Commentary In any discussion of China and its global relationships, reference to “100 years” or “150 years of humiliation” of China by the West is bound to be made. Never mentioned are the 50 to 100 years of “salvation” from the West without which there would be no China today. China, like Egypt and Iran, is a country with a long history of 3,000 to 5,000 years, depending on how one counts. In that time, it has been engaged in many wars and has often been conquered. Indeed, two of its greatest dynasties were foreign. The Yuan Dynasty was established by Mongol leader Kublai Khan in 1279. It lasted nearly 1,000 years and expanded China to its largest extent ever, indeed far larger than today’s China. Likewise, the Qing Dynasty was Manchu rather than Chinese. It marked the second largest historical extent of China and still serves as the geographical …