My view of China

When I conceptualize China, I picture a vast and overflowing vessel--the map of China. What is overflowing? Chinese culture, which already an amalgam, has continuously poured out from every side. The vessel simply could not contain it. At the same time, the vessel is dotted with myriad holes through which other cultures--Thai, Tibetan, Altaic--have flowed in. Throughout history, the liquids have splashed together, combined, and dissipated in unique and fascinating ways, yielding new transformations that, strangely enough, conformed to expected patterns.