The Significance of the Literature of Marginalized Nations in Sino-foreign Literary Relations—With a Focus on Eastern European Literature

Chinese civilization originated from a focal point in the central plains (Zhongyuan) around the Yellow River valley, from which it expanded to the Pamir Mountains in the west, the Pacific Ocean in the east, the Mongolian Plateau in the north (the Outer Mongolian Region remained part of China until the early twentieth century) and the islands of the South China Sea in the south, an area which eventually makes the present-day territory of the People’s Republic of China. Although the nomadic peoples in the north of China took control of the central plains and the whole of China multiple times, they were eventually assimilated into Han Chinese culture. Thus, although the borders of Chinese territory underwent many changes, the traditional Chinese world view, i.e. the concepts of “tianxia” 天下 (all under heaven) and Sinocentrism remained constant. However, Chinese culture did not develop in isolation, rather, it was the result of an integration of the Zhongyuan culture and influences from South and West Asia and even from more remote places like African and American continents. It is only in the past three hundred years that this previously open tradition seems to have been forgotten and an isolationist foreign policy was adopted.