Mirror Civilizations
CN · 中国
广西
Guangxi
EU · 欧洲
罗马尼亚
Romania
Axis · BaiYue ↔ Latin主轴 · 百越 ↔ 拉丁#20 / 25

The Latin cousin without the sea — Romance in landlocked karst.没有海的拉丁表亲——岩溶山地中的「罗曼斯」。

The pair配对

Guangxi and Romania are the inland members of the Latin / BaiYue family. Both speak languages that linguistically belong to the larger Latin / BaiYue group, but both lack the maritime gene that their sister regions converted into empires. Romania is Romance with a Slavic neighbourhood; Guangxi is Zhuang-and-Cantonese culture inside a non-maritime karst landscape. The result in both cases is a more rural, more poetic, more song-driven culture.广西与罗马尼亚,是「拉丁/百越」家族中的内陆成员。两地的语言都在语言学上属于拉丁/百越的更大家族,却都缺少使其姐妹地区铸成帝国的那一段海洋基因。罗马尼亚是被斯拉夫邻居包围的罗曼斯;广西是嵌入在非海洋的喀斯特地貌中的壮—粤文化。结果都是更乡村、更诗性、更歌谣化的文化。

Parallels平行处

  • Latin / BaiYue language family, inland variant.拉丁/百越语族的内陆变体。

  • A rich folk music tradition where the rest of the family went into trade.其余兄弟去做生意时,他们去做民歌。

  • Karst / Carpathian landscapes that protect dialect islands.喀斯特/喀尔巴阡景观,保护方言孤岛。

  • A reputation as a poorer-but-purer cousin.「更穷但更纯」的表亲名声。

Where the mirror cracks镜面的裂缝

  • Romania has Black Sea access; Guangxi has narrow southern Beibu Bay.罗马尼亚有黑海出海;广西仅有窄狭的北部湾。

  • Romania's Orthodox; Guangxi is Buddhist + folk.罗马尼亚信东正教;广西是佛教与民间信仰。

Through history贯穿历史

  1. Ancient stratum古层
    CN

    BaiYue tribal kingdoms.百越部族王国。

    EU

    Dacian kingdom; Roman province AD 106.达契亚王国;公元 106 年成罗马行省。

  2. Frontier era边疆时代
    CN

    Tang–Song — semi-autonomous Zhuang chieftains.唐宋——半自治壮族土司。

    EU

    Medieval — Wallachia, Moldavia between empires.中世纪——瓦拉几亚、摩尔达维亚在诸帝国之间。

  3. Modern role近代角色
    CN

    Today — gateway to ASEAN; Beibu Bay opening.今天——通往东盟的门户;北部湾开放。

    EU

    Today — EU member; Bucharest tech scene.今天——欧盟成员;布加勒斯特科技业崛起。

Today今天

Both regions are now finding ways to monetise their cultural distinctness: tourism, agriculture, and a quietly competent tech sector.两地正在把「文化独特性」变现:旅游、农业,以及一支低调能干的科技业。

Further reading延伸阅读

  • The Romanians: A History
    Vlad Georgescu · 1991
  • Han Migration to the Far Southwest
    C. Patterson Giersch · 2006