How do empires fall?

Concubines, they with the golden cheongsams and long, silky or pompadour hair, are locked in a silent war against each other. Beautiful, ravenous and seductive, each one thinks she is the best and the fairest of them all. They all want to outrank one another for the emperor’s attention and money. Or is it for his love? The fiery empress, however, is not to be upstaged, constantly standing her ground as the one and only wife.

Insiders, meanwhile, are bickering endlessly, each with contrasting goals. Some are close to the powers-that-be, while some are just as ordinary as plebs. They are all at loggerheads and everyone claims to have the best interest of the empire in mind. A rebellion is brewing, one, two or maybe more. Drama, deception and double-cross are a daily affair.

Outside the heavily-guarded fortress, the forces of evil are eagerly waiting to takeover the sprawling empire, waiting for the golden hour to make their move.

Power, influence and honor after all are up for the taking.

Unfortunately, this isn’t just another Netflix series. This is how empires fall and this was what happened to Imperial China.

It’s what happened to other fallen empires as well – from the Macedonian empire to the Romanov dynasty and many others in between.

Imperial China

To this day, the factors that led to the collapse of Imperial China are still present – be it in a troubled country or in a conglomerate on shaky ground.

Once the single undisputed superpower in the region, Imperial China crumbled after 2000 years during the last Qing dynasty because of two major reasons – internal turmoil and Western forces.

On external forces, the Qing dynasty miscalculated the strength of the British Crown, which eventually started the devastating Opium Wars, so say history books.

The endless bickering among concubines did not directly lead to the collapse of Imperial China, but it must have added to the unhealthy murmurs of dissent.

Internal turmoil, which led to rebellions, was another major reason for the downfall of the empire, historians also say.

The White Lotus Rebellion, which began in the 1700s as a tax protest is just one.

The Qing dynasty was able to crush the rebellion but the organization continued to exist and contributed largely to the weakening of the dynasty and its eventual demise in 1911.

From Manila to Hong Kong

But we don’t have to look too far. Here at home, the parallelism of our present-day narrative and stories from the ancient times is so similar that it’s utterly disturbing.

For one, we’re all too busy bickering and squabbling over  politics and power and which color is better – yellow, green, red or what-have-you. We’re also fighting over airports, traffic, and what to do with the Chinese influx in our country.

Outside our fragile sovereignty, there are superpowers competing to get the Philippines and everything it has – from our gas reserves to our yellow fin tuna. The reasons are as imperial as can be.

Hong Kong’s troubles also speak of uncertainty. Once a booming global financial center, its streets are now filled with protesters and its future has become bleak, no thanks to internal and outside forces.

Conglomerates

Apart from governments, business empires can collapse, too. Even giant billion-dollar conglomerates can crumble – not with a bang, but with a whimper.

This isn’t farfetched especially when you have insiders and outsiders eyeing to take-over the throne and competition becomes so strong.

Throughout history, many businesses have collapsed for various reasons including bad corporate governance, corruption, and greed for power.

Energy giant Enron Corp.  is just one example. Many did not imagine that its dizzying fall from such a dazzling height could happen. But it did and more than 20,000 employees lost their jobs. Today, Enron is remembered mostly for corporate fraud.

There are airlines, too. Eastern Airlines, one of the so-called Big Four US airlines, once dominated travel in the East Coast in the ’70s, but huge debt, mismanagement and later on, labor strikes led to its closure.

On the midnight of Jan. 19, 1991, the airline folded its wings and stopped flying, according to an article on the New York Times.

In the Philippines, conglomerates have folded too. The sugar and media empire of the late Roberto Benedicto, a known Marcos crony, for instance, crumbled along with the end of the Marcos era.

Indeed, from nations to private corporations, an empire can collapse when contrasting forces implode.

The end result may vary – anarchy; a society governed by corruption and greed, or a messed-up company.

Saving an empire

Saving an empire is difficult. From ancient to modern times, generations of warriors have died doing it.

But it is not impossible. Some have succeeded, but it requires stamina, strength and wisdom. Most of all, one should be ready for an endless roundabout of struggles and victories, or a complex fight just like in the Game of Thrones.

As the brilliant Chinese tactician Sun Tzu said, it is important to know and prepare oneself because only those who do, “can survive a hundred battles.” 

Old guards shouldn’t give up, especially if the empire is worth saving. Otherwise, everything the emperor has built together with his men, will one day just crumble into a thousand little pieces.

Iris Gonzales’ email address is [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter @eyesgonzales. Column archives at eyesgonzales.com