The international academic community has a long history of studying politics from the perspective of civilization. But some say the western mainstream has not paid much attention to the possibility that Asian civilizations can be integrated with the modern state. In recent years, there has been a growing acceptance of the concept of a civilizational state, which is used to describe countries like China and several others. Why should China be seen as a civilizational state? And how does this idea differ from existing political narratives?