Can’t say I’d ever contemplated the country from this perspective.
Via Marginal Revolution.
Christopher Jared, who apparently sent in the image, writes in the comments:
I have used this perspective of China for insight many times. Look at the proximity of Korea, Japan, Taiwan, and then what is in the middle? A large green, fertile patch… a middle kingdom. Whenever I am thinking about events in Chinese history, recent or ancient, it is this perspective that is most helpful to understanding.
Note: Taiwan would be grey because it was under Japanese rule in 1941, the date of the map.