In China, for instance, he got into a terrible state (3,4)

I believe the answer is:

the east

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'in china for instance he got into a terrible state' is the definition.
Although both the answer and definition are singular nouns, I can't understand how they can define each other.

'he got into a terrible state' is the wordplay.
'got into' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'a terrible' indicates an anagram.
'state' with letters rearranged gives 'teast'.
'he' put into 'teast' is 'THE EAST'.

Can you help me to learn more?

I've seen this clue in the Evening Standard.

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