Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-rdxmf Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-27T15:56:15.204Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Concept of “Greater China”: Themes, Variations and Reservations*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 February 2009

Harry Harding
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

The world is suddenly talking about the emergence of “Greater China.” The term has appeared in the headlines of major newspapers and magazines, has been the topic of conferences sponsored by prominent think-tanks, and is now the theme of a special issue of the world's leading journal of Chinese affairs. It thus joins other phrases – “the new world order,” “the end of history,” “the Pacific Century” and the “clash of civilizations” – as part of the trendiest vocabulary used in discussions of contemporary global affairs.

Type
Greater China
Information
The China Quarterly , Volume 136 , December 1993 , pp. 660 - 686
Copyright
Copyright © The China Quarterly 1993

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1. Uhalley, Stephen Jr, “‘Greater China’: what's in a name?” paper presented to the Regional Seminar on “Greater China,” sponsored by the Center for Chinese Studies, University of California at Berkeley, 02 1993, p. 2Google Scholar.

2. On the distinction between “China Proper” and the rest of the Chinese Empire, see Darby, William, Darby's Universal Gazetteer (Philadelphia: Bennett and Walton, 1827), p. 154Google Scholar; Smith, J. Calvin, Harper's Statistical Gazetteer of the World (New York: Harper and Brothers, 1855), p. 402Google Scholar; and Lippincott's Gazetteer (Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott, 1883), p. 464Google Scholar. The term “Outer China” is used, together with “China Proper,” in China Proper, Geographical Handbook Series, No. 530 (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of the Navy, Naval Intelligence Division, 07 1944)Google Scholar. On the related terms “outer territories” and “dependencies,” see Dingle, Edwin John (ed.), The New Atlas and Commercial Gazetteer of China, 2nd ed. (Shanghai: The North-China Daily News and Herald, 1918?)Google Scholar.

3. Cressey, George Babcock, China's Geographic Foundations: A Survey of the Land and Its People (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1934), p. 53Google Scholar; and Lattimore, Owen, Inner Asian Frontiers of China (New York: American Geographic Society, 1940)Google Scholar.

4. U.S. Office of Strategic Services, “Greater China,” 1944Google Scholar. See Uhalley, “What's in a name?”

5. U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Mines, Foreign Minerals Division, “Sketch map of the principal mountain ranges in Greater China,” Map No. 170, 06 1947Google Scholar.

6. Cited in Far Eastern Economic Review, 20 July 1979, p. 24.

7. Zhilian, Huang, Meiguo 203 nian: Dui “meiguo tixi” de lishixue yu weilaixue defenxi (America at 203 Years: An Analysis of the Historiography and Futurology of the American System) (Hong Kong: Zhongliu, 1980), pp. 915–929Google Scholar.

8. “Too rich to stay a lonely beacon,” The Economist, 28 March 1987, p. 21. See also The Financial Times, 9 December 1985, Section III, p. VII.

9. “Asia's new fire-breather,” Business Week, 10 October 1988, pp. 54–55.

10. “ ‘Greater China’: superpower on a drawing board,” Los Angeles Times, 12 June 1990, Section H, p. 1.

11. The first conference was held in Hong Kong in January 1992; the second in Stanford in June 1993. See Uhalley, , “What's in a name?” pp. 13–14Google Scholar.

12. See, for example, Brick, Andrew, “The emergence of Greater China: the diaspora ascendent,” Heritage Lectures, No. 411 (Washington, D.C.: The Heritage Foundation, 9 09 1992)Google Scholar; Lampton, David et al. , The Emergence of “Greater China”: Implications for the United States, Policy Series, No. 5 (New York: National Committee on U.S.–China Relations, 10 1992)Google Scholar; Baldinger, Pamela, “The birth of Greater China,” China Business Review, 05–06 1992, pp. 13–17Google Scholar; and Harding, Harry, “The U.S. and Greater China,” China Business Review, 05–06 1992, pp. 18–22Google Scholar. The articles in China Business Review were drawn from a conference on “American Economic Relations with Greater China,” jointly organized in February 1992 by the U.S.–China Business Council and the American Enterprise Institute.

13. One of the first firms to announce a “Greater China” marketing strategy – regarding Hong Kong, Taiwan and mainland China as a single consumer market – was the Swiss watchmaker Rado. See Bangkok Post, 25 December 1989. Coca-Cola has also adopted a similar strategy; see South China Morning Post, 29 October 1991. Of several closed-end mutual funds making investments in Hong Kong, Taiwan and mainland China, the one managed by Invesco Mim is called the “Greater China Opportunities Fund,” while the one managed by Baring International is called the “Greater China Fund.”

