fsh, Baltic), before you even consider Turkish and Arabic (you might not count them under Europe). On top of all that you have at least two major philosphical ideas on how to run a state, monarchy and republic. You have a constant conflict between the Church and the State, with the two competing against each other as often as they’re cooperating.

上述因素还没有涉及人文地理学，基督教和公元1000年的分裂，新传入的YLS教以及后来的新教改革。在语言学上，欧洲有三个主要的语系(日耳曼语、拉丁语、斯拉夫语)和至少三个也很重要的语系(希腊语、乌格罗-芬兰语、波罗的海语)，甚至还有土耳其语和阿拉伯语(也许你不会把它们算在欧洲范围内)。最重要的是，欧洲至少有两种国家管理的思想体系，即君主政体和共和政体。教会和国家之间存在着持续的冲突，两者既相互竞争又相互合作。

Jan Xue

There are some other reasons.

还有其他一些原因。

Slave economy- The Roman slave economy destroyed it’s middle class and it’s economy in general, allowed the wealthy to seize farm lands are replace all the workers with slaves. Citizens had no work. In addition, slavery encouraged mass importing of foreigners into the empire, diluting the “Roman” people. These foreigners may not even look the same as Romans. And as slaves, they had zero loyalty to the empire. Citizens with no lands or wealth would also have less reason to support the Roman state. Slaves also trigger a dangerous internal element in your empire, as they are likely to rebel and support foreign powers.

奴隶经济—罗马的奴隶经济摧毁了它的中产阶级和整个经济，它允许富人占领农场土地，用奴隶取代所有工人。市民们没有工作。此外，奴隶制导致大量外国人进入帝国，“罗马人”变少了。这些外国人的长相可能完全不像罗马人。作为奴隶，他们对罗马帝国毫无忠诚可言。没有土地和财富的公民也没有理由支持罗马政府。奴隶在帝国中会引发危险的内部因素，因为他们可能会叛变并支持外国势力。

(Recurve) Crossbows - Advanced crossbows allowed China to turn poorly trained soldiers into killing machines. Militias have a massive advantage over professional armies. A militia is unpaid and can farm at peacetime. While professional soldiers must be paid at all times, and they cannot farm. The Roman army was a massive drain on the Roman treasury. Crossbows also allow regular cavalry to act as pseudo horse archers. China could rely on a mix of professional and militia armies. While Rome had to pay for expensive professional armies.

(反曲)弓弩—先进的弓弩让中国把缺乏训练的士兵变成了杀戮机器。民兵能比职业军队占有更大的优势。民兵不用报酬，和平时期还可以种地。但职业军人都要领取军饷，还不能务农。罗马军队就是罗马国库的巨大负担。弓弩也可以让普通骑兵变成“马上弓箭手”。中国可以依赖职业军队和民兵军队的组合，而罗马必须为昂贵的职业军队买单。

Lack of ethnic identity - relating to point 1, when all your wealthy are hellbent on importing as much cheap foreign slave labor as possible, you lack any sense of ethnic identity. In comparison China was constantly setting up colonies and essentially taking over new lands with Chinese people. Would a Roman aristocrat really care about other Latins when he can import Berbers for cheap?

缺乏民族认同—和第一点有关，如果所有的富人都拼命地从国外买入廉价外国奴隶劳工，你们国内就会缺乏民族认同感。相比之下，中国不断地建立殖民地，基本都是派中国人占领新的土地。如果一个罗马贵族可以廉价进口柏柏尔人，他还会在意其他拉丁人吗？

I guess it goes down to slavery and crossbows. It would be interesting alternate history if Augustus banned slavery and Rome surviving to the modern era.

我想这要归责于奴隶制和弓弩。如果奥古斯都禁止奴隶制，罗马就能存续到现代，这将会是另一个有趣的历史。

Christos Antoniadis

Actually, Rome did survive 2000 years (or, to be more exact, 2200 years); the most surprising fact is that the Roman state did not fracture like the Han Empire did into the the Three Kingdoms (AD 220–280) only to be reunited by the Sui Dynasty in 581 AD and then fractured again once the Tang Dynasty fell in 907 AD, then (after a Song reunification) be conquered by the Mongols in 1271 and the Manchus in 1644. Chinese civilization is continuous and lasts from ancient times until now. The different Chinese states claimed the Mandate of Heaven and organized their government according to an Imperial system that originated in the Qin Dynasty. Yet, there was no one Chinese Empire lasted from 221 BC to 1911 AD.

