Posted on: December 17th, 2009 China, Emboldened by Newfound Wealth
The other day while listening to NPR I heard about how the Chinese delegate to the ongoing Environmental Summit in Stockholm harshly took the world’s so-called developed nations to task for their hypocrisy and irresponsibility in various ecological and environmental matters.
Of course, we have been seeing this kind of thing from China more and more over the years, and it is only going to continue.
On the front page of today’s New York Times there is a fascinating little article on how recently a Chinese teams of art scavengers have been “rading” various various museums across the nation and Europe, in search of artifacts which they believe to be rightfully theirs, including “items ensconced at the Old Summer Palace in Beijing, which was one of the world’s most richly appointed imperial residences until British and French troops plundered it in 1860.
Why is an Episcopal clergy person blogging about this on a blog dedicated to things theological? Mainly because he is convinced that, from here on out, the world will be witnessing the flexing of China’s newfound muscles more and more, as the American Empire begins to wane.
What does this mean for the church? Much more than I can now begin to go into….
One Response to “China, Emboldened by Newfound Wealth”
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Bishop Alan Wilson Says:
December 24th, 2009 at 2:36 amVery interested by Martin Jacques new book on this subject: the title )When China rules the world) sounds extreme, but he knows whereof he speaks and his main point is that we need to begin to interpret Chinese behaviour and futures in terms of Chinese culture and history, not ours. Central to this is the simple fact it isn’t a nation state in the way Western countries are, and doesn’t in any way want to be.