>>212288132they're so smart that they built canals, aqueducts, and other infrastructure to intensively irrigated the shit out of their entire country 1000+ years ago. But that also means that all of their irrigation is manmade, therefore dependent on proper maintenance. When there is a periodic civil war, or communist mismanagement, the infrastructure fails; and farmers can't just rely on the blessings of nature, so there is a huge famine, and people resort to cannibalism.