Nothing personal, not aiming at you as I have seen many times people outside China, mostly Westerners, like to use the term "China Proper". This is controversial term many Chinese do not like. People in China never use this term.
The Bing AI Chatbot replied to my enquiry on this term :-
"The concept of “China Proper” perpetuates a distinction between the “core” and “periphery,” which can evoke colonialist thinking."
It reminded Chinese people the thinking of the West colonialist of "balkanisation of China" of Qing China, and forward to today's western effect to separate Xinjiang and Tibet from "China Proper".
And also seperation/independence of Taiwan from China.
Again nothing personal.
Bing Chatbot's complete reply:-
The term “China Proper” has a complex historical context and has been used by some Western writers to refer to the traditional “core” regions of China. Let’s delve into its origins and why it can be controversial:
- Origins and Usage:
- The term “China Proper” was first used during the Manchu-led Qing dynasty. It aimed to distinguish between the historical “Han lands” (regions predominantly inhabited by the Han ethnic majority) and the “frontier” regions where non-Han minorities and foreign immigrants resided.
- It referred to the original area of Chinese civilization, often associated with the Central Plain in the North China Plain.
- Another definition pointed to the Eighteen Provinces of the Qing dynasty.
- Controversy and Colonialist Connotations:
- The expression “China Proper” lacks a direct translation in the Chinese language due to differences in terminology used by the Qing.
- Even today, the term remains controversial, especially in mainland China.
- Scholars debate its appropriateness, considering issues related to territorial claims and ethnic politics.
- The concept of “China Proper” perpetuates a distinction between the “core” and “periphery,” which can evoke colonialist thinking.
- Outer China:
- The counterpart to “China Proper” is often referred to as “Outer China.”
- Outer China includes regions like Dzungaria, Tarim Basin, Gobi Desert, Tibetan Plateau, Yunnan–Guizhou Plateau, and Manchuria.
- These areas were historically inhabited by non-Han ethnic groups and experienced different cultural and linguistic shifts.
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This sort of language "China proper, Lunar New Year" etc.. the persistent attempt at sowing racial discord amongst the ethnic groups in China and playing off the HAN insecurity and superiority along with the interpretation of Chinese history, cultural practices, languages that are exposed to the west and by western "experts" is about CONTROLLING, SHAPING THE INFORMATION NARRATIVE. The understanding of race and the interpretation of race itself came from Western lense thereby strengthening the grievances, racial animus, perceived superiority of others over the rest that have permeated our own thinking that most Chinese who assumed/frame of being Chinese is through HAN ethnic stock image creating the very negative perception and othering of the 55 ethnic Chinese people that are just as Chinese in China. Hence, the separation and longing to have their own identity by Uyghur separatist, Tibetan separatist, Hong Kong supremacist, Taiwanese separatists, HAN CHAUVINIST, Japanese loving Hanjians, White worshipping Hanjians etc.
If we recall, the Chinese government found out that the book being taught in Xinjiang was laced with lies, half-truths thereby further complicating the already tenuous situation in that province. The work was malicious and people who were responsible for that book(s) were in collusion with outside powers to fulfill their own agendas.
The massacre between the two ethnic groups (Hutu, Tutsi) Rwanda illustrate the pervertedness and luancy of how the west (BELGIANS) infected the mindset of those people telling one group of its supposed superiority while the other blamed for their racial inferiority.
Information warfare, cognitive warfare, psychological warfare, etc.. have been used against many countries including China for decades with great success.
