ecohansen Posted December 15, 2019 Report Share Posted December 15, 2019 So, we know that Brandon has repeatedly drawn on Asian cultures in his worldbuilding: WOB confirms that the Alethi are partly inspired by Three-Kingdoms-period China, The Emperor's Soul is Asian to the max, and big parts of Warbreaker feel very Tang-Dynasty to me. And of course there's Brandon's time in Korea. To me, there seem to be a lot of parallels between the Supremacy and Modern China, and I'm wondering if the parallels are deliberate. Obviously, there's modern China's emphasis on "harmony" and "peaceful rise", and its comfort with hierarchy, technocracy, and meritocracy. There's its strategy of gaining and maintaining hegemony through offering services that other potential power centers can't offer. For the Supremacy, it's transport, and for China, it's manufacturing, and increasingly also finance and resource extraction. The massive Chinese-backed infrastructure projects in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Kazakhstan, and other nations within the Belt and Road Initiative show that China is also quickly becoming the regional hegemon for transportation, just like the Supremacy. In Cold War-era SF, the Bug-Eyed-Monster-Hivemind-as-standin-for-filthy-commies trope came standard. Here, the parallels seem a lot more nuanced. And obviously, the relationship isn't on e-to-one: clearly, the Supremacy is a lot more polyethnic than China is, for example. Still, can we use the Supremacy to think about China, or can we use China to help us think about the Supremacy? Or am I just seeing ghosts? Does anyone else get a China vibe from them? If so, what are your thoughts? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karger Posted December 16, 2019 Report Share Posted December 16, 2019 You could certainly read it that way. However the superiority has several noteworthy differences to china. They have a greater tolerance for public debate, they are as you mentioned far more polyethnic, they care a lot more about stopping aggression and their political processes are far more democratic then china's. I personally see the superiority as a mostly original creation but that does not mean you are wrong. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stark Posted December 17, 2019 Report Share Posted December 17, 2019 This has me wondering if you've read Defending Elysium yet. Certain elements of it could fit your hypothesis quite well. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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