Why did the feudal dynasties of ancient China rarely expand outward?

One reason is that ancient China is different from what is now called China, and the concept of ancient China refers to the Central Plains region in a state of unification, whose national strength and resources are still in a limited stage. Another reason is that China's diplomatic thinking since ancient times has always been based on the theme of peaceful development, such as the Silk Road development strategy that has been implemented today. However, although ancient China rarely expanded to the outside world, it does not mean that there were no such situations, for example, there were several major wars against Goguryeo, and the others are only rarely recorded.

1.Ancient China is not the same as modern ChinaThe development of a country has always adhered to the law of "sharing for a long time, and dividing for a long time", and ancient China was no exception. Generally speaking, ancient China refers to only a small part of modern China, because during the feudal dynasty, whether it was the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period or the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms, it was incomplete, and China in ancient times only referred to the Central Plains.

And the long-term development of a country is inseparable from expansion. Although the strength of ancient China should not be underestimated, in terms of national strength, it is still impossible to guarantee that it will retreat in a state of expansion and aggression, so there are few cases of expansion.

2.Ancient China still pursued the theme of peaceful developmentIn addition to aggression and war, the development of the country is more peaceful and development, and our modern country adheres to such a concept of governance, and ancient times are no exception, after all, the inheritance of the country is related. During the Western Han Dynasty, both the national territory and the national strength were second to none, but China's choice in this era was not to invade, but to achieve long-term peace and stability by opening the "Silk Road".

The Silk Road, the leading trade route, has been built very successfully, which has not only driven the development of China, but also driven the development of countries along the route. Therefore, in terms of peaceful development, China has indeed made achievements in ancient times.

To sum up, this is the reason why China rarely expanded abroad in ancient times. But this rare can only be said to be relative, or there is not much documented. During the Sui and Tang dynasties, China successively developed wars against Goguryeo, so expansion was inevitable.

In ancient China, the territory of the ancient Chinese dynasty also expanded outward step by step, and then slowly developed into its own territory after occupation. For example, it was developed during the time of Qin Shi Huang, and the Xinjiang region was expanded by Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty in the Shu Han region. Therefore, China is now a vast country, and it is not innate.

Because China has always adhered to the concept of peace and actively worked hard to establish good relations with neighboring countries, if people from other places attack China and China resists, it is not called aggression, so there is basically no record of foreign expansion.

Because at that time, it was limited by vision and traffic conditions. In ancient times, only horses could be ridden, so many times the feudal dynasty would not expand outward, because it could not be controlled.

Development to the present.

Is it all sent for the ** fee?

The second reason is that the control of the entire ** over the country was very weak at that time. You must know that the people's uprising can easily overthrow the ** regime at that time, which can reflect from the side that these rulers' control over the entire country has become very weak. In such a situation, there is no way for the ruler to implement reforms in a timely manner to achieve results.

Therefore, after some rulers knew about this situation, they chose to indulge in the corrupt environment at that time and did not make changes, and these rulers themselves denied their own abilities, so it was naturally impossible to carry out reforms.

Because the reform will be opposed by vested interests, those people are in high positions, and the emperor will not be able to carry out the reform, so it can only be so.

There is too much resistance to reform. Vigorous reform is directly related to the imperial regime and collateral interests, and the relationship is intertwined and difficult to sort out.

Self-contained, stubborn. Ancient feudal dynasties were influenced by traditional ideas and did not want to change, but only wanted to maintain the status quo.

This is because they don't have enough food, and even if they expand, they won't be able to feed so many people, and the rulers of the time don't have that kind of awareness.

In the Yuan Dynasty, the expansion of China's territory was the most fierce and filial piety, but in the Qing Dynasty, because of the weakness of the national strength, it was no longer able to expand outward, but was invaded and ceded land.

First, the problem of population envy cannot be solved, and when the army occupies a city that is hated by foreigners, it does not have enough manpower to occupy and manage it for a long time. The second is the geographical environment, the harsh climate and the big rivers are natural barriers, and the technical conditions at that time are not enough to cross.

Because China's ancient dynasties did not like foreign expansion, they were all peace-loving dynasties.

Because the emperors of the ancient dynasties did not want to expand all the time, and the internal stability has not been particularly stable.

The topography of ancient China was closed, and it gave the ancient people the classic concept of "tianxia", and they had little interest in the land outside the Central Plains.

1. The monarchy of the ancient ** dynasty was not as strong as we imagined, the county was already the lowest administrative level, and the areas below the county were autonomous. That is to say, the countryside, which is the main financial revenue and soldiers, is precisely the place where the management is the most lax and the ruling power is the weakest. By the middle of the dynasty, agricultural harvests and labor, as well as soldiers, were "privatized" by the leaders of the village self-government --- the big landowners.

