Well, one reason was ignorance:
China reaches Africa: Bah, I do not want to go here. There is nothing good!
Portugal reaches Africa: Continue brothers, Cathay is on the other side!

It is always easier to travel, if you know where you want to go.

Just my opinion maybe, but I liked the thumbnails you used before more than the AI stuff. The Photoshop Cao Cao and the others carving up China like the western colonizers was so good at showcasing their power grabbing

Cool video, thx for sharing

awesome content
make one on india too

Dude good to see you uploading more again! Love your videos, but gotta do somethin about those thumbnails lmao

This helped answer a question I've had for many years.

Interesante! Big hug comrade!

Actually they did. The bottom half of China was subjugated long ago. They also tried Vietnam, Burma, and Korea.

They’re just not good enough to do it.

China reached its peak as an expansive power already 2,000 years ago during the Tang Dynasty - then it was a true empire that had subjugated many different realms and established a core area from which imperial policy emerged. It was not different from the Roman Empire. However; the expansion stopped very abruptly as soon as the geographical and climatic limits were reached, at the same time as the imperial rule began to turn inward. What then emerged was no longer a classical empire, but a culture that aimed at integration and supremacy - it was no longer a question of resources, it was a question of self-regard. Instead of protecting interests, ambitions and territorial gains, tribute and status assertion became important, the Chinese abandoned the imperial ideal because they believed they were an empire - not in power, but in culture.

This means that the Chinese quickly fell off the wagon and were constantly exposed to imperial aggression, the last time when "foreign devils" came sailing with smoking chimneys on their ships. They were on the defensive for many centuries, and their political system had never evolved beyond the confines of the core region. Moreover, their "Middle Realm" mentality had led to a cultural chauvinistic arrogance that is still a problem in today's Beijing rule - which also made them disliked by their neighbors, who had to pay tribute, submit, and accept Chinese supremacy, which Japan had refused without exception throughout history. Even if Chinese military power was limited as seen during the wars with Vietnam, Korea, and Japan. When the Europeans arrived, the Chinese were unable to have a realistic assessment of the newcomers. It cost them dearly.

I really liked the video; even though I am studying history, the field is unfortunately very Euro- and Middle East-centric.

To sum up...

Europe and China were shaped by many centuries of geography and history. Europe developed into a colonial, maritime civilization, while China developed into a sedentary, trading civilization.

Modern Europe has colonialism embedded in its DNA. China doesn't.

interesting take

The most akin thing to Chinese colonization would probably be the migration flows of the hakka, cantonese, etc. Which resulted in things like the Langfang Republic

Great video but AI generated pictures are horrible.

Before I finish watching the video, I’d like to throw out what I think the reason was. China viewed itself as the Middle Kingdom—the civilizational center of the world. Consider that, even though dynasties changed, it was still China that endured throughout the millennia. It was a region so rich in resources and population that there was no need to exploit places like Africa or Australia. While it certainly might have been interesting for the Chinese elites to possess exotic animals, what else could China have wanted from others that it didn't already have itself? Furthermore, one shouldn't forget that many realms surrounding China usually prostrated themselves before the ruling dynasty; this projected the empire's influence without China having to take active measures itself. Right, now I’m going to finish watching the video—curious to see if I’m completely off the mark.

First statement is completely incorrect and ironically is the same thing today. China has coastal ships and were not able to create boats that could travel across actual oceans. Same thing with their attempts to make aircraft carriers today.

Europeans had balls. All of them with balls left Europe. Now the only balls are in America. China never had balls.