事实上，罗马存在了2000年(或者更准确地说，2200年)。而最令人惊讶的事实是，罗马国家并没有像大汉帝国那样分裂成三国(公元220-280年)，一直到公元581年才被隋朝重新统一，而公元907年唐朝灭亡后中国又再次分裂，宋朝再次统一，随后又被蒙古人和满族人分别在1271年和1644年征服。中华文明源远流长，绵延至今。中国不同朝代都声称自己是顺应天命，并沿袭秦朝创立的帝制体系来组建政府。但没有一个中华帝国从公元前221年一直持续到公元1911年。

On the other hand, legally speaking, the Roman state survived from 753 BC to 1453 AD with only two ‘divisions’; the first one between East and West in 395 AD. Yet this was not considered to be a real division by the Romans themselves. According to them, the Roman Empire was one with two Emperors. The state continued to have two Consuls (one Easterner and one Westerner) and laws issued in one part of the Empire took effect in the other too. The deposition of the last Western Emperor was not considered that important by the Romans themselves exactly because of this reason. The second division was that of 1204, after the Fourth Crusade. Three Greek states emerged, yet the Empire of Nicaea managed to restore Constantinople to Roman rule and reasonably claim to be the legitimate successor of the Angeloi Emperors. Thus, Rome fell in 1453. Although its capital, language, religion, culture and system of government changed significantly in that 2200 years, legally and ideologically speaking Rome survived to 1453.

另一方面，从法律上讲，从公元前753年到公元1453年，罗马国家只发生过两次“分裂”；第一次分裂是公元395年东罗马和西罗马之间的战争。但罗马人自己并不认为这是一次真正的分裂。

他们认为，罗马帝国是一个由两位皇帝共同统治的帝国。这个国家有两个执政官(一个负责东罗马，一个负责西罗马)，在罗马帝国的一个地区颁布的法律在另一个地区也一样有效。

正是由于这个原因，最后一位西罗马皇帝的废黜对罗马人来说并不重要。第二次分裂发生在1204年，在第四次十字军东征之后。三个希腊国家出现了，但尼西亚帝国成功地将君士坦丁堡纳入罗马的统治，并声称自己是安吉洛王朝的合法继承者。

罗马于1453年灭亡。虽然它的首都、语言、宗教、文化和政府制度在这2200年间发生了重大变化，但从法律和意识形态上讲，罗马一直存续到了1453年。

Malu Bahasa

I think the question should be rephrased a bit: why China didn't fall as a civilization?

As a country, china fell approxmately every 300 years due to the Malthusian trap (too many people, not enough lands) and global temperature change (colder weather leads to less harvest). But as a civilization, China is the only ancient civilization who still holds approxmately the same ancestral land and sits on the top of global power rank.

我认为这个问题应该换个说法：为什么中国作为一个文明没有衰落？

作为一个国家，由于马尔萨斯陷阱(人口太多，土地不足)和全球温度变化(天气变冷导致作物歉收)，中国大约每300年就会衰落一次。但作为一个文明，中国是唯一一个至今保持着祖先土地并居于全球实力排名榜首的古文明。

The Chinese system is probably THE best in the world which preserved china during various crises and downturns. Soviet Union practiced co sm and it collapsed in 1990. China practices socialism with Chinese characteristics and it achieved the fastest economic growth in human history, outclassed USSR by miles.

中国的体制可能是全球最好的体制，在各种危机和衰退中保护了中国。苏联实行*主义，可惜于1990年解体。中国实行具有中国特色的社会主义，实现了人类历史上最快的经济增长，成就远超苏联。

The Chinese characteristics can be defined as the following key factors: meritocracy, hierarchy and ancestral worship.

Meritocracy: China is the first country to use exams to select talents. Today it has the strictest exams (college entrance exam and government official exam) to select the best talents.

Hierarchy: Chinese ppl are ok to let smart ppl make decisions. We all love our freedom but sometimes its better to let expert make the decision.

中国特色可以定义为以下几个关键因素：精英统治、等级制度和敬奉祖先。

精英统治：中国是第一个通过考试选拔人才的国家。今天，中国通过最严格的考试(高考和公务员考试)来选择最好的人才。

等级制度：中国人愿意让聪明的人做决策。我们都喜欢自由，但有时候让专家来做决定会更好。

Ancestral worship: this is the most important aspect of Chinese characteristics. Meritocracy and hierarchy can still pick extremely selfish rulers who cares about nothing but their own personal gains. But these unjust rulers will have their name marked as traitors in Chinese history. Worship the just and noble rulers in the past put pressure and incentive to current rulers to fight for the benefits of the civilization.

敬奉祖先：这是中国特色最重要的一点。精英统治和等级制度也可能选出自私的统治者，只关心自己的个人利益。但历史上不仁不义的统治者在中国史书上会被烙上汉奸的烙印。对正直高尚的统治者的崇拜，会给现任统治者带来压力和动力，促使他们为中华文明的利益而努力。