https://paperbacksandfrybread.com/products/the-poppy-war-r-f-kuang-historical-military-fantasy (one might call it grim dark or game of thrones tone)
The other series
https://thechloegong.com/flf/

One can look like michael pillsbury as seeing communism as the long term project to recover what they lost in the opium war and the capitulations

Fair enough Neo, though I would counter that there are a few proselytizing Jewish sects (even if they tend to be in the minority), and merely accepting conversions is a remarkable step that seems less remarkable to us because of how drastically the world has changed from what used to be the norm. It’s not as evangelical as say many forms of Buddhism and to a lesser extent Hinduism, but still worth noting.

And of course our friends in the CCP wish to exert control over or destroy it all.

That’s fascinating.

One small point, however. You write:

Beyond that, like it or not the likes of Christianity and modern Judaism and Islam – and a host of others – were never merely “the visitors’ religion.” If one believes in them they include the grand commission to preach the truth to all the world …

Christianity and Islam, yes. Judaism, no. Judaism is not a proselytizing religion nor does it even encourage converts although it accepts them. See this.

There are a bunch of claims with your formulation.

We don’t want some people here, so why shouldn’t China have the same right? I really don’t like the people that go to another country, and try and convert them to the visitors religion.

Firstly: That stance only makes sense in our world without the concept of universal imperium, which eventually gave us Westphalia and its children. To understand the problems with applying that status to China, you need to look at its behavior. Or start with the fact that It’s not really “China.”

“China” is a foreign exonym adopted for convenience by outsiders based on its fine China pottery (not so much Qin the first founder). The locals overwhelmingly call it “Zhongguo”, which more or less translates into “The Central State.” That is the Central, Controlling State of the World. China and Chinese officialdom have rarely if ever viewed themselves as just one country among many, but as the rightful hegemon of the planet. And it used to be even more ostentatious.

The Huangdi, the Son of Heaven, was not merely the mightiest or most magnificent of the sovereigns of the world, or the one most favored by the Celestial Bureaucracy and the Yellow Emperor. He was the ruler of the civilized world, in effect acting as Heaven’s Governor-General on Earth much like the Muslim Caliph is meant to be, and all other states were to be regarded as vassals or tributaries. This paradigm survived thousands of years and something like a dozen dynasties depending on how you count the legitimacy in periods of civil war and the early, pre-Zhou dynasties of questionable dominance and sometimes existence. Even outright foreign conquest did not really shatter it because usually the foreigners would adopt the mechanisms of Chinese power and governance (at least on the rivers and lowlands) and rule as Emperors.

It took confrontation with the West in the 19th century to break it, at considerable cost. And we rightfully can look back at many of the horrors that involved and brought with disgust. But it is usually less detailed that the fateful collision – the point of no return – was Lin Zexu’s decision to blockade all the British nationals in “Canton” and starve them to death, whether or not they were guilty of involvement in piracy or opium smuggling (as many doubtless were) or not. Because you see, in matters between states, the Central State and its ruler were absolute, as a father was to their children.

Even Mao and Xi were not quite so brazen as to try and frame it in such a way, but they have worked hard to reinstitute Chinese hegemony over the Far East, with blatant indifference to their own treaty signatures. If you doubt this, observe the Peoples’ Armed Police Maritime piracy in international waters and even the territorial waters of other countries, or go to your friendly local Confucius Institute serving as a center for secret police raids, detention, and torture.

This is not a matter of China asserting “rights” like “not to want some people”, but asserting the “Right” to Negate the Rights of all others.

That is different. It has consequences that no itineration of our system since the late Renaissance can hope to survive full implementation of.

Beyond that, like it or not the likes of Christianity and modern Judaism and Islam – and a host of others – were never merely “the visitors’ religion.” If one believes in them they include the grand commission to preach the truth to all the world, and it is obvious the CCP does not object to Christianity per se (as shown by their own servile “Patriotic” Churches and by financing useful idiot Christian groups abroad) but to their inability to control it.

You don’t have to like it. That is your right. But you need to be aware that the implications of the inability to exercise that thing you don’t like will greatly affect your own rights.

Chinese in Malaysia are restricted by regulations and quotas which lead to a lot of them leaving. Not every country is ashamed to legally favor a particular ethnicity…

Some years ago, our town had an exchange student from Malaya. She was Chinese and Christian. Did well. Couldn’t get into uni in Malaya. Likely they have a DEI thing going.
Came back, got into U-Mich and a BS in Chem Eng. MS in same from U-Wis. Really good job. Married an American and naturalized.
We win.