Why has Sichuan integrated well into chinese history and culture, despite being geographically separated into a different basin from the rest of china?
I am learning about Chinese history and I found out that basically since the Han Dynasty, Sichuan has been part of China. When you look on a map, it looks very different from the rest of the country – it’s in this inland basin, it’s got a non-navigable river passage separating it from everywhere else, and it’s got its own agricultural base surrounded by high mountains.
Based on the geography, I would’ve expected the whole basin to be the site of numerous other states and culture cultures rather than just being integrated into the larger Chinese culture. I would’ve thought it to be more similar to some of what you see in Tibet or central Asia or Southeast Asia - places in the sphere, but geographically separated enough that they are not part of the Chinese core.
How is it that Szechuan has stayed so Chinese for so long despite being relatively separate from everywhere else in the sinosphere core?