China as non-monolith

INTERACTIVE MAP: The Nine Nations of China, by Patrick Chovanec, The Atlantic, November 15, 2009

For map lovers, this is kind of cool and worth a look.

Makes you better understand that China is more aptly compared to a Europe than just another nation-state.

Comments

[Tomas Karasek]

The fact that China is not a monolith does not make it Europe. Rather, China, like Russia, is an "empire-state" (or "state-empire") with a dominating nationality (Hans in China, Russians in Russia), a traditional power center (Beijing and Moscow), a "showcase", westernized coastal metropolis (Shanghai, St. Petesburg), vast and thinly inhabitted peripheries populated in some regions by restive minorities (China has Xinjiang, Russia faces the same trouble in the Caucasus), etc.

Contrary to this, ever since the end of the Roman empire, Europe has enjoyed (and at times "enjoyed") multiple power centers, who were actively balancing each other, at times by very brutal means. This historical imprint is still very much alive, though the ways of competition have, fortunately for us Europeans, changed quite radically. In fact, the problems and internal diversities which one finds in China are present within many European countries (just look at Germany, France, or even smaller countries like Poland or the Czech Republic).

To conclude, comparing China to Europe has little analytical sense. Nevertheless, this occasional slip doesn't change my fondness for your blog which I keenly enjoy.

[Tom Barnett]

Well, of course, Europe is a lot more complex than China!

Certainly, at least, to Europeans.

But having traveled around both Europe and China, I must admit, I don't find Europe any more varied than China.

Then again, I don't find Europe more varied than the U.S. or East Africa or Latin America or the Middle East.

Just my bias, I guess.

[Petrer]

I've always called China a "fake state" to many Chinese people (either from there directly or second generation). It is hard to gauge their reaction, as if I know something I shouldn't. At the same time, I acknowledge the slimy necessity of a strong central government, at the same time acknowledging their bloody past, and the real (slow with civil liberties) progress being made there.

[Elmer Humes]

A concise structured informative summary of China with a great interactive map. Thank You.

[Tomas Karasek]

I wouldn't disagree with you in not seeing Europe more diverse than China (when I went from Shanghai to Urumqi, the difference was far more significant than, say, travelling from Spain to Poland). What I wanted to point out was that diversity in Europe is deeply institutionally, socially and politically entrenched and has pratically never been overlayed by a political superstructure for a long time (unlike in China where centralized empire existed for long periods of history). Napoleon tried and failed, so did Hitler. This is why the current attempt to unify by consensus within the EU shows clear limits. The very unfortunate result is that Europe, despite its potential and the fact that functional logic dictates otherwise, fades into strategic oblivion.

[Tom Barnett]

Good points Tomas. Better expressed.

You're thinking more politically here, and I'm thinking more culturally.