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The Creation of State Power

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 February 2009

Guy Wint
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Extract

In my judgment the most striking fact in the new China is the creation of state power. Traditionally, in the agrarian empires of Asia, the government has had relatively little power: at least power of a fundamental kind. It might take arbitrary and startling action; but the total result of such deeds was small. A government, however impressive its trappings, could seldom carry through a sustained reforming policy. In China, custom or Confucius was sovereign, not the emperor.

Type
Research Article
Information
The China Quarterly , Volume 1 , March 1960 , pp. 26 - 28
Copyright
Copyright © The China Quarterly 1960

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