Why did the Indians divide their country into states with a lot of autonomy instead of provinces under the control of a central government in the capital like the Chinese?  If you consider that each state has its own identity, then so do the provinces in China, and it is still entirely possible for the central government to assimilate all of them to its advantage.

为什么印度人把他们的国家划分成拥有很多自治权的邦，而非中国中央政府控制下的省？如果你认为每个邦都有自己的地位，那么中国的省份也有自己的地位，中央政府完全有可能把它们都同化为自己的优势。

以下是Quora网友的评价：

Raj Siva

States with reasonable amount of autonomy in local affairs, help with effective governance at the local level.

And I am sure, your claim about whole of China being controlled from its capital, isn't factually correct. It cannot work.

Assimilation can happen, through free movement of people. I think, this is where India differs from China.

In India, anyone can live anywhere in India. Whereas, I have heard that China has hukou permit system, which restrict, who can live where.

印度各邦在地方事务上拥有一定的自主权，这有助于在地方一级进行高效治理。

我敢肯定，你所谓的全中国都被首都掌控的说法并非事实。这行不通。

人口的自由流动可以推动同化。我认为，这就是印度与中国的不同之处。

在印度，所有人都可以住在印度的任何地方。但我听说中国有户口制度，限制了民众的居住地点。

Sam Arora

Sir/Mm. I want to respond and give you my two cents regarding your question.

I was born in the Punjab region of India. After a few years, the British left India.

I came to Canada in my early 20s with a lot of education from India, and here in Canada, I obtained a master's degree.

From my childhood, I was very interested to learn as much as possible about China because our primary school teacher spoke very highly of China.

I have visited China six times and worked with Chinese Canadians/Overseas Chinese/Mainland Chinese in various capacities for nearly fifty years.

先生们，女士们，对于你提出的问题，我想谈谈我的看法。

我出生在印度的旁遮普地区。我出生几年后，英国人撤离了印度。

我20岁出头的时候从印度来到加拿大深造，在加拿大获得了硕士学位。

从我小时候起，我就很想尽可能地了解中国，因为我们的小学老师对中国评价很高。

我曾六次前往中国，我和加拿大华人、海外华人、中国大陆华人一起共事了近五十年。

I may not be an expert, but I know a thing or two about my birth country and China.

People who do not know modern China by seeing themselves are fooled by the media that China is still a third-world country. But the reality is China has become one of the most powerful countries. Unofficially Chairman of the board.

Once I visited China, I was not the same person in total. I have seen it six times, and more trips are on the planning board.

我也许不是这个方面的专家，但我对我的祖国和中国确实略知一二。

那些不了解现代中国的人都被媒体愚弄了，他们还以为中国现在仍是第三世界国家呢。但现实是，中国已经成为全球最强大的国家之一，是整个地球公认的董事会主席。

在我访问过中国后，我就完全颠覆了过往的认知。我已经去过中国六次了，我计划着还要再多去几次。

2. I know full well that the late Chairman Mao is now a controversial giant of a man/leader in history. I believe China will not be China today without Mao.

India has never had such a super leader, visionary, motivator, and bigger-than-life leader.

When the British left, They left their clone V. P. Menon, a brown man with a white soul, a known womanizer, and a failed lawyer. In my he and his family did more damage than any good. ( This is my view and will not hurt or offend their faithful supporters.)

2. 我很清楚，现在是伟人和领袖。我相信没有毛 主席，就没有今天的中国。

印度从未出现过这样的超级领袖，这样有远见、有动力、有传奇色彩的领袖。

英国人撤离印度的时候，留下了一个英国克隆人V. P. 梅农，一个有着白人灵魂的小棕人，一个众所周知的好色之徒，一个律师败类。在我看来，他和他的家人对印度有百害无一益。(这是我的个人观点，我不想伤害或冒犯他们的忠实支持者。)

3. India has a borrowed, useless, and failed governing system. Even in the West, it died. Never mind India, with a population of 1.4 with very high illiteracy, corruption from A to Z, sky sky-high crime rate, and failed justice system.

4. Mao first closed the doors to outside nuisance, and cleaned the filth from A to Z. When China opened the doors, the world would not be the same.

