The truth about China's century of humiliation

CHINA'S leader Xi Jinping, in a July 1 speech to mark the 20th anniversary of Hong Kong's handover, brought up the Opium War, under which a victorious Britain wrested Hong Kong Island from "a weak China under corrupt and incompetent feudal rule".

To underline China's humiliation, he pointed out that the British sent a mere 10,000 troops and were able to defeat the Qing dynasty, which boasted an 800,000-strong army. The British triumph, he said, was followed by China's defeat by other countries "which were far smaller in size and population".

This narrative, of course, is that of China's century of humiliation which Mr Xi and the Communist Party love to tell. Today, they offer the "Chinese Dream" of national renewal, whose realisation will see China return to its state of greatness, before the West arrived on the scene.