ABSTRACT
There is resistance, often intense resistance, by some Chinese people, to the idea of considering China as anything other than a nation. This is invariably motivated by a sense of national pride or patriotism. In their view, to regard China in any other way appears to leave the door open to federalism or worse still to separatism – the possibility, however unlikely, that Tibet, Xinjiang, Inner Mongolia or even one of the more prosperous southern provinces might achieve independence from the mainland. Many citizens of China are acutely aware of the historical legacy of division and weakness that made it possible for a disaggregated China to be colonised partially by the West and then to be invaded by Japan which occupied much of its territory between 1931 and 1945. A strong, unifi ed China, it is argued, is the only way of preventing a repetition of that period of national humiliation. Attitudes such as these severely inhibit any discussion of possible alternatives to the existing confi guration of China’s polity, such as federalism, but they are a very signifi cant part of China’s political culture.
