China 2000 years ago was far more advanced than any Western civilization. Inventing paper, the compass, gunpowder and the printing press well before most people in the world could read, write and stopped eating with their dirty hands.

Then something terrible happened. Rifts occurred between regions, the South, the North, the Eastern regions and the Western regions.
Warlords who claimed to hold traditional values rose up and closed off their regions to further scientific and intellectual pursuits.

China further fell into disarray when foreign powers, from the Mongols to the British, came in took over regions to exploit the resources of the region.

A dark cloud remained over China for centuries...until now. Their rise to power economically, technologically and intellectually has surprised everyone. Even evoking fear in nations that once oppressed and exploited China.

Is the US now in a decline too? Just like China it rose to power and brought new innovations and technology to the world from the early twentieth century to the late 1990's. But it seems to be in decline. With regional warlords wanting to close off the nation from the "decadent world" and turn inward. Will this be the end of the US civilization...at least for a few centuries.