14. For further details on the level of economic interactions among the principal Chinese economies, see the article by Robert Ash and Y. Y. Kueh in this issue.

15. The term “natural economic territories” has been popularized by the American political scientist Scalapino, Robert. See his The Last Leninists: The Uncertain Future of Asia's Communist States (Washington, D.C.: Center for Strategic and International Studies, 1992), p. 20Google Scholar.

16. Linn, Eugene, “Hong Kong/Guangdong link: whither the South China NIC?” Amcham, Vol. 22, No. 10 (1990), pp. 12–15Google Scholar; Kwong-ching, Woo, “The challenge of ‘Hong Kong plus’,” 2nd ed. (Hong Kong: The Wharf (Holdings) Ltd., 11 1991)Google Scholar; and Jiangming, Zhang, “Nuli cuijin yue-gang-ao-tai jingji hezuo zuoshang xin taijie” (“Work to enable economic co-operation among Guangdong, Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan to reach a new level”), Gang'ao jingji (The Economies of Hong Kong and Macao), No. 8 (1990), pp. 7–9Google Scholar, citing a proposal by a Hong Kong entrepreneur for a “Pearl River Delta Economic Alliance.”

17. Chunping, Xiu, “Haixia liangan jingmao fazhan de dongyin, zhang'ai ji gaiyou de quxiang” (“The impetus and obstacles to the development of economic relations across the Taiwan Strait and the trend it should take”), Taiwan yanjiu (Taiwan Research), No. 1 (03 1991), pp. 45–50Google Scholar; Wai, Ting, “The regional and international implications of the South China Economic Zone,” Issues and Studies, Vol. 28, No. 12 (1992), pp. 46–72Google Scholar; Hongxun, Jin, “Zhongguo jingji de yitihua yu ‘haixia liangan jingjiquan’ shexiang” (“The integration of China's economy and the idea of a ‘Cross Strait Economic Circle’,” Taiwan yanjiu (Taiwan Research), No. 3 (06 1991), pp. 44–51Google Scholar; Bajun, Zhou, “Cong ‘Zhongguorengongtongti’ dao ‘hua dongnan ziyou maoyiqu’ “ (“From a ‘Chinese Commonwealth’ to a ‘South-east China Free Trade Area’,” Jingji daobao (Economic Reporter), 6 11 1989, pp. 3–5Google Scholar; Yang, William, “Taiwan: a Chinese economic community is emerging,” Business Taiwan, 4 05 1992Google Scholar; Stewart, Sally et al. , “The latest Asian newly industrialized economy emerges: the South China economic community,” Columbia Journal of World Business, Vol. 27, No. 2 (1992), pp. 30–37Google Scholar; and Yuanfan, Zhong, “Jianli yu fazhan huanan jingjiqu” (“Construct and develop a South China economic zone”), Gang'ao jingji (The Economies of Hong Kong and Macao), No. 4 (1993), pp. 3–6Google Scholar.

18. Huiwu, Li, “‘Yatai shiji’ yu ‘fan nanzhongguo jingjiquan’ de xingcheng” (“The ‘Asia-Pacific Century’ and the formation of a ‘Pan-South China Economic Circle’ ”), Gang'ao jingji (The Economies of Hong Kong and Macao), No. 10 (1991), pp. 21–23Google Scholar.

19. Zhihuan, Zhou, “‘Zhongguo jingjiquan’ chutan” (“An initial exploration of the ‘Chinese Economic Circle’”), in Jiaquan, Li and Xiangzhi, Guo (eds.), Huigu yu zhanwang – Lun haixia liangan guanxi (Review and Prospect – On Cross-Strait Relations) (Beijing: Current Affairs Publishing House, 1989), pp. 294–304Google Scholar; Fang Sheng, “Guanyu ‘Zhongguo jingjiquan’ de sikao” (“Reflections on a Chinese Economic Circle”), in ibid. pp. 305–316; Wu, An-chia, “The political implications of the ‘Coordination of Chinese economic systems’,” Issues and Studies, Vol. 28, No. 4 (1992), pp. 1–9Google Scholar; Kao, Charng, “A ‘Greater China Economic Sphere’;: reality and prospects,” Issues and Studies, Vol. 28, No. 11 (1992), pp. 49–64Google Scholar; and Wentao, Huang, “‘Zhongguo jingji guanxiqun’ de fazhan yu ‘Zhongguo jingjiquan’ de kunzhi” (“The development of the ‘China Economic Relations Grouping’ and the obstacles to a ‘China Economic Sphere’,”) Taiwan yanjiu (Taiwan Re-search), No. 1 (03 1991), pp. 23–31Google Scholar.

