Older than the hills

摘要

Nowhere more than in Asia do states and their rulers tend to think they represent not just, say, defined territories or peoples with a shared language, but rather whole civilisations, often cosmically ordained. Strongmen running Central Asian states erect monuments to themselves as heirs to nomadic empires. In Cambodia the autocrat, Hun Sen, collects titles such as "Illustrious Prince, Great Supreme Protector and Famed Warrior" in conscious emulation of the former god-kings of Angkor Wat, the jungle complex which itself was built to represent the centre of Hindu and Buddhist cosmology. And in Japan next month a new emperor will be enthroned who is supposedly a direct descendant of Emperor Jimmu, whose reign began in 66obc and whose illustrious ancestors, in turn, include the goddess of the sun. Just being a simple nation-state is not always enough these days.