China (not Ancient Rome) was first modern state?

[guy]

Dr. Francis Fukuyama is a thoughtful economist and political scientist. I found his paragraph from the Wall Street Journal (April 31, 2022) somewhat surprising, however.

 

Quote

State-level societies grew enormously in scale and could encompass millions of inhabitants. To get to this scale, however, they needed to move away from patrimonial authority and make use of impersonal institutions—bureaucracies—that seek to treat people uniformly as citizens. The first world society to make this transition was China, which had developed the foundational elements of a modern state—a merit-based civil service, centralized taxation, and uniform weights and measures—by the time of its initial unification in 221 BC. It would take European societies another 1,800 years before they too started to evolve modern states.

 

I found this paragraph wrong. Let's analyze it further.

He insists that in 221 BCE China (not Ancient Rome) was the first society that developed the "foundational elements of a modern state", "1,800 years before [European societies] started to evolve modern states.

What are his criteria for a modern state?

• A merit-based civil service: The success of both the Roman Republic and Empire depended on a developed and sophisticated civil service and bureaucracy.
• Centralized taxation: Rome was notorious for its bureaucratic tax system
• Uniform weights and measures: The success of Roman engineering was dependent on a highly accurate system of weights and engineering.

Usually Dr. Fukuyama can be very thoughtful in his writing. This paragraph, however, was just plain silly.

 

Edited May 3, 2022 by guy

[caldrail]

If that's the criteria, I humbly suggest Egypt or Assyria as arriving at the prize well before China did.