"In China, all the inhabitants are Chinese, and even the emperor himself is Chinese."
G. H. Andersen
When discussing the history and politics of China, they often emphasize its uniqueness in the sense that its historical development does not fit into the trends common to most countries. For example, one can often find the opinion that, despite the fact that China was conquered by foreigners more than once, at the same time, due to a number of features of its culture, it did not become part of other states (which happens with conquered peoples), since foreigners quickly dissolved among their subjects and became part of them. This view, which is partly correct (the assimilation capacity of Chinese culture is indeed very great), seems to be rooted in the traditional sinocentric concept of history developed by Chinese Confucian historians many centuries ago. Its essence, among other things, was that China is the only state of its kind, the main one in the world, and therefore cannot be part of any other state. Under this concept, the periods of foreign rule were considered as dynasties-foreign in origin, but not much different from their Chinese predecessors or followers.
In this article, we will try to understand how close this concept is to the truth. This is especially important because it has had a strong impact on world Sinology, and Chinese science, which has occupied an increasingly important place in the world hierarchy in recent decades, almost officially considers this concept its methodological basis. This is largely due to the fact that these ideas are extremely convenient for the current political goals of the PRC leadership, which are often far from striving for scientific rigor and truth [Kuzmin and Dmitriev, 2010 - 2011].
Keywords: China, Middle State, state ideology, historical mythology, nationalism.
Our most important sources are, of course, Chinese, written at different times. However, it should not be overlooked that traditional Chinese histori ...
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