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Basically, China isn't a single monolithic country. It's four of them, held together at gunpoint. Two countries are agrarian--and one of those is Islamic. One is old-fashioned smokestack industrial economy in Manchuria. The final is a "Third Wave" economy centered around Shanghail and Hong Kong, and the one that's making all of the money.

The fun part comes in when you consider that the various elites of these incipient countries all hold different portfolios in the government. The big one is "Shang-Kong," as I call it--they basically take one look at the rest of China and says, "Why in Confucius's name are we subsidizing all of these losers?" The agrarian nations don't like the tax collectors, who tend to be from Manchuria, and Manchuria doesn't want any change that might upset their social order (translation: they want to retain their 1950s-vintage industrial plant). The Islamists are causing hate and discontent in the Western provinces, where Muslims are a majority.

Sooner, rather than later, all hell is going to break loose. And when that happens, you're going to see warlords start running things...only they'll have nukes.

Thanks!

Basically, China isn't a single monolithic country....

Good point. China seems destined to collapse into civil war from time to time.