> But regional economic disparities in China are now greater, and not least in the large swaths of territory that historically have been part of Tibet and easte

> But regional economic disparities in China are now greater, and not least in the large swaths of territory that historically have been part of Tibet and eastern Turkestan. if that's an example of regional tensions, it's a bad one; because there's also ethnic tensions involved. 3 million ethnic Tibetans in Tibet, and about 14 million Uyghurs, Kazakhs and so on in Xinjiang (living with 8 million Han - it's pretty much colonised now) won't overthrow the 1.2 billion Han. There's so few minorities that China can afford to bribe them a lot (relaxed one child policy, reserved university places, reserved jobs - which partly makes up for the discrimination they face), and send in the troops if necessary. There still is a lot of tension on both sides, but a country the size of China isn't going to let a vast swarth of territory (with all its mineral / petrochemical wealth) go over it. It would be better to talk about Hukou (social services linked to city of origin). Or maybe regional divides within Han China. But the divide between rural and city people has often been a bigger deal (to >90% of Chinese) than ethnicity. Farmers starved in the Great Leap. City folk were persecuted in the Cultural Revolution. Farmers now struggle to get their kids educated, while they work the undesirable jobs in cities.