Imperial China. The most recent phase in Chinese history, 

 which has until very recently remained largely independent 

 of the history of the European nations, was the imposition 

 of Communist government on China in 1949. However, 

 in view of the declared antagonism of this government 

 to the traditional Chinese philosophies, it does not appear 

 likely that it will be able to control the country for long. 

 But the new Chinese government has started the country 

 on important large-scale programmes in the mechanization 

 of agriculture, the improvement of industry, and especially 

 extensive education including the advance of scientific 

 research. 



The earliest Indian civilization was established by 

 the Dravidians in the Indus Valley some time prior to 

 2000 B.C. These people possessed irrigation schemes, de- 

 veloped pottery, and had a good governmental system. 

 They also carried out trade with the Mesopotamians. In 

 the seventeenth to thirteenth centuries B.C. they were 

 invaded by Aryan peoples from the northwest, who settled 

 in India and mixed with the Dravidians. The Hindu civili- 

 zation thus arose, based on Hinduism — the belief in the 

 continuous existence of each mind, which through re- 

 peated reappearance in successive animals (including man) 

 could eventually attain to immortality as the highest being 

 called Brahma. Although there is no real evidence of 

 the rebirth of any mind known to us today, it is interesting 

 to note that the Hindu religion did state that this salvation 

 was to be accomplished through knowledge, in agreement 

 with what we might accept with our modern scientific 

 knowledge. However, the result of the social division of the 

 Hindus into hereditary classes of social organizations 

 (castes), on purely religious grounds, has produced a 

 serious decrease in the pace of Indian evolution. 



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