The fact that television and tourism have made the whole WORLD accessible has created the illusion that we enjoy intimate KNOWLEDGE of other places, when we barely SCRATCH their surface. For the vast majority, the knowledge of THAILAND or Sri Lanka acquired through tourism consists of LITTLE more than the whereabouts of the beach.
When we step into a NEW terrain, we EXPERIENCE vast UNCERTAINTY. Uncertainty is just a situation that you do not know how to handle.
China is a vast, disparate COUNTRY; there is no ALTERNATIVE to strong CENTRAL power.