It is countries like China, where the "congruence of culture and polity" is problematical, that state nationalism has a hard time of it. China is faced with the threat of ethnic nationalism on the part of the individual ethnic groups that inhabit various parts of the state's territory. This paper outlines specific difficulties of China's nation-building project in three problem areas, and speculates about some possible political and social consequences. The author uses Xinjiang, Liangshan area in southern Sichuan, and Taiwan as cases. In each case, the author reviews the political history and cultural position of the area, and then says something about how the interaction of these two factors has created the current situation. In the conclusion, the author comes back to the question of nation-building process, and reflects on its likelihood of success or failure in consideration of the conditions that the process has been up against.