Editing China proper (section)

== Modern ==
[[File:China autonomous regions.svg|thumb|Much of the regions outside of China proper are [[Autonomous regions of China|autonomous regions]].]]
Today, China proper is a controversial concept in China itself, since the current official paradigm does not contrast the core and the periphery of China. There is no single widely used term corresponding to it in the [[Standard Chinese|Chinese language]].

The separation of China into a "China proper" dominated by Han people and other states for ethnic minorities such as [[East Turkestan]] ([[Chinese Turkestan]]) for the [[Uyghurs]] impugns on the legitimacy of China's current territorial borders, which is based on the [[succession of states]] principle. According to sinologist [[Colin Mackerras]], foreign governments have generally accepted Chinese claims over its ethnic minority areas, because to redefine a country's territory every time it underwent a change of regime would cause endless instability and warfare. Also, he asks, "if the boundaries of the Qing were considered illegitimate, why should it go back to the much smaller Ming in preference to the quite extensive [[Tang dynasty]] boundaries?"<ref name="Mackerras">{{cite book|title=State and Society in 21st Century China: Crisis, Contention and Legitimation|editor1-first=Peter Hays|editor1-last=Gries|first=Colin|last=Mackerras|publisher=Psychology Press|year=2012|chapter=Han-minority relations|pages=219–220}}</ref>