Source: CNKI original draft
As early as 4,000 years ago, there was a civilization on the earth.
With the passage of time, four glorious civilizations have emerged, located in China, India, the Middle East, and Europe, but only China is a country that has "survived" to this day in the form of a unified political power.
Therefore, it is not why Europe cannot complete reunification, but the reunification of China is a case in the development of human civilization.
The people's desire is the general trend of unity
Let's start with why China has been able to maintain long-term unity.
Looking at the development process of China, it can be found that China has also had several periods of division, such as the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties after the end of the Han Dynasty.
But why has China been able to move toward reunification again from these periods of division?
This is actually due to the "synergy of history".
This synergy is formed by a combination of political, economic, cultural and other factors.
From the establishment of the Xia Dynasty in 2070 BC to the colonial invasion of the Qing Dynasty in 1840 AD, these feudal dynasties instilled in their subjects the ideal form of government with a unified "view of the world".
Therefore, in the "Book of Songs", it will be emphasized that "under the world, it is not the king's land, and the shore of the land is not the king's minister".
During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, the subjects were devastated by years of war and could hardly survive, and longed for a unified regime in the world that could bring them peace.
So, Qin responded to this "desire" and swept Liuhe, turning this political ideal into reality.
And this idea of "great unification" does not only refer to the unification of political power, but also has other meanings.
For example, geographically, this concept represents the unification of the country, and in time, it refers to the eternal stability of the country and the eternal years of the country.
The fundamental reason why the Chinese have formed such an idea is that people have personally experienced the pain caused by the war in the era of division. Although unification is the ambition of the ruler, it is also the common hope of the subjects.
In addition, although China's great unification is based on the Chinese nation as the cohesion and core, other ethnic groups have also been integrated into the development of civilization, such as Xianbei, Xiqiang and so on.
Moreover, there were feudal empires established by foreign races in the history of China. It can be said that China's "reunification" was jointly created by different ethnic groups.
In the process of consolidating the general trend of China's reunification, Chinese culture has also played a vital role, and it is also culture that firmly unites all ethnic groups together.
Thus, even in the predicament of being colonized, China was able to get back on its feet.
Confucianism had already put forward the idea of "great unification" as early as the pre-Qin period, and later after Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty monopolized Confucianism, Confucianism became the mainstream ideology of the country.
In the subsequent dynastic changes, Confucianism still occupies a dominant position, which means that the Chinese nation has always had a "unified" mainstream culture.
Military dictatorship, unification
So what about Europe? Why can't it build a unified state like China?
In fact, Europe has not tried, as early as 286 AD, that is, during the Western Roman Empire, Europe tried to work towards a unified regime.
However, because the geography of Europe was too fragmented, many countries were separated by naturally occurring mountains and rivers, which is why ancient Greece in the 8th century BC had thousands of small and widowed city-states.
Although Athens had the highest civilization and the strongest economy among these countries, even Athens could not afford to annex other countries and could only "coexist peacefully" with them.
By 478 BCE, under the leadership of Athens, the different Greek city-states formed a military alliance called the Delian League.
But this is only a purely military alliance, and there are no political interests involved. As a result, Europe at this time had not yet formed a unified political alliance.
By 510 BC, the Roman Republic was initially established, and the unification of the Mediterranean was completed after conquering Italy and Carthage.
Later, Rome took control of the Aegean region through wars such as invasions of Greek territory in the Balkans and the Seleucid Kingdom.
In this series of military expansions, Rome also plundered a large amount of gold and silver wealth.
In 27 BC, the Roman military dictator Octavian imposed autocratic rule and established the Roman Empire.
At this time, Rome had almost "pocketed" the whole of Europe, except for the Nordic region.
In order to consolidate its rule, Rome also continued to strengthen the centralization and autocracy, and also implemented the provincial system, similar to the ancient Chinese county system, so that the local power was returned to the center.
However, Western Rome also fell in 476 A.D., because the slave system of production hindered the development of social productive forces. This meant that the first European reunification plan failed.
As a result, the Eastern Romans took over the task of "European unity" and began to rule with Christianity.
However, in 635 AD, with the active activity of Islam in Europe, Christianity was forced into decline, and it was difficult to help the Eastern Romans maintain a unified regime. This has plunged Europe into political fragmentation once again.
Since then, there have been many attempts to achieve unity in Europe, such as the German Empire, the Napoleonic Empire, the Holy See, etc., but they have all failed.
So why can't Europe be as unified as China?
The division of Europe, the inevitable result
First of all, Europe lacks the idea of "great unification" that has been admired by Chinese society since ancient times, and many different religious sects have emerged in European history, which has dispersed people and lost the pillar of the concept of "unity".
China has been a unified empire since the Qin Dynasty in 221 BC, but at this stage Europe was still controlled by different city-states. These city-states took advantage of the barrier between mountains and seas to set up checkpoints, and were in a state of closure and isolation.
In addition, when European empires were established, such as Germany and Germany, these empires practiced hegemonism, and did not change their statecraft according to changes in the situation, as the ancient Chinese emperors did.
Hegemonism is mainly through the use of military action to conquer those forces that want to resist, but hegemony can only maintain temporary peace and cannot eliminate the contradictions between different ethnic groups in Europe.
Moreover, when an empire expands too much, it can cause a joint revolt from other European powers, such as the alliance against Napoleon, which has occurred in history.
As a result, almost the entire history of Europe has been fratricidal, which dooms the impossibility of unification.
In Europe, although the European Union has been established, each country is still independent and does not live under any one country.
It is precisely because Europe, unlike China, has had the ideological concept of "great unification" since ancient times, that it is normal for it not to be unified.
Throughout the history of the world, China is the only country with such an ideal form of government, so this makes China a case in the development of human civilization.
Resources:
Unified Greater China: A Brief Analysis of the Main Influence of the Political System of Ancient China on the Political Situation of Ancient China - Li Xiaohong
https://kns.cnki.net/kcms2/article/abstract?v=Xhw-7KfLOFmAZWB-x9-Hql4xJPTjg-HZ_0mzmeN3WmiKBsBx0sJZrVHuyrHBuqIrpT1k6_G761wxBPSoMmz7LQ9-3sSW4SgQP_GCf5yI1dG8pfawFfJUeB5kBmZaaXsU2aR4-CDeCWBdWFUp9_H8Ww==&uniplatform=NZKPT&language=CHS
The Connotation of the "European Concept" and Its Historical Evolution - Zhang Xupeng
https://kns.cnki.net/kcms2/article/abstract?v=Xhw-7KfLOFlePH5F7qE3gpqswsSBYEliuz3ZUM9fa5PxAMb_DjFhj_3XFASw91hw8J5Wl65tBtmUm5d3Is5-zcMMxsu1RGrmiKjoI9G5GHOp52q_Xkd-qBPc6PiICAbOKaTvxtkoBywbjOm8rnPqYg==&uniplatform=NZKPT&language=CHS