3. 印度有一个舶来的、无用的、失败的政府体制。即便在西方国家，这种政府体制也衰败了。印度有14亿人口，文盲率非常高，政府上下腐败严重，犯罪率极高，司法系统令人失望。

4. 中国先对外来麻烦关上国门，彻底清理门户。当中国重新打开国门时，世界已经不一样了。

5. Today, there is a lot of ra ra ra and chest-thum about India, but in reality, it is a lot more dog and pony show.

6. The present Govt is very honest/sincere/but their hands are full with other termites in the system.

7. I could write a few books on these issues.

5. 今天，印度总是拍着胸脯咋咋呼呼，但其实都是犬马闹剧。

6. 现任政府非常诚实/真诚，但他们的手中满是系统中的其他白蚁。

7. 我可以就这些问题写上好几本书。

But I will give you a concise and sweet answer: India can never match China. The reality is China is already number one in the world.

To compete with the Chinese productivity for any race is NEXT TO IMPOSSIBLE. China is a very safe country, not as good as Japan, but given a few more years, maybe a decade, it will surpass Japan.

但我想给你提供一个简洁的答案：印度永远都无法与中国相提并论。现在中国已经是世界第一了。

印度想在任何竞赛中和中国的生产力竞争几乎都是不可能的。中国是一个非常安全的国家，虽然还比不上日本，但再过几年，也许不出十年就将超过日本。

West is dying, and I traveled a fair bit. Some countries will not be on the map in the next few decades.

No one can destroy China unless the Chinese themselves. Yes, the new generation is not as hardcore as the older generation. The signs of self-destruction are starting to appear.

One-line answer: India has a useless/ineffective/corrupt governing system. When the foundation is wrong, the structure cannot be correct.

西方国家日渐式微，我去过不少地方。未来几十年，有些国家可能就会从地图上消失了。

没有人能摧毁中国，除非中国人自己。是的，新一代中国人不像老一辈那么硬核。开始出现了自我毁灭的迹象。

简而言之，用一句话回答：印度有一个无用、无效和腐败的治理体系。基础出了错，上层结构就不可能正确。

And China does NOT have to worry about India. We are very good at killing each other. China does not have to do a thing.

India and China were at the same level in 1948. Today, China's economy is six times bigger than India's. Stay tuned. China is poised to be NUMBER ONE soon.

Ignorance is bliss. The reality is very bitter, and the best is to learn from China.

Change the failed governing system; it is not fit for India.

中国完全不需要担心印度。我们印度极其擅长自相残杀。中国什么都不用做。

1948年，印度和中国还处于同一水平。如今，中国的经济规模已经达到印度的六倍。继续关注吧，中国很快就会成为世界第一了。

无知是福，现实很苦，最好开始向中国学习。

调整失败的治理体系吧；它并不适合印度。

The USA is NO ONE'S friend: It is strictly business, and these new bear hugs red carpets are just dog and pony shows with India to fight and get beaten in the proxy war with China.

It is a total shame: India and China have so much in common. Rather than living/working and learning from each other, our first prime minister spoiled relations with China after independence. Please google it and find his five big blunders that ruined India's future. This video is on YouTube. Five Blunders of Nehru Which Destroyed India

美国不是任何人的朋友：有的只是纯粹的商业关系，这些拥抱、红毯，都只是做戏罢了。

印度实在是可惜：印度和中国有着这么多共同点。我们的第一任总理在印度独立后就把中印关系搞砸了，两国之间没能相互生活、合作和学习。你可以在网上搜索一下，看看尼赫鲁毁灭印度的五宗错。

Also, Please note that Indian trolls will start the next war; I have been writing on Quora since August 2015, and I got not even ONE abusive and dirty feedback from anywhere in the world other than constructive and very beautiful comments from Pakistan and China and all around except from India my own birth country, some have no hesitation of pissing on almost perfect and accurate writing.

We Indians cannot accept the realities of life and assume that we are way behind and have many problems and shortcomings.

I hope it helps.

另外，请注意印度喷子会挑起下一场战争；自2015年8月以来，我一直在Quora上写作，我收到过许多巴基斯坦和中国网友的建设性和友善的评论，世界各地的网友也从未留下过辱骂和下流的留言，但唯独只有祖国的印度同胞对我的文章大肆攻击。

我们印度人不能接受生活的真想，不能接受我们已经落后太多，存在很多问题和缺点。

我希望上述内容对你有所帮助。

Shakir Jawed

I think the reason was the autonomy of princely states of British India. Before gaining independence in 1947, India was divided into two major sets of territories, one under direct British rule(55%), and the other consisting of princely states(40%). The rest were colonial settlements(5%).

