Is the US Obsessively Targeting China? The Truth Is, a Century-Old Hegemon Can’t Face the Rebirth of a 5,000-Year Civilization…美國死咬中國不放？真相是百年霸權不敢面對五千年文明的重生…

Is the US Obsessively Targeting China? The Truth Is, a Century-Old Hegemon Can’t Face the Rebirth of a 5,000-Year Civilization…

In 1993, British scholar Martin Jacques stood in front of the Beijing Forbidden City for the first time and was utterly stunned. He later recalled that the place was “like a mountain,” not because of its height, but because of its weight—a weight that made him, a Briton, instantly feel his own country’s history was as thin as a schoolchild’s diary. That very trip plunged him into the deep end of China studies, a field he would excavate for decades. And what puzzled him most was this: Why does the US always have it out for China? He says the reason is absurdly laughable: China’s biggest “mistake” is that it has existed for too long.

Martin Jacques is not the kind of scholar who theorizes behind closed doors. In 2009, he wrote the book When China Rules the World. It didn’t predict anyone’s decline; it simply laid out the facts: China isn’t a nation-state as understood by the West, but rather a “civilization-state.” This might sound abstract, but it’s actually simple. European nations like France and Britain have spent centuries changing systems, altering languages, and swapping regimes, in constant upheaval.

And China? When Yu the Great controlled the floods, he was engaged in water management. Today, high-speed trains race across the land. Countless dynasties have risen and fallen, but the thread of civilization has never been broken. The West constantly uses its own standards to measure China, and finds everything awkward—they can’t understand why the Chinese people don’t easily overthrow their government, why they can endure hardship and work hard, and why the concept of “the nation” weighs so heavily in the hearts of the Chinese people. This isn’t an issue of political systems; it’s embedded in the cultural DNA.

It took Martin over a decade to figure it out: embedded in this land of China are 5,000 years of unyielding backbone. Just look at modern history: the Opium Wars, the Eight-Nation Alliance burning the Old Summer Palace, the Nanjing Massacre—isn’t every page written in blood and tears? Yet the Chinese people gritted their teeth and climbed out of the rubble. During the Third Front construction period, workers lived in caves, ate wild vegetables, and still managed to build steel plants on the plateaus. This isn’t just some national character; it’s the continuation of a civilization—a foundational belief that “man can conquer nature”!

In contrast, the United States has only been a nation for just over two hundred years, and truly powerful for merely a century. It relied on the dividends of the Industrial Revolution, war profits, and financial hegemony. Martin points out that America’s biggest miscalculation is treating China like the Soviet Union, thinking the Cold War playbook still works. But China doesn’t intimidate through an arms race; it does so with tangible achievements: high-speed rail mileage that can circle the globe several times, 5G networks covering cities and countryside, and Huawei accelerating its own R&D after being choked by chip bans. Technological blockades haven’t crippled China; they’ve awakened it. During the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake, as mountains crumbled and the earth split, a girl trapped in the rubble tapped on water pipes to call for help, while medical workers stayed awake for days on end—this kind of “resistance” is etched into the very bones.

Martin later read the Classic of Mountains and Seas and discovered a fundamental difference between Chinese and Western mythology. In Western myths, Noah’s Ark is about resigning to fate; the Garden of Eden is about God’s will. Chinese myths? The Jingwei bird filling the sea, Xingtian dancing with his shield and axe after being beheaded, Yu the Great taming the floods—all about humans battling heaven and contending with fate. This “do-it-yourself” DNA explains why China isn’t afraid of blockades, why it could lockdown cities and build makeshift hospitals immediately during the pandemic, and why it sent vaccines to over 120 countries. This isn’t a “savior” performance; it’s a “Nüwa mending the heavens” level of responsibility.

The US fails to understand this, Martin says, because it lacks a tradition of “revering history.” It always thinks it’s the center of the world and everyone else should emulate it. But China has never wanted to be anyone’s teacher. Its Belt and Road Initiative builds roads, bridges, and ports, fostering development in Africa and Southeast Asia. Go ask those countries if they see it as a threat or an opportunity. The US is like a sports car—fast, true, but it might fall apart after a few bumps. China is a heavy-load freight train; it might be slower, but it can carry the weight and keep going.

