ABSTRACT
Traditional China and the modern West1 have each in their own way claimed to be tian xia (all under heaven). The claims are not without substance, and the attitude of being center of the universe, or at least of that part of the universe worthy of concern, is an essential character trait of both civilizations. But the reality of limitations, compounded by the mistakes and missed opportunities created by the hubris of false self-consciousness, have co-determined the historical track of each. From his vantage point of external China, Wang Gungwu has done more than anyone to bring to light the ambiguous edges and limitations of both.
