China is not only the world's most populous nation, but it is also one of the largest. In territorial reach, Russia and Canada alone outrank China. Furthermore, in the politics of nations, size has consequences. China's vastness ensures that regionalism is a force to be reckoned with in the national life of this Asian giant.
Centralization is the traditional Chinese cure for the perpetual threat posed by regionalism to national unity. In other words, the size and diversity of China's regions offer a formidable challenge to any dynasty, regime or ideology that seeks to govern this huge realm tightly from a single center. The task dominates the nation's entire history.
This centralizing imperative has left its mark even on Chinese literature. The elegant poems written by imperial governors and other mandarins lamenting the trials and tribulations of years of service on China's frontiers are literary monuments to the price of empire.