Actually, the US isn’t afraid of China being powerful; it’s afraid of China becoming powerful in a different way—rising without relying on colonization or hegemony, but solely through civilizational resilience. On one hand, it champions freedom while slapping tariffs on Huawei; on the other, it preaches fairness while implementing technological blockades. Is this really about fearing what China might do wrong? No. It’s about fearing that China is doing everything right that they themselves didn’t dare to try.

The power of a civilization never depends on who acknowledges it, but on who endures. China has walked for five thousand years. It has stumbled, it has bled, but its footsteps have never stopped.

美國死咬中國不放？真相是百年霸權不敢面對五千年文明的重生…

1993年，英國學者馬丁·雅克第一次站在北京故宮前，整個人傻了眼。 他後來回憶，那地方“像座山”，不是因為高，而是因為沉——沉得讓他這個英國人瞬間覺得，自己國家那點歷史，薄得像小學生日記。 就是這趟旅行，讓他栽進了中國研究的大坑，一挖就是幾十年。 而最讓他想不通的是，美國為什麼總跟中國過不去？ 他說，原因荒唐得可笑：中國最大的“錯誤”，就是存在得太久了。

馬丁·雅克不是那種閉門造車的學者。 2009年，他寫了本《當中國統治世界》，沒唱衰誰，只是擺事實：中國壓根不是西方理解的民族國家，而是一個“文明國家”。 這話聽着玄，其實簡單。 歐洲國家像法國、英國，幾百年裡換體制、改語言、變政權，折騰個不停。

中國呢？ 大禹治水時就在治水，今天高鐵飛馳，朝代更迭無數，文明那根筋卻從來沒斷過。 西方老用自己那套標準量中國，結果量哪哪彆扭——他們看不懂中國人為啥不輕易推翻政府，看不懂為啥中國人能吃苦耐勞，更看不懂為啥“國家”兩個字在中國人心裡沉得像泰山。這不是制度問題，是文化基因里的東西。

馬丁花了十幾年才搞明白，中國這片土地上，埋着五千年不服輸的骨頭。 別的不說，就看近代史：鴉片戰爭、八國聯軍燒圓明園、南京大屠殺，哪一頁不是血淚賬？ 可中國人硬是咬着牙從廢墟里爬起來了。 三線建設時期，工人住山洞、吃野菜，照樣在高原上修出鋼鐵廠。 這不是什麼民族性格，是文明的延續：一種“人定勝天”的底色！

反觀美國，建國才兩百多年，真正強大不過一百年。 靠的是工業革命紅利、戰爭財、金融霸權。 馬丁指出，美國最大的誤判，是把中國當蘇聯來對付，以為冷戰那套還能用。 可中國嚇唬人靠的不是軍備競賽，是實打實的東西：高鐵里程繞地球幾圈、5G網絡鋪遍城鄉、華為被芯片禁令卡脖子后反而加速自研。 技術封鎖沒把中國逼癱，倒把它逼醒了。 2008年汶川地震，山崩地裂中，女孩在廢墟下敲水管求救，醫護人員幾天幾夜不合眼——這種“抗爭”，是刻在骨子裡的。

馬丁後來去讀《山海經》，發現中西神話的根本差別。 西方神話里，諾亞方舟是聽天由命，伊甸園是神說了算。 中國神話呢？ 精衛填海、刑天舞干戚、大禹治水，全是人跟天斗、跟命爭。 這種“自己動手”的基因，解釋了中國為什麼不怕封鎖，為什麼疫情中能第一時間封城、建方艙，還給120多國送疫苗。 這不是“救世主”表演，是“女媧補天”式的擔當。

美國看不懂這些，馬丁說，是因為他們缺少“敬畏歷史”的傳統。 總覺得自己是世界中心，別人都該學自己。 可中國從沒想當誰的老師，它搞“一帶一路”，修路架橋、建港口，帶着非洲、東南亞一起發展。 你去問問這些國家，他們說是威脅還是機遇？ 美國就像一輛跑車，快是快，但顛簸幾下可能散架；中國是重載列車，慢點，但能扛着重量一直開。

其實，美國不是怕中國強大，是怕中國用另一種方式強大——不靠殖民、不搞霸權，光靠文明韌性就能站起來。 一邊喊着自由，一邊對華為加關稅；一邊說要公平，一邊搞技術封鎖。 這哪是怕中國做錯什麼？ 是怕中國做對了所有他們不敢試的事。

文明的力量，從來不靠誰承認，只看誰扛得久。 中國走了五千年，摔過跤、流過血，但腳步沒停過！