China
Until the Great Oriental War, China was a great empire covering a vast area of East Asia.
During the 1920's, China entered a major expansionistic phase, expanding northward into Siberia, eastward into Corea and Taiwan, westward into Tibet and southward into Mÿqan̊ Ðaij. Finally, in 1937, they went so far as to place a puppet emperor on the throne of Japan. This resulted in a series of sanctions by the Austronesian League which led China to bomb Sednîr (Sydney), Australasia, beginning the Great Oriental War, also known as the Great Pacific War. Finally, in 1947, after a bloody war, Beijing was atom-bombed, the imperial family was killed, and China was finally subjugated. Tibet was given back her independence, and Inner Mongolia united with Outer Mongolia to form the united Mongolia. To avoid future imperialism, China was broken up into several states along linguistic lines:
- 北漢國 Beihanguo (often referred to as simply "China", literally "North Han Land")
- 南漢國 Nanhanguo (literally "South Han Land")
- 湖南 Hunan
- 南昌 Nanchang
- 上海 Shanghai
- 梅州 Meizhou
- 廣東 Canton
- 福建臺灣海南 Fujian, Taiwan and Hainan (Futainan, 福臺南)
- 福建 Fujian
- 臺灣 Taiwan
- 海南 Hainan
- 壯國 Zhuanguo
- إيگرستن Uyguristan
In addition, the former colony of Chinese East Africa is today ruled as a kind of condominium between the various Chinese states under the auspices of the Chinese East Africa Company.
History
19th Century
China was largely the same *there* as *here* until the reign of Daoguang.
Beginning in the 1820's, European powers imported opium into China, in an attempt to reverse the balance of trade. This alarmed Chinese authorities and, in 1838, Lin Zexu, under order from the emperor, began confiscating opium at ports. The emperor forbade opium within the empire. European traders, particularly those from the Federated Kingdoms, were outraged and demanded compensation, with some even advocating war.
Lin sent a letter to Queen Victoria of England and Scotland and to King Iewan IV of Kemr warning them that China was adopting a stricter policy towards everyone who brought opium into China, and asking that they would act "in accordance with decent feeling" and support his efforts.
A compromise was proposed wherein the Chinese government would compensate the traders for the destroyed opium but with an agreement by the FK to abide thereafter by Chinese laws. Given China's relative weakness, this was quite advantageous.
Daoguong was eventually pressured into opening up China to greater trade with the West. Throughout the 19th century, the power of the court would wane, and China would be forced to sign a number of unequal treaties with Western powers. In addition, China began losing influence over its tributaries. In 1860, the Chinese were forced to cede Outer Manchuria (the modern Russo-Japanese Condominium Area and part of southern Primorye).
In 1861, Emperor Xianfeng passed away, and was succeeded by his six-year-old son, who became Emperor Tongzhi; power was wielded by his mother, Empress Dowager Ci Xi. Tongzhi came of age in 1873 and attempted major reforms of China's government. Two years later he died of smallpox, and was succeeded by Ci Xi's nephew Guangxu. Ci Xi ruled once more as regent for Guangxu until 1890.
In 1896, Japan defeated China in the Sino-Japanese War, shocking the Chinese authorities, who had always considered Japan to be an inferior state, a tributary.
This lead, in 1898, to the start of the Guangxu Reform, modelled, in part, on the Japanese Meidji Restoration. Conservatives, led by former regent Ci Xi, attempted to halt the reforms, but the plot was detected in time by Guangxu, and Ci Xi was unable to use her wildcard, the enigmatic general Yuan Shikai, due to the latter contracting tuberculosis. By the time he recovered, Ci Xi had been placed under house-arrest and most of the conservative faction had been silenced or executed. As the aunt of the emperor Ci Xi escaped these punishments and was freed in 1900, and even regained some political clout. However, she accepted the reforms and in fact initiated reforms herself.
Most of the reforms were carried out by a young radical scholar named Kang Youwei, who later attained the premiership at the time of the First Great War.
Early 20th Century
China bided its time, modernizing its military and increasing its control over the provinces. Upon Guangxu's death in 1908, allegedly poisoned by angry former supporters of Ci Xi, he was succeeded by his nephew who became Emperor Xuantong.
Yuan Shikai, recovered from tuberculosis, helped the Qing Dynasty crush a Republican uprising in 1912. Xuantong, through his uncle Prince Chun, declared that the wearing of queues by men was no longer required; most men cut their hair immediately after Xuantong have his queue cut to set an example. Queues however, did not completely disappear until 1918, where a Western-style hairstyle or a style similar to Buddhist monks became compulsory hairstyle in the military.
By 1920, the opportunity presented itself to China, with Russia weakened by the Civil War, and Japan de-militarizing, to reclaim its position of pre-eminence. In 1920, China invaded Corea and Taiwan, easily defeating the Japanese. In 1924, China, in league with Russia, invaded the Soviet Socialist Republic of Siberia, but betrayed Russia by claiming Far East Russia for themselves. Tibet and Siam were the next in line, and with Buddhists being non-violent, there was next to no resistance in Tibet. Siam was more of a challenge, but no problem for the numerous Chinese forces. The Austronesian League, finally beginning to notice China's expansion, sent a letter of warning to them. This was completely ignored, and China's next target was Japan itself. In 1929, Chinese forces based out of Yocohama (a treaty port) attacked Tòquiò (modern-day Edo) and, after a four-year war, placed their ally, Prince Mitxi, on the throne as Emperor Xòwa. Japan was a key member of the Austronesian league, and the League was forced to slap sanctions on China. In 1937, China launched an attack on Sednîr (Sydney) and, finally, Australasia declared war on China.
The Great Pacific War
Main article: Great Oriental War
Australasia, as a retaliatory action, started by invading Corea from their base in Naha, Lùquiù. The attack was at first, successful, mostly due to bad communication between Kieñseñ and Beijing. However, by the winter, the Chinese army had driven Australasia out of Corea, with the help of Japanese forces attacking Naha.
Australasia fell back to the Filipinas. The Chinese, after invading Xrivizaja, were now pushing on Mazapahit. Australasia sent forces to aid the Mazapahitans, another member of the Austronesian League. This mission was a success and the Chinese were prevented from gaining any ground in Mazapahit because of an inability to attack from the Filipinas. Australasia then proceeded to push up through Xrivizaja, then up through Siam. The Australasians held their ground in Burma, but it was a stalemate. By 1946, with the aid of German scientists, captured after the European War, a joint atomic research project was set up in mainland Australasia by the Federated Kingdoms. In an attempt to force the Chinese to give in, a bomb was dropped on Xi'an. Nine hundred thousand people were killed, but the Chinese held firm. The stalemate continued for another three years. In 1949, on the brink of giving in, Australasia dropped four atom bombs on Beijing, in a last effort to win the war. The whole city, and six million people, were killed, including most of the imperial family. It was the end of the Qing dynasty and the end of China.
The Australasians made Tibet independent again, and unified Mongolia. The rest was returned, essentially, to its state before the war, apart from China. In an effort to prevent China from causing any more trouble, it was split up, according to language, with the logic that it is harder to unify countries with separate languages than countries with a single language.
The Chinese Nations After the Great Pacific War
After the Great Pacific War, China was split into ten countries: Beihanguo (also called simply "China"); Nanhanguo; Hