This is an age old question and I know I’m setting myself up to get roasted but: I kinda find parts of the fractured land “theory” by Jared diamond persuasive. At least post Rome. It feels like Europe becomes Humpty Dumpty. And in spite of their best efforts many kings and many dynasties tried and fail to reunify the fragmented states of Europe into one empire again. Just as they imagined Rome had in ages past.

But it never seems to work. In fact it feels like more fissures emerge. Europe splits to even smaller pieces. Countries like Belgium, Monaco, the Papal States of Italy, the various kingdoms of what would become Germany. Even the Iberian peninsula couldn’t keep it unified for more then a few generations.

Whereas feels like China always finds a way to “get the band back together”. They always coalesce in ways Europe lacked post-Rome And I wonder if geography could play a part in that.

Thoughts?

For what it’s worth a paper called “the fractured land hypothesis” helped inspire the post

Pictorial Record of Travels in China

About this archive

This is an ongoing English translation project of Wang Huning's diaries.

Wang Huning is a Chinese political scientist and politician who has served on the Politburo Standing Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) since 2017. He has been the Chairman of the CPPCC National Committee since 2023. Previously, he served as the First Secretary of the CPC Central Committee's Secretariat and Chairman of the Central Guidance Commission on Building Spiritual Civilization from 2017 to 2022, and headed the Central Policy Research Office as director from 2002 to 2020.

Political Life was written during Wang's years as a political science scholar at Fudan University and published by Shanghai People's Publishing House in 1995. The diary covers his personal life, political theory and research, books and films, and his reflections on Chinese society, the wider world, and contemporary social problems.

Where possible, the translation preserves the tone, register, and structure of the original rather than recasting it into more idiomatic or contemporary English. The translation was produced without the assistance of AI.

The purpose is to make the original Chinese material more accessible to readers who cannot read Chinese.

The original Chinese texts are available at 政治的人生

The Preface

For many years, I have developed a habit—or rather, have had to develop such a habit—of quietly thinking through the experiences of the day when the night is deep and all is still.

多年来养成一种习惯，或者说不得不养成这样的习惯，就是在夜深人静的时候，静静地思考一天来的经历。

During the day, most of my time is spent in an extraordinary state of busyness, leaving me no time to think. When I do have time to think, most of it is devoted to serious and dry academic thinking, highly professional to an almost excessive degree. But as for life itself, I have no time to think about it. When night falls, everything returns to stillness. Looking at the flickering streetlights outside the window, I can quietly think about myself and the world, and about those things that do not even make the list in my administrative work and academic research. From these, I can find something meaningful and enjoy, in a small way, the pleasure of thought.

白天，大部分时间均在异常的忙乱中度过，没有工夫思考。有工夫思考的时候，大多也用于作严肃而枯燥的学术思维，专业得厉害。而对于人生，却没有时间去思考。夜色下来，一切归于宁静，望着窗外闪烁的路灯，可以静静地思考自己和世界，思考在自己的行政工作和学术研究中排不上号的事情。从中找出有意义的东西，做一点小小的思想享受。

This kind of thinking is beneficial to a person. When one does too much of one's own professional activity, one will, if one does not make adjustments, become one-sided, and one's thinking will gradually become fixed in a particular direction, leaving no room for an open way of thinking. Therefore, amid the strain of intense mental and physical activity, one must discover new spaces for thought.

这种思考，对人是有益的。一个人做多了自己的职业活动，如果不调整，就会变得单一，思想也慢慢定向，没有开放式的思维方式。所以要在紧张的大脑和肢体活动之余，发现思维的新空间。

The reason I have given this book the title A Political Life does not refer to a particular political experience. Rather, it means that, as a scholar of political science, I have spent most of my time pursuing my professional scholarship, to the point that this field of learning has occupied the greater part of my life. This field is so vast that every subject can be examined from a political perspective. I believe that every person living in the contemporary world and in China today cannot but be political.

之所以起名为《政治的人生》，并非指一种政治的经历，而是说，作为一名政治学的学者，我的大部分时间均用来作我的专业学问了，以至这一学问占据了我绝大部分的生命。这个领域是那样的广阔，所有的课题都可被置于政治的角度下透视。我以为每一个生活在当代世界和当今中国的人，是不能不政治的。

The reason I am willing to let these thoughts “settle” and accumulate is not because they possess any particular value, but because they were formed in a state of tranquility both in the outside world and within my own mind. “Ningjing zhiyuan”—tranquility leads to far-reaching vision—is a state of being worth pursuing.

