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In 2003, the CCP Politburo held a study session on the history of great powers. Inspired by ‘The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers: Economic Change and Military Conflict from 1500 to 2000' by Paul Kennedy, it aimed to contribute to party officers' understanding of the history of the great powers. Therefore, it was later diffused through the levels of the Party's structure as a source of study. Eventually, the Politburo decided asked China Central Television (CCTV) to produce a documentary destined to the broader public. The twelve parts TV-series (大國崛起) staged the history of Portugal, Spain, the Netherlands, England, France, Germany, Japan, Russia and the United States, powerful maritime powers whose powerful navies allowed them to expand their influence worldwide.
Today's new maritime Silk Road complements the renewal of the traditional Silk Road in Central Asia. The political leadership and state propaganda apparatus aim at demonstrating China's ancient maritime tradition. This focus on maritime power helps reviving the Tributary System in Asia, and internationally it aims at reasserting China's Status as an Equal Power to the US and other great powers. Although China was indeed a regional maritime power (Han, Tang, Song and early Ming Dynasties), it never developed a maritime strategic culture; quite the opposite. Hence, the exercise is artificial and is rooted in political legitimation.
This implies the reshaping of Chinese national identity as a Maritime Power as instrumental to the great rejuvenation of China and a massive cultural shift in the people as well as in Chinese military cultural thinking. In 2009, the Deputy Chief of Staff of the PLAN Rear Admiral Zhang Deshun declared that ‘both our glory and shame arise from the sea, I hope more Chinese will soon learn what the ocean means for their country'.
