In geographical and economic terms, China is just too diversified and therefore too centrifugal to enjoy anything close to a taste of the Great Harmony. Instead, China has always been "harmonized" the hard way, incurring astronomically high human costs. 

The long history of China is summed up as cycles of unification and disunification. So far China has been unified solely under strong autocratic regimes and disunified otherwise.

Unless Chinese people can come to terms with a federation of self-governing provinces, it is not practical to speak of a democratic China out of the historical context. However, should the future Chinese federation degenerate into a bunch of warring states, you can count on the comeback of Emperor Qin.

In sharp contrast, Americans had already come to terms with a federation of self-governing states (then colonies) around 1776 when the Declaration of Independence was proclaimed. But only through the Civil War's baptism of fire was the United States of America reborn and rejuvenated. It was a close call.

Today, people in Mainland China embrace centralization as their ancestors did. Today, people in America embrace decentralization as their founding fathers did. Tomorrow, the two peoples will go on embracing their respective histories. 

Author: Lingyang Jiang