Liping Sun

A student of Peking University forwarded me the article  "With the end of the geo-empire, the era of scientific and technological empire is quietly coming -- the world pattern in the era after the Russian and Ukrainian War" , in which, the  two words of Geo-Empire and Scientific-Technological empire are very inspiring. That's something I've been thinking about a lot lately. On this basis, I would like to extract three words: Territorial Empire, Commercial Empire and Tech-Empire to summarize the evolution of the world pattern in human history.

Geo-Empire: An agrarian and nomadic era. The agrarian and nomadic era was characterized by a close relationship between harvesting and the land. With land, you can have a large population and labor force, you can grow more crops, you can raise more cattle and sheep. By extension, we can have more fiscal revenue and a stronger national strength. The Roman Empire, Mongol Empire and Tsarist Empire are all typical representatives of territorial empires. At its height, the Roman Empire was 5 million square kilometers in size. At its peak, the Great Mongol Empire covered a modest area of 35 million square kilometers. The Russian Empire also covered more than 22 million square kilometers.

In those days, the greater expanse was the glory of the empire. In this way, a blind domain worship is formed. To expand the territory, to occupy a larger territory, has become a strong impulse in people's hearts.

Commercial Empire: prevailing in the industrial age, especially when mercantilism was prevalent. After the industrial age, agriculture and animal husbandry accounted for a shrinking share of total wealth. The wealth and power of this era depend more on the ability to manufacture products, and the front and back end of manufacturing are raw materials and markets. As a result, interest in raw materials and markets replaced interest in land that could be grown and grazed. This was the beginning of the colonial era. The empires formed on this basis can be represented by the Spanish and British empires. At its peak, the British Empire was 34 million square kilometers.

But you know, for a good part of the British Empire, it was indirect rule. You don't occupy, you don't rule, the locals rule themselves, but you have to join the British trade order, you have to open your markets to the British. We are familiar with the Opium War, the British used this formula: it was not the territory, but the market, the business.

Tech-Empire: Tech Empire is an acronym that strictly refers to the tech financial Empire. The relationship between technology and finance is closer and more complex than most people think. Not only the development of science and technology depends on the support of the financial market, but also the realization of science and technology and the demonstration of science and technology power often rely on the way of finance. Financial empires are more distant from land and territory than the first two types of empires. The net worth of Musk, the world's richest man, is bigger than the GDPS of Colombia, Finland, Pakistan, Chile and Portugal, respectively, and only $35 billion less than his native South Africa. But Musk's fortune is not anchored by a specific frontier. Much the same is true of America today.

Territory, markets, technology and finance are, of course, inseparable. But in different historical eras, the difference in its importance is self-evident. Let's put it in the simplest way. In the age of territorial empires, if one country voluntarily incorporated into another, the latter might be willing to accept or even accept it. But today, not necessarily. That is why Puerto Rico has voted six times to join the United States as its 51st state, but has been repeatedly rejected. In an age when boundaries between nations are still sacred and still important, the most important source of wealth is no longer here.

From the empire of territory to the empire of market and then to the empire of technology and finance, we can vaguely see a vein of the evolution of human history: in the age of empire of territory, land was the source of wealth; In the age of empire, the market was an essential element of wealth acquisition; And in the age of technology, knowledge, talent, and the environment in which both work may matter most. It can be said that today, the real culture, governance and martial arts, is to have and play the new conditions of wealth creation.