Introduction The notion of the “Middle Kingdom Complex” constitutes a historically embedded cognitive–civilizational framework within Chinese political thought, rooted in the Sinocentric worldview of imperial China. More than a geographical designation, the idea of Zhongguo (中国 — “Middle Kingdom”) encoded a cosmological, cultural, and hierarchical conception of world order in which China occupied the normative … Continue reading What is meant by the “Middle Kingdom Complex” in Chinese political thought, and how does it derive from the Sinocentric worldview of imperial China? Does the Middle Kingdom Complex signal China’s aspiration to reshape the normative architecture of global governance?