From: nobody@nowhere.co.uk   
      
   John wrote:   
      
   [snip]   
      
      
   >   Okay, a question: if the Chinese had printing some five centuries   
   > before the Germans, why wasn't their 15th Century as technologically   
   > advanced as the European 20th? They had the population so they should   
   > have had the spread of wit, intellect, skills and curiosity that   
   > Europe had. We "should" have had Chinese Moon-cities for at least a   
   > couple of centuries.   
      
   Their writing system.  It was designed to be so difficult that the   
   masses could not learn it, thereby restricting their opportunities and   
   forcing them into perpetual servitude.   
      
   European alphabet-based languages were easier to learn.  The only   
   disadvantages was the Roman numbering system which was clearly a barrier   
   to numeracy   
      
   --   
   Graham J   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)