Within the enormous human tapestry that makes up China, how do the residents of different provinces, the speakers of different dialects, define their local culture and relation to the country in which they live? What are the constituent elements of “the small identity”? What relations exist between it and “the large identity”, and when do contradictions between the two loyalties arise? Beyond the familiar division of China to north and south, we shall study the complex identities of selected provinces, cities and regions of modern China.