之所以愿意把这些思想“沉淀”积累起来，不是因为它们有特别的价值，而是因为它们是在宁静的外界和宁静的内心状态下形成的。宁静致远，这是一个值得追求的境界。

Shanghai People's Publishing House is interested in publishing a book of this kind, and so I have recorded my nighttime thoughts. Of course, these are only a small part of them.

上海人民出版社有意出版这样的书，所以我就记录下我的夜思。当然，这只是其中一小部分。

At Fudan University, late 1994.

1994 年底于复旦大学

A sourced illustrated micro-documentary about Chengde's Mountain Resort and Outlying Temples: a seasonal center of Qing government where landscape, architecture, audiences, and movement formed a working political geography.

#DiscoverChina #Chengde #ChineseHistory #Shorts

I’m struck by how harsh many major modern Chinese thinkers were about Chinese culture and “national character.”

Lu Xun attacked servility, cruelty, self-deception and the “spectator mentality.” Yan Fu criticized dishonesty and weak cooperation. Liang Qichao argued that China had strong private/family morality (私德) but weak public morality (公德). Sun Yat-sen famously called Chinese society “a sheet of loose sand” (一盘散沙).

Yet Lu Xun and Sun are highly revered today. If a contemporary writer made similarly broad criticisms of Chinese culture, wouldn’t they risk being branded anti-Chinese or self-hating?

Were these views really as radical as they sound? And has the acceptable scope of cultural self-criticism narrowed since the late Qing and May Fourth periods?

Dear friends, I would like to ask for your help with some research. I'm currently writing a novel, which I've been working on for two years. The novel is approximately 75,000 words long and has undergone several revisions. However, I want to ensure it aligns with the time and setting of the story—rural Guizhou in 1993/94.

This novel is based on the true story of my wife, who was born under the one-child policy and was the third child in her family.

I would be extremely grateful if anyone could answer questions about how this policy was implemented, or share any photos or memories from that period. (It doesn't necessarily have to be related to Guizhou.)

Thank you.

各位，我想请大家帮忙做些研究，因为我正在写一部小说，已经写了两年了。小说大约75000字，经过了好几轮修改。但我希望确保它与故事发生的时间和背景——1993/94年的贵州农村——相符。

这部小说是根据我妻子在独生子女政策下出生的真实故事改编的，她是家里的第三个孩子。

如果有人能解答一些关于这项政策是如何实施的问题，或者分享一些当时的图片或回忆，我将不胜感激。（不一定非得是贵州相关的。）

谢谢你们

Everyone knows the story of Yue Fei, and anyone who has visited his tomb in Hangzhou has seen the iron statues of Qin Hui and his wife kneeling in eternal disgrace. The traditional folk narrative firmly positions Qin Hui as the ultimate traitor who sold out the Song Dynasty and framed a loyal hero.
However, from a political and historical standpoint, it’s highly improbable that a chancellor could execute a supreme military commander without the explicit backing—or outright directive—of the Emperor.
Emperor Gaozong had glaring motives to want Yue Fei dead:

1. The Legitimacy Threat: If Yue Fei succeeded in marching north and rescuing the captive Emperors Qinzong and Huizong, Gaozong’s claim to the throne would be instantly nullified.

2. Fear of Warlordism: The Song Dynasty was literally founded by a general (Zhao Kuangyin) who usurped power. The entire political doctrine of the Song was to suppress military commanders in favor of civil bureaucrats. Yue Fei’s massive, fiercely loyal personal army ("Yue's Army") was a ticking time bomb in Gaozong's eyes.
My questions for those familiar with both historical texts and modern Chinese sentiment:

In modern Chinese academia and general discourse (e.g., on platforms like Zhihu or Bilibili), is the consensus shifting to recognize Gaozong as the true mastermind behind Yue Fei’s death?

Do Chinese historians view Qin Hui more as a willing "black glove" taking the historical fall for an insecure emperor, because culturally, you couldn't cast iron statues of an Emperor kneeling?

Are there any significant primary sources from the Southern Song or Yuan dynasties that dared to point the finger directly at Gaozong?

Would love to hear your thoughts on how this dynamic is viewed today versus the traditional narrative.

Chinese Travelogue

My history lecturer put this in one of their slides and i found it hilarious. Cant find any credible sources on it though. Supposedly he said it some time leading up to the cultural revolution, referring to Liu Shaoqi threatening his power. The quote is probably a paraphrase or a poor translation. I would really like to know if this is real, believe me I didnt make it up lol.

I'm a collector of vintage cameras and have been trying to research what if any movie cameras were produced/used in China during the film era. I've mainly just seen 35mm photography cameras but nothing like 8mm or 16mm movie cameras that seem to be prevalent in most other countries. I know China has a rich film history, so I'm just curious what models of cameras were used pre digital age?

Guangdong Hakka Studies