China structures its relations as concentric civilization zones with a Han core

Evidence

In the wake of the abortive Hundred Days Reform of 1898, which ended when the empress dowager rescinded all the reform decrees and executed several reformer officials, a number of radical intellectuals started advocating the overthrow of the Manchu dynasty: not without resonance to the 1789 and 1848 political revolutions in Europe, the anti-Manchu revolutionaries represented the ruling elites as an inferior “race” which was responsible for the disastrous policies which had led to the decline of the country, while most inhabitants of China were perceived to be part of a homogeneous Han race. In search of national unity, the very notion of a Han race emerged in a relational context of opposition both to foreign powers and to the ruling Manchus. For the revolutionaries, the notion of a “yellow race” was not entirely adequate as it included the much reviled Manchus. Whereas the reformers perceived race (zhongzu) as a biological extension of the lineage (za), encompassing all people dwelling on the soil of the Yellow Emperor, the revolutionaries excluded the Mongols, Manchus, Tibetans, and other population groups from their definition of race, which was narrowed down to the Han, who were referred to as a minzu. — David Theo Goldberg, John Solomos, A Companion to Racial and Ethnic Studies, 3318 (#complicates, via linked claim)

Fifth, since civilizations are cultural not political entities, they do not, as such, maintain order, establish justice, collect taxes, fight wars, negotiate treaties, or do any of the other things which governments do. … China, Lucian Pye has commented, is “a civilization pretending to be a state.” Japan is a civilization that is a state. Most civilizations, however, contain more than one state or other political entity. In the modern world, most civilizations contain two or more states. — Samuel P. Huntington, The Clash of Civilizations and the…, 118 (#complicates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: East Asian states’ bandwagoning toward China varies with shared Confucian culture; Chinese states reinvented border peoples as Han subbranches to legitimize territorial control — David Theo Goldberg, John Solomos, A Companion to Racial and Ethnic Studies, 3300; Han nationalism serves to suppress China’s internal differences while demarcating minorities — Samuel P. Huntington, The Clash of Civilizations and the…, 289 (+12 more)

Broader Connections

• The Han majority label is a modern nationalist invention, not an ancient fact #complicates (0.85)
• The idea of a unified Han race emerged from anti-Manchu revolutionary politics #complicates (0.80) — David Theo Goldberg, John Solomos, A Companion to Racial and Ethnic Studies, 3318
• China’s statehood masks its civilizational identity. #complicates (0.78) — Samuel P. Huntington, The Clash of Civilizations and the…, 118