20. Changqiao, June 1979, cited in Far Eastern Economic Review, 20 July 1979, p. 24; Chu-yuan, Cheng, “Dazhonghua gongtong shichang de gouxiang” (“The idea of a Greater Chinese common market”), Zhongguo shibao (China Times), 9 06 1988, p. 2Google Scholar; Carnes, David, “Taiwan: Chinese prosperity sphere begins to take shape,” Business Taiwan, 16 03 1992Google Scholar; and Brick, “Emergence of Greater China.”

21. Some analysts predict that the boundaries of the transnational Chinese economy will continuously expand over time. See, for example, Dongcheng, Fu, “Xianggang, taiwan, dalu jingji tonghe de qianjing” (“The prospects for economic unification among Hong Kong, Taiwan and the mainland”), Zhongguo shibao zhoukan (China Times Weekly), 5–11 01 1992, pp. 15–22Google Scholar.

22. These distinctions are drawn in Zhou Bajun, “Cong ‘Zhongguoren gongtongti’ dao ‘hua dongnan ziyou maoyiqu’ ” (“From a ‘Chinese Commonwealth’ to a ‘South-east China Free Trade Area’ ”). See also Cheng Chu-yuan, “Dazhonghua gongtong shichang de gouxiang” (“The idea of a Greater Chinese common market”); Xijun, Gao [Kao, Charng], “Zhongguoren ruhe miandui jingji bilei? Jianli ‘yazhou huaren gongtong shichang’ de tantao” (“How should Chinese confront economic blocs? On the construction of an ‘Asian Chinese Common Market’ ”), Yuanjian (Distant View), 15 10 1988, pp. 101–105Google Scholar; and Yuanzhou, Yu, “Lun jianli ‘Zhonghua jingji gongtongti’ ”; (“On constructing a ‘Chinese Economic Community’ “), Gang'ao jingji (The Economies of Hong Kong and Macao), No. 2 (1993), pp. 14–16Google Scholar.

23. This is evident in the work of Cheng Chu-yuan, one of the leading analysts of a transnational Chinese economy. Compare his recent “Da Zhonghua jingjiquan de xingcheng yu qianjing” (“The formation and prospects of the Greater China Economic Circle”), Zhongguo shibao zhoukan (China Times Weekly), 6–12 June 1993, pp. 34–37, with his earlier “Dazhonghua gongtong shichang de gouxiang” (“The concept of a Greater Chinese Common Market”).

24. See, for example, Shuiwang, Li and Yingxian, Liu, “Canjia ‘Zhonghua jingji xiezuo xitong’ yantaohui youguan” (“Concerns after participating in a symposium on a ‘system for co-ordinating the Chinese economies’ ”), Taisheng (Voice of Taiwan), 04 1992, pp. 17–19Google Scholar; and Yingxian, Liu and Xiangxi, Luo, “Cong liangan jingmao guanxi fazhan kan ‘Zhonghua jingji xiezuo xitong’ de jianlai ji kunnan” (“Viewing the construction and difficulties of a ‘system for co-ordinating the Chinese economies’ from the development of cross-Strait economic and trade relations”), Taiwan yanjiu (Taiwan Research), No. 2 (1992), pp. 36–44Google Scholar.

25. This point was first made by Sung, Yun-wing, in “Non-institutional economic integration via cultural affinity: the case of mainland China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong” (Shatin: Hong Kong Institute of Asia-Pacific Studies, Chinese University of Hong Kong, 1992)Google Scholar.

26. See, for example, Donghai, Xu, “ ‘Dazhongguo jingji gongtongti’ shexiang yu pinggu” (“The idea and critique of the ‘Greater China Economic Community’ ”), Gongdang wenti yanjiu (Research on Communist Party Issues), Vol. 16, No. 1 (01 1990), pp. 73–78Google Scholar; Tzung-ta, Yen, “Taiwan investment in mainland China and its impact on Taiwan's industries,” Issues and Studies, Vol. 27, No. 5 (05 1991), pp. 10–42Google Scholar; Chang, Gao, “Haixia liangan jingji zhenghe kexingxing fenxi” (“An analysis of the feasibility of cross-Strait economic integration”), Taiwan jingji yanjiu yuekan (Taiwan Economic Research Monthly), Vol. 14, No. 6 (06 1991), pp. 67–74Google Scholar; and An-chia Wu, “Political implications.”

