China from “All Under Heaven” to “Civilization State”

The Construction of a Nation-State with Chinese Characteristics

Abstract

Using Chinese sources, this article describes the arduous and frustrating process of adapting the nation-state model in China. When the western concepts of nation and state arrived in China, at the end of the 19th century, they had to impose themselves on a policy view that, under the principle of “All Under Heaven”, considered China the only civilized country in the world, with authority over all countries. China, forced by the international situation, had to adopt a restrictive nation-state idea that since then has generated continuous tension between the Han majority and the minorities. Political-administrative solutions from abroad have proven insufficient and, today, China revitalizes its traditional political models to implement innovative models such as “one country, two systems” which, after more than a quarter of a century of application, is giving way to the definition of a new one called State-Civilization.