Hmm...

For more than three thousand years, Centralia's emperors were the most heavy-handed taskmasters on Earth. Not only of their own nations, mind you, but the entire continent was under their dominion in some form or another. Nations and tribes had their kings appointed for them by Centralian emperors, who would choose what title to give to this monarch or that in order to show how important this nation or that one was, purely at the emperor's own whim. Any nations around the periphery of Centralia were branded as 'barbarians' in Centralia's language, and the Centralian emperors reinforced that in every facet of their international relations. It was not enough that every nation bordering Centralia had to send an annual tribute of several hundred virgins to the Centralian emperor as concubines... and by the way girls, you'd be hard-pressed to dream up a more miserable fate than spending your life with no hope of better sex than what a Centralian shrimp-cock could provide. No, the Centralians' devious little minds dreamed up far more degrading fates than that for their neighbors. See, in order to even trade with Centralia, or pass through it to trade with others, national representatives had to appear before the emperor, perform a humiliating ritual called 'kao tao' and declare themselves to be something that translated as 'barbarian servants of the Divine Emperor.' They would receive a certificate proving they had made this pledge, and they had to display this certificate before they were allowed to trade in any marketplace.

And then the name: Centralia, or "Central Nation," hm?
Why do I get the feeling I know what country you're really writing about? ;-) ;-) ;-)