How do Empires work

I choose the "How do Empires Work ?" because i love history (and because the course is really short and i am very late )

here the link : https://www.open.edu/openlearn/history-the-arts/how-do-empires-work/content-section-0?intro=1

1. Empires as systems of power

To understand how an empire works we need to look at empire as "a system of power". in the course the chinese empire is take as an exemple to illustrate this.

We can learn that the chinese empire was successful thanks to The Yangzi, a the greatest river of china, and the Grand canal, because they allow the empire to have connection on all the territory for internal trad or trad with the others.

So when the chinese empire lose the control of these arteries because of the english (the worst country in the world ), the tax, trade, gains earn with theses arteries are over !
By taking these place, britain's empire succeed to obtain the island of hong kong, the opening of port for their trade and the paiement of an indemnity from china, with the treaty of nanjing after the "opium war".
With this treaty chinese empire start to decline and to have less and less money. It's the beginning of the end of the Chinese empire.

This conflict between Britain's empire and chinese empire is the first clash between 2 "systems of power"

After this first part of the course i can say that English are the worst !!!!!!
They come to china and take the control for no reason, just for the pleasure of the war and money.... As i throught it, england is a really strange country, with really strange people

Eudes de Geyer d'Orth wrote:After this first part of the course i can say that English are the worst !!!!!!
They come to china and take the control for no reason, just for the pleasure of the war and money.... As i throught it, england is a really strange country, with really strange people

That's true, but considering how small a nation we are/were our empire was incredible. Obviously there are many terrible acts caused by the British in their empire but we can also see so many wonderful legacies left, especially in places like India.