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In what respect is US one single large country? Texas and California feels as different as Shandong and Shanghai. And not sure if a flame war will happen if I try to compare Hawaii and Taiwan :p

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the us was settled in the very recent past by people largely from a small number of places. there's a cultural and linguistic homogeneity that does not exist in other large countries. texas and california are close to as different as it gets for US states and yet people from either state will have essentially no problem understanding what each other says at home, they'll eat food that is pretty similar if not the same, etc.

compare that to spain and hungary, for the europe example. or tamil nadu and punjab in india. the right comparison for china isnt shandong and shanghai, it's like shanghai and guizhou or something. i promise you the cultural, culinary, and linguistic differences between shanghai and guizhou are WAY bigger than between texas and california. thats the point being made

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