What is the greatest civilization in history?

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What do you call a distinct civilization which lasted for about 5,000 years till now? A civilization so advanced that its neighbors copied its ways and despite changes still stayed their way?

That would be China.

Why?

• Advanced and distinct architecture. So advanced in their own eras that its neighboring countries copied their designs in making magnificent temples and palaces that still stand strong today.

• Not to mention some of their buildings lasted for more than 2000 years and are still standing strong.

Weaponry and warfare

• They invented the worlds first crossbow and most significantly the worlds first gunpowder weapons in the form of cannons and fire lances. They introduced the latter to the rest of the world and with that reshaped the world into what we are now today.

• They also produced the most famed and most influential military manual of all time, The Art of War, written over 2500 years ago. It has been widely used in the modern times by a number of generals all over the world across modern history.

Ideology and creed

• At the top was the all-renowned Confucius, the man who created a philosophy that shaped and guided the governments and societies of his nation and the Orient for thousands of years until now.
• Even today the albeit-communist government of China still reeks of Confucianist aspects, such as sheer intolerance of governmental errands and corruption, excellence in every aspect, unerring and unflinching obedience to authority, securing food for the nation and the people, and others.

Language and literature

• Not much has changed with the Chinese language during the last 4,000 years of China’s existence as a civilization and 2,000 years as a nation. Only the way of writing and a few pronunciations were changed. It is still spoken by its people today, and is in fact the oldest language to belong into the official languages of the United Nations.
• It was unlike the language of the ancients of the world that, except Hebrew, failed to survive up to the present day.
• Other civilizations today, though also ancient in origin, preferred to communicate in other languages for fancy, or if communicating in their own language, do it in the alphabet instead of their own system of writing (which pisses me off every time btw). If you know what I mean, and what nation(s) I mean, but no offense…

• In terms of literature, scholars never really had the problem of deciphering ancient historical texts of their own language, even it they’re already thousands of years old. Not to mention they still have millions of books that originated from far history and are still readable even by younger Chinese scholars today.
• Compare that to other works of literature which's language still belonged to the ancients and scholars have a hard time deciphering them, even today.

Political power

• China has been a regional and a global power for 2,000 years since its first empire in the Han Dynasty. Although it was conquered just twice by barbarians and bullied by undesirables, it still maintained itself as a power to be reckoned with. In fact, it is now a global superpower, influencing other nations, both weak and powerful, distant and neighboring, with its power, like it always did in the ages past.

There are still more factors why China is the greatest civilization to ever exist in history. Their already millennia-old culture still remains strong and still widely in use and were even copied and cherished by others. They still have cities more than three thousand years old, like Beijing and Luoyang, that are still inhabited by people who still spoke that language of their ancestors thousands of years ago, and are still in fact flourishing. They invented things like compass, guns, hydraulic irrigation pumps, printers, abacus and others countless generations ago that are still in great use today. They created infrastructures like the Grand Canal and the Great Wall that are still of use today. Even conquering barbarians adapted their ways and language knowing that they need a civilization to join and survive in this world in a peaceful way.