That is to say, the country's financial and military resources are hijacked by the owners of large estates, and the country's financial and military resources are correspondingly reduced, and finally it has to compromise with these interest groups. Therefore, the monarchy of the ancient dynasty of our country has quite limited ability to control national resources, and its control is very unstable. It is difficult to mobilize externally.

2.The second reason is closely related to the previous one, since the state has very limited control over resources and its ability to mobilize, it is irrational to maintain a large-scale professional army. Except for the capital and important border fortresses, which need to be guarded by elite soldiers, the remaining troops can be saved.

On the one hand, the return of retired soldiers to the countryside can increase the labor force for agricultural production, improve production efficiency, and at the same time reduce the burden on the state. On the other hand, since the war for national reunification has stopped, it is not a good thing for the arrogant soldiers to do nothing, and most of them are simply disbanded to avoid future troubles. Therefore, the system of integrating soldiers and peasants was formed, and when they were in peace, they engaged in production to support themselves and pay taxes, and when they were fighting, they left their own fields and brought their own food, and the government issued some equipment and trained them simply, and they became an army.

It's good enough that such an army can hold the country, can you expect them to go on a long expedition like Alexander the Great?

3.In ancient China, the Yellow River and Yangtze River basins were already the richest regions in East Asia, and the surrounding areas were all deserted and unsuitable for settlement. The imperial court launched military operations in these areas, and the rewards were not enough to cover a fraction of the military expenditure.

Even if you go farther away, you have to pass through large deserts and mountains, and the cost is even greater. Those nomads go around the countryside in your border and make a fortune, while the army of the imperial court walks around the grassland but loses money and the cost is unbalanced, to put it bluntly, it is a loss-making business. Therefore, when the emperors and scholars of the past dynasties heard that someone was going to crusade against the barbarians, they frowned deeply and thought:

This kid must not have learned math well.

This can explain why the main battle faction will never have the upper hand, while the peace faction will prevail, and everyone can understand the truth. Therefore, the above factors have had a great impact on China's diplomatic thinking and world view in previous dynasties. A benevolent monarch who is well-held is often more respected and loved than a belligerent monarch.

A country's development model, its people's mentality, and culture have a lot to do with the environment in which they live.

Because external expansion means waging war, which will inevitably cost people and money. If there is no foreign invasion, most emperors will choose to stabilize the country.

China's agricultural civilization is a self-sufficient small-scale peasant economy, which does not need to rely on commodity exchange, and a family's labor income in one year can meet the needs of production and life in the next year. So this is to tie a man to the land, to turn a person from an animal into a plant, to make people lose their enterprising spirit, and only know how to read and plow the fields.

When the ancient Chinese dynasties were at their peak, they did not actively expand externally, and I think it was because the area of the ancient dynasties at that time was large enough, and it took a lot of energy to manage, so there was no idea of expanding abroad.

When the ancient feudal dynasty was about to fall, it would face the phenomenon of the withering of descendants, for example, when the Qing Dynasty was about to fall, the emperor had no sons, and he had to succeed him.

The long-term establishment of the feudal dynasty lies in the perfect social system and social foundation, and under the chaotic pattern of the Spring and Autumn Period, the productive forces continue to develop, and the contention of a hundred schools of thought has carried out an emancipation of the mind. Through the 100-year struggle of the Warring States, China finally tended to be unified. As a result, a relatively perfect social system is obtained, and it can also adapt to the development of productive forces and effectively promote social progress.

And for thousands of years, successive dynasties have made appropriate additions, deletions, and supplements, thus making China's feudal system complete and a reasonable system. Therefore, the long-term survival of China's feudal system is also the result of the mutual adaptation of productive forces and production relations.

However, the West is different, first, there is no unified ideology and culture in the West, and second, the chaotic pattern and national composition of the West. The third is because of the backward state of productive forces in the West.

That's exactly the opposite. China's feudal society began in the Western Zhou Dynasty and ended with Qin Shi Huang's unification of the Seven Kingdoms, followed by an absolute monarchy that lasted for 2,000 years, while Europe remained feudal at the same time.

The division of China into primitive society, slave society, and feudal society is entirely to cater to Ma Kesi's concept of history. As everyone knows, Lao Ma is written according to the history of Europe. This division is not recognized by traditional Chinese historiography and Western Sinology.

The cultural background is different, and it can be said that they do not have Confucianism, they do not have Confucius.