The Constitution of the Territory and Politics of a Large State

This chapter examines the constitution of the territory and politics of a large state. It first discusses the problem posed by a large state before explaining how historical China became a geographically large state. It then describes the feudal system of the Zhou dynasty as an early attempt to build the constitution of a large state. It also explores how the commandery system integrated different localities of the country into an overarching entity, along with the role it played for the political constitution of ancient China. The chapter goes on to analyze the geopolitics underlying China's administrative divisions, focusing on the administration of the frontiers and integration of minority nationality areas. It concludes with an overview of the idea of “bringing peace to the world under heaven” and suggests that the center-periphery relations in historical China were successful from a constitutional point of view.