China's Nine Nations

The Atlantic just published an article I wrote called “The Nine Nations of China” (九色中国). You can access it, in the form of an interactive map, here.

China often seems like a monolith of 1.3 billion people, but it’s not. It’s a mosaic of distinct regions, and understanding those regions is vital to understanding China. This article presents a framework for how to think about those regions, what they’re like, and why they matter. It’s the product of over 20 years of business travel and personal exploration that covered every one of China’s 31 provinces, plus Taiwan. And it’s just the tip of the iceberg — I hope to expand on this framework and explore it further in various venues, including this site, in the weeks and months ahead.

I want to make one important observation, especially for my friends in China. This is a conceptual framework, not a political statement. It does not predict or advocate the break-up of China into pieces. It’s meant to offer readers a richer way of seeing China in more than one dimension. The use of the word “nations” (which I translate in Chinese as “colors”) is simply meant to emphasize just how large and distinct each component of China’s mosaic really is.

The chart below really drives that point home. If each of China’s nine distinct regions were really a separate country, they would account for eight of the 20 most populous nations in the world. The smallest would rank between Britain and Italy. That’s pretty astounding, and it demonstrates how inadequate it really is to keep painting our image of China with one giant brush.

World’s Largest Nations By Population, 2008
(If China’s Nine Nations Were Broken Out Separately)

Rank	Country	Population
#1	India	1,140,566,211
#2	The Yellow Land	358,790,000
#3	United States	304,059,724
#4	Indonesia	237,512,355
#5	The Crossroads	226,260,000
#6	Brazil	196,342,587
#7	Pakistan	171,852,793
#8	Bangladesh	154,037,902
#9	The Metropolis	146,850,000
#10	Nigeria	146,255,306
#11	Russia	140,702,094
#12	Shangri-La	131,520,000
#13	Japan	127,288,419
#14	The Back Door	111,510,000
#15	Mexico	109,955,400
#16	The Refuge	109,770,000
#17	The Rust Belt	108,740,000
#18	Philippines	96,061,683
#19	Vietnam	87,558,363
#20	The Frontier	86,320,000

…

#29	United Kingdom	60,943,912
#30	The Straits	59,080,000
#31	Italy	58,145,321

Sources: National Bureau of Statistics of China and U.S. Census Bureau

Comments

[Michael Clark:]

The Nine Nations of North America is a book written in 1981 by Joel Garreau. In it, Garreau argues that North America can be divided into nine regions, or "nations", which have distinctive economic and cultural features. He argues that conventional national and state borders are largely artificial and irrelevant, and that his "nations" provide a more accurate way of understanding the true nature of North American society. Paul Meartz of Mayville State University called it "a classic text on the current regionalization of North America".

Nov 16 04:47 AM

[Patrick Cho...:]

Michael, thanks for pointing that out. In my piece in The Atlantic, I credit Joel Garreau's book as partly inspiring my own framework for China. I actually teach "The Nine Nations of North America" as the opening lecture of one of my Tsinghua courses. The content of my thinking on China, however, stems from over 20 years of travel to every one of China's 31 provinces, plus Taiwan, and my years as a private equity investor in China, in which I often had to think long and hard about the competitive advantages that different regions had to offer. But I'm very glad you mentioned Mr. Garreau.

Nov 16 08:06 AM

[Firat Ünlü:]

Great to see someone not fall into the trap of mistaking China as one giant monolith. Agree with most 'nations/colours'.
Hopefully more people catch up on this!

It's easy to dismiss the Chinese consumer by looking at the gdp/capita figure for China but that figure like averaging the income of Britons by adding Albanians into the mix.

Nov 16 08:15 AM

[ObjectiveFu...:]

Very useful primer.

Nov 16 09:38 AM

[mbkelly75:]

Well done - thank you for your work on this article. I was aware of the different regions of China because of my weakness for the food, but I was not fully aware of the range of differences. The comparison with "The Nine Nations of North America" was a good one. Thanks again.

Nov 16 11:51 AM

[HaavBline:]

An excellent concise primer. And timely too, as many people feels the need to acquire a deeper understanding about China.

"And it’s just the tip of the iceberg — I hope to expand on this framework and explore it further ...."

That would be great. Anxiously awaits. Huge subjects, so much to explore.

As China tries to spread developments to the whole country, how effectively are they removing the internal trade barriers that existed among provinces/regions. How are these internal integrations developing? and how much do they create new opportunities and new challenges that would support the future growth of China driven by internal growth? As we now demand China to do?

Some regions are on the verge of being transformed in new directions by new drivers of inter East Asian Integration. The Southwest 'Shangri-La', the poorest region in China, seems to be stirring with the coming full implementation of the China-ASEAN FTA.

Nov 16 12:06 PM

[Ben Gee:]

The most famous history times of China were the " Three Nations" and the " Seven Nations". Those time were most colorfull because they were full of conflect and wars. Historically, peace was very boring. For anyone want peace, they have to work to keep China together. If China ever fall apart, it will make the conflect in the break up of former Yugoslavia appeared like child play. We should all work toward world integration. If the whole world is one big family, we will have no borders and no need for wars.

Nov 16 04:07 PM

[mna:]

Thank you for a most interesting read. The info on the different regions are invaluable to a china investor. It's insights like this that make sifting through all of the other seeking alpha trash worthwhile.

More articles like this are needed to educate the American Public about China. Americans are notoriously self centered and generally lack world perspective. It's about time we got away from the "me, myself, and I" of American policy. The world is changing, and we need to get on the bus.

Nov 23 01:58 PM