China has been boasting of its rich culture and sophisticated civilization for thousands of years. Even eight hundred years ago, China still prevailed the world in agriculture, literature and technology. The Western Europe, however, was at the dawn of a revolution. The revolution was so powerful that European science and technology were developed exponentially thereafter. In 1840 when Europeans opened China with thunderous cannons, the country laid in front of them was ridiculously primitive.

Why was China left behind given its glorious history?

Let’s travel back to the later 1400s in Europe. Besides tragedies (for example the Black Plague), military activities (the end of one hundred year war between England and French, and the retreat of Muslim Moors), and adventurous events (the discovery of the America by Columbus), there was also a drastic change in knowledge dissemination and acquisition in the society. People became interested in natural science and started to appreciate Greek philosophy. Universities were formed in major European countries. Even the practice of religion was questioned. Martin Luther started the protestant reformation. Something was definitely happening in Europe then.

At the same time in China, however, students everywhere in the country drowned themselves in studying for the national civil services examination. People were arguing about the subtle meanings of every sentence in the four Confucianism books.

The spread of knowledge is vitally important for civilization progress. Superficially, both Chinese and Europeans were busy acquiring knowledge. Deeply, however, they were aiming different targets and would lead to different fates.

But first, how could so many people study something? The foundation was laid out by the two major inventions—paper and printing. Without them, knowledge would not travel far. But their impact on the society was completely different between China and Europe.

Paper and printing were the two best things Chinese ever invented. It was after eight hundred to a thousand years when Europeans obtained or reinvented similar technique.

Chinese invented paper as early as in the east Han dynasty. In around 105 AD, Tsai Lun reported to the emperor about the invention of paper (Recent evidence suggested that the paper might be invented around 100BC during the period of Emperor Wu of the west Han Dynasty).

The invention was not unexpected. After a brief suppression during the Qin Dynasty, intellectuals sought to revive the lost spirits such as Confucianism, Daoism, and Legalism. However, the books Confucius used to teach his students were carved or written on bamboo sticks. They were extremely cumbersome and inconvenient, which hampered the access to and the spread of knowledge. Therefore, the invention of paper met with enthusiasm among intellectuals and common people alike. Books were now written on paper. They were light, mobile, and easily reproducible. Together with pen and ink, knowledge was exchanged freely and quickly. Within a few generations, a large reservoir of intellectuals was produced.

After about 500 years of political turmoil following the east Han dynasty, it finally came to a time that government had to devise a way of selecting intellectuals systematically and fair. In the Tang Dynasty– an era of extraordinary civilization– the civil services examination system was established to recruit talented people to serve the nation.

Not coincidentally, the block printing–copying pages from carved wood plates– was invented soon after the establishment of exam. Now books were reproduced in large numbers and distributed all over the country. People studied the same books for the same exam under the same goal, that is, to become a respectful government administrator and to move upward in the social ladder.

Psychologically speaking, becoming an officer through the civil services exam was an external reward for studying, especially among common people. The external reward, unfortunately, may attenuate the internal satisfaction. People used to study for the knowledge itself, but now they studied for the exam. A vicious circle was established.

With more and more learned people available but limited administrative positions, the exam became even harder and harder. Because natural science was still out of reach a thousand years ago, metaphysics was the only subject worth studying. Therefore, the way to make a difficult exam, unfortunately, was not through expanding the scope of knowledge but through exploring the depth of knowledge. Inevitably, the metaphysics ended up with an extreme form—the rational Confucianism. It was a deep but useless philosophical thinking.

One result of studying Confucianism for thousands of years was that Confucianism was considered as Han tradition. During the oppressive recent Qin Dynasty, Han Chinese desperately fought to keep their tradition. The exam became tortuous for most intellectuals.

On the other hand, Paper was introduced into Europe after 10th century AD and met with some resistance because many Europeans wanted to keep their sheep business. Only after the reinvention of the efficient moveable printing method by Gutenberg at the end of 1400s were books primary printed on paper. Knowledge started to be accessible for common people.

However, the critical difference between China and Europe was that there was no national exam in the Europe. For common people, there was almost no hope to move up the social ladder through studying, as all officials were from aristocratic families. Furthermore, for many young aristocrats, they could not become officials because they could not inherit their fathers’ titles. Therefore, most people were encouraged to study something to become self-independent. That is, learning some practical skills to make comfortable livings. Learning was directed to be useful but not philosophical. People were not limited by the scope of knowledge.

In both scenarios, paper and printing were introduced in response to the need of knowledge dissemination. Learning in both Chinese and Europeans were also self-motivated. However, their purposes of study were significantly different. Europeans focused on learning practical skills, while Chinese concentrated on preparing the exam. Therefore, in Europe, the inventions helped break up with old knowledge and expand the scope of knowledge, while in China, they were used to preserve old knowledge and narrow its scope.

Things happen with the probability of 1, conditionally. History was no exception.