27. Ruiqi, Huang, “Liangan jingmao jiaoliu dui guonei chanye fazhan zhi yingxiang” (“The effect of cross-Strait economic and trade interchange on the development of domestic industry”), Taiwan jingji yanjiu yuekan, Vol. 14, No. 6 (06 1991), pp. 43–46Google Scholar. For a similar concern about Hong Kong, expressed by the chairman of a Hong Kong Chinese industrialists' association, see Qinrong, Liang, “‘Qian dian hou chang’ moshi yu Xiang Gang jingji fazhan luxiang,” (“The ‘store in front, factory in back’ model and the path for Hong Kong's economic development”), Jingji daobao (Economic Reporter), No. 2 (1993), pp. 49–50Google Scholar. For a more sanguine view, written by a mainland scholar, see Guanhua, Zhang, “Taiwan ‘chanye kongdonghua’ wenti zhi tantao” (“An inquiry into the ‘industrial hollowing-out’ of Taiwan”), Taiwan yanjiu (Taiwan Research), No. 4 (1992), pp. 33, 34–39Google Scholar.

28. Ruitu, Liu, “Poxi guonei shengchang waiyi dalu” (“An analysis of the movement of domestic industry to the mainland”), Taiwan jingji yanjiu yuekan (Taiwan Economic Research Monthly), Vol. 14, No. 6 (06 1991), pp. 32–37Google Scholar.

29. Wuwei, Pei, “Dui ‘Zhongguo jingjiquan’ de jingji fenxi” (“An economic analysis of the ‘Chinese Economic Circle’ “), Yatai jingji – Zhongguo de duiwai kaifang (Asia-Pacijic Economies – China's Opening to the Outside World), No. 2 (1993), pp. 54–59Google Scholar.

30. Zhilian, Huang, “ ‘Xi Taipingyang diqu chanye xiezuo xitong’ chubu gouxiang” (“Initial conception of a ‘western Pacific regional industrial co-ordination system’ ”) Jingji daobao (Economic Reporter), 18 07 1988, pp. 14–15Google Scholar. See also his Xianggang zouxiang ershiyi shiji: “Huaxia tixi” yu “taipingyang shidai” de tansuo (Hong Kong Moves Toward the 21st Century: An Exploration of the “Cathaysian System” and the “Pacific Era”) (Hong Kong: Chinese Press Publishing, 1989)Google Scholar.

31. There has, however, been at least one multilateral conference on the subject. The meeting, called “Prospects for Cultural China: Concept and Reality,” was co-sponsored by the Chinese University of Hong Kong, the Taibei Hong Kong-Macao Association, and the China Times, and was held in Hong Kong in 03 1993Google Scholar. See Zhongguo shibao (China Times), 21 March 1993, p. 22.

32. Wei-ming, Tu, “Cultural China: the periphery as center,” Daedalus, Vol. 120, No. 2 (1991), p. 2Google Scholar.

33. Ibid. pp. 12–13.

34. Ibid. p. 12.

35. Ibid. p. 15.

36. Zhongguo shibao zhoukan (China Times Weekly), 26 April–2 May 1992, pp. 40–53.

37. Wu, David Yen-ho, “The construction of Chinese and Non-Chinese identities,” Daedalus, Vol. 120, No. 2 (1991), p. 162Google Scholar.

38. See, for example, Lee, Leo Ou-fan, “On the margins of the Chinese discourse: some personal thoughts on the cultural meaning of the periphery,” Daedalus, Vol. 120, No. 2 (1991), pp. 207–224Google Scholar.

39. As one informant put it, historical dramas are encouraged, whereas programmes showing daily social life in Taiwan and Hong Kong are not.

40. Cohen, Myron L, “Being Chinese: the peripheralization of traditional identity,” Daedalus, Vol 120, No. 2 (1991), pp. 113–134Google Scholar, at p. 121.

