During the celebrations of America’s 250th anniversary of independence in July, I finished watching the five-episode series The American Experiment on Netflix. It is a documentary produced for the 250th anniversary of American independence. It tells the story of how the 13 British Empire colonies on the east coast of North America, dissatisfied with Britain’s additional taxes and unequal rights, organized militias in various places and launched a revolutionary war against Britain. Later, representatives from the different colonies met to discuss and draft the Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights, forming the non-monarchical people’s state of today’s democratic society—a federal republic. George Washington, who had led the army, was elected as the first president, and arrangements were made for the election of subsequent presidents. To this day, the United States is still conducting this “experiment” of a democratic nation.
Besides gaining a better understanding of the process of American independence and its various internal and external challenges, it has made me think more about the current international political situation—from the internet of the millennium to the development of AI artificial intelligence more than twenty years later, and when the next wave of enormous human historical developments that will transform international democratic societies and national politics will finally appear. With the assurance of the Heavenly Father and the Bible, when will the sins of the world stir up another social transformation and write another chapter in history?
After finishing The American Experiment, I—who have not read many history books or materials recently—really want to continue reading about the historical development of some places, while also reflecting through the Bible on God’s intention in creating heaven and earth. So I picked up one of the books that came to mind, The Hong Kong Question in British Archives (), and quickly re-read it to think again about history and explore the future.
