38
The Puzzle of Complacency
In a world where some cultures elevate violence to a virtue, the
dream of peace can be fatal.  It can make us forget that our enemies are
real and can blind us to the dark imperatives of the superorganismic
pecking order.
For thousands of years, China was an Empire of unbelievable
size and stability.  Its technology and wealth were the envy of its
neighbors.  In 221 B.C., the Chinese laid out a standard length for the
axles of carts.  The result: a wagon could roll over tens of thousands of
miles of highway, and its wheels would fit precisely in the ruts left by
previous travelers.115  The Chinese had paper money and uniform
standards of weights and measures while Europe was still blundering
through the Dark Ages.116  Chinese weaponry and military strategy
were light years ahead of anything else around.  While Roman
Emperors were still relying on mechanical catapults, Chinese generals
were deploying gunpowder mortars.117  As early as the fourth century
B.C., Chinese princes were already sending armies of half a million
men into battle.  And those legions were equipped with hardware the
Europeans of their time could not even imagine.  They had trig-
ger-operated crossbows, chain-mail armor, and swords and spears of a
miracle metal--steel.118
But the Chinese were periodically blinded by their own power.
Slipping into the cheerful conviction that they could simply wish
warfare away, they overlooked the potential of barbarians.   One of the
first to make that mistake was Chinese Emperor Wu-ti. In 280 AD, Wu-
ti took a good look at the colossus over which he ruled, and discovered
that it was in economic trouble.  Trade was in a shambles.  The people
were poor, and burdened with unbearable taxation.  When Wu-ti
examined the problem more carefully, he quickly found its root.  China
was being dragged into the pit by a burden that had grown like a
cancer: her military budget.  Taxes were sopped up by the needs of a
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