41. Gungwu, Wang, “Among non-Chinese,” Daedalus, Vol. 120, No. 2 (1991), p. 136Google Scholar.

42. Ibid. p. 154.

43. Fairbank, John K., “The Reunification of China,” in MacFarquhar, Roderick and Fairbank, John K. (eds.), The Cambridge History of China, Vol. 14 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1987), p. 22Google Scholar.

44. See Uhalley, “What's in a name?”

45. “Manifesto of the Second National Congress of the CCP” (July 1922), in Brandt, Conrad et al. (eds.), A Documentary History of Chinese Communism (New York: Atheneum, 1966), pp. 63–65Google Scholar.

46. Snow, Edgar, Red Star Over China (New York: Grove Press, 1961), p. 96Google Scholar.

47. “Manifesto of the Second National Congress”; “Constitution of the Soviet Republic” (November 1931), in Brandt, , A Documentary History, p. 223Google Scholar; and Snow, , Red Star Over China, p. 96Google Scholarn.

48. For another classification and summary of the competing formulas for reunification, see Tsai, Wen-hui, “Convergence and divergence between mainland China and Taiwan: the future of unification,” Issues and Studies, Vol. 27, No. 12 (12 1991), pp. 1–28Google Scholar.

49. This formula is also summarized as “one country, two regions” or “one country, two entities.”

50. Some mainland officials and policy analysts appear willing to explore this proposal. See, for example, the report by Tang Shubei of the mainland's Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait that the two sides might “commonly share international status” (gongtong fenxiang guoji diwei), in Zhongguo shibao, 20 June 1993, pp. 72–75. The most recent official statement of Beijing's policy toward Taiwan, however, shows no such flexibility. See “The Taiwan question and the reunification of China,” a white paper issued by the Taiwan Affairs Office and the Information Office of the State Council, relayed by Xinhua News Agency, 31 August 1993, in Foreign Broadcast Information Service Daily Report: China, 1 September 1993, pp. 43–51.

51. Wei, Yung, “ ‘Multi-system nations’ revisited: interaction between academic conceptualization and political reality,” paper presented to the 15th World Congress of the International Political Science Association, Buenos Aires, 07 1991Google Scholar.

52. See, for example, Chesneaux, Jean, “The federalist movement in China, 1920–23,” in Gray, Jack (ed.), Modern China's Search for a Political Form (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1969), pp. 96–137Google Scholar; and Duara, Prasenjit, “Provincial narratives of the nation: centralism and federalism in Republican China,” in Befu, Harumi (ed.), Cultural Nationalism in East Asia, Research Papers and Policy Studies No. 39 (Berkeley: Institute of East Asian Studies, University of California, 1993), pp. 9–35Google Scholar.

53. Jiaqi, Yan, Lianbang Zhongguo gouxiang (The Concept of a Federal China) (Hong Kong: Ming Bao, 1992)Google Scholar. For more on federalism, see Jingkuan, Jiang, “Zhongguo tongyi zui lixiang de tujing” (“The most ideal path for Chinese reunification: implement a federal republican system”), Zhongbao yuekan (Central Monthly), 04 1984, pp. 8–10Google Scholar; and Guozhen, Chen, “Minzu zijue zhi shi hai shi shenlou?” (“Is ethnic national self-determination a mirage?”), Zhongguo shibao zhoukan (China Times Weekly), 2–8 09 1989, pp. 13–15Google Scholar.

54. See, for example, tongxunshe, Zhongguo (China News Agency), 26 February 1992, in Foreign Broadcast Information Service Daily Report: China, 2 03 1992, pp. 37–38Google Scholar.

55. Deng, reportedly said that Beijing should give “careful consideration” to the “possibility of post-reunification constitutional changes,” including the formation of a “so-called ‘federation’ or ‘confederation.’ ” Jing bao, No. 184 (5 11 1992), pp. 63–64Google Scholar, in Foreign Broadcast Information Service Daily Report: China, 6 November 1992, p. 55. Yang Shangkun is reported to have made a similar remark. See China Post, 5 May 1993, in Foreign Broadcast Information Service Daily Report: China, 12 May 1993, pp. 66–67.

56. See, for example, Jianxiong, Ge, Putianzhixia: Tongyi fenlie yu Zhongguo zhengzhi (All Under Heaven: Unity, Division, and Chinese Politics) (Jilin: Jilin Educational Press, 1989)Google Scholar.

57. See Huntington, Samuel P., “The clash of civilizations?” Foreign Affairs, Vol. 72, No. 3 (Summer 1993), pp. 22–49CrossRefGoogle Scholar.