During the warlord period provinces would declare independence as a gesture of defiance to the central government but none tried seriously to set up a new independent government, probably because it was realised that such a move would have produced a general revulsion in public opinion.
在戰國時代，諸侯據地自雄，擺出蔑視中央的姿態，但是都沒有真正成立一個新的獨立政府，也許是因為他們瞭解一般民意對這種舉動會有反感。這是中國人對統一問題的看法。