We also gained experience in fighting militant guerrilla-like forces in Haiti, Nicaragua, Mexico and China in the early part of the 20th century.

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The internet in China, in fact, punctures a few 20th century ways of thinking.

BBC: WEBLOG WATCH

Even through self-immolations took place in medieval China and 20th-century Vietnam, even though the Lotus Sutra praises "burning for Buddha" as the supreme self-sacrifice, Buddhists are very reluctant to condone violence.

CNN: The politics of Tibetan self-immolations

China, on the other hand, was racked by upheaval in the early part of the 20th century, and was closed to the world from 1949 to 1978, when the U.S., Japan and the European countries were making up for time lost during the war and building their economies in earnest.

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The American investor compared China's economic rise to the rapid growth seen in the U.S. in the 20th century with the Great Depression in the 1930s.

CNN: Rogers: U.S. stocks' winning streak 'going to end badly'

Iran and China share a deep ambivalence about the West given their prior experiences as semi-colonial states in the beginning of the 20th century.

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