Long article by John Mauldin on the geopolitical position of China makes a key point about China's geography using some cool alternative maps. By envisioning the high rainfall inner provinces as an island he emphasises the extraordinary density and isolation of the Han heartland. The normal map of China looks like a big chook - this version looks rather unhealthy.
I think it is probably right to draw lessons about China's politics from its geography, but I think the linked article has pushed a bit too hard for abstraction to make an artificially strategic point perhaps a little too inspired by Samuel Huntingdon. Eg viewing China as inherently poor when for much of history it was the richest country in the world, referring to the Mongols as the sole successful foreign invasion of China and ignoring the Manchu, glossing over the civil wars Mao started like the Cultural Revolution ... oh and putting Xi'an, the capital of Tang Dynasty China, underwater off the west coast of the proposed island. Sure, you can argue some of these, but it does give an indication of just how much stretching had to go on to give this overview.
Cool maps though.
Via Reason and Strange Maps.
Comments