我认为原因在于英属印度土邦的自治权。在1947年获得独立之前，印度被分为两大领土群，一个由英国直接统治(55%)，另一个由土邦组成(40%)，其余的是殖民地(5%)。

Political subdivisions of the Indian Empire. British India (pink) and the princely states (yellow).

At that time, there were 562 princely states and there independent autonomy was the big question mark for the anti-colonial nationalist, Jawaharlal Nehru(First prime minister of India). But the government didn't take hard-line 'cause the ground realities of Indian subcontinent were different and required federal compromise.

As far as I know, the role of V. P. Menon(Secretary of state, 1947-1951) was remarkable in political integration of India. He closely worked with Nehru in a step-by-step process, to secure and extend the union government's authority over British ruled provinces and princely states, and transform their administrations until, by 1956, he practically diminished all differences.

印度帝国的政治分支。英属印度(粉色)和王公邦(黄色)。

当时，印度有562个土邦，对于反殖民民族主义者贾瓦哈拉尔·尼赫鲁(印度首任总理)来说，独立自治存在很大的不确定性。但政府没有采取强硬路线，因为印度次大陆的实际情况不同，联邦必须妥协。

据我所知，梅农(1947-1951年的国务卿)在印度的政治一体化中发挥了非凡的作用。通过循序渐进的做法，他与尼赫鲁密切合作，确保和加强联邦政府对英国统治下的各省和土邦的权威，并对行政管理进行改革，1956年消除了所有分歧。

This process successfully integrated the vast majority of princely states into India, but because of the acknowledgement of their sovereignty and political autonomy, they were accounted states and not provinces.

Well, it's my personal opinion and I don't know why people don't mention the efforts of Menon, may be he was South Indian or whatever the reason is, but I think the people like Vallabhbhai Patel and V. P. Menon deserve much respect than other famous figures in Indian independence.

这一过程成功地将绝大多数土邦并入印度，但由于印度政府承认它们的主权和政治自治权，它们依然以邦的形式存在。

好吧，这是我的个人观点，我不知道为什么大家都没有提及梅农的努力，可能是因为他是南印度人或其他原因，但我认为像瓦拉巴伊·帕特尔和V. P.梅农这样的人比印度独立的其他知名人物更值得尊重。

Rama Krishna Vasudeva

Yes, KHANgress party has done a grave blunder by splitting so many states, that too on linguistic basis and giving powers to them. It should have been like Chinese, where we have a strong centre, that is good for the nation. States should be a weak entity and all powers should only vest with the Central Govt.

One Nation, One Govt!

是的，国大党犯了一个严重的错误，分裂了这么多邦，这么做是基于语言不同，而且赋予了各邦权力。印度应该像中国一样，拥有一个强大的中央政府，这对国家更有好处。所有的权力都应该归属中央政府。

一个国家，一个政府！

AVRao

Yes.A sound suggestion. , But the elders who wrote constitution ,were of a different opinion for different reasons.

Even now by a new constituent assembly we can change the constitution .

是的。这是一个不错的建议。但是制定宪法的长老们出于不同的原因而持有不同的意见。

即使是现在，只要通过新的制宪会议，我们也可以修改宪法。

Gany

How did India come to have "states" instead of "provinces"?

As someone has written on Quora earlier, states conform with independence, self- ruling and federalism. On the other hand province is a term that indicates a general area/region. In order to build a clearer image of Swaraj(Self-ruling) which was one of the great causes which drove the Indian Independence movement, I think the term states was agreed upon rather than provinces.

Before the reshuffling of states, divisions of India were provincial based on the presiding local ruling power. However after the re-organisation, States were formed upon linguistic majorities/outlines.

印度怎么会有“邦”而不是“省”？

正如之前有人在Quora上写的那样，邦遵循的是独立、自治和联邦制。另一方面，省则是一个表示一般区域/地区的名词。为了打造更清晰的自治形象，这是推动印度独立运动的伟大原因之一，我认为“邦”这个词得到了大家的一致同意。

在邦重组之前，印度的划分是基于主持地方执政权力的省。但重组之后，根据主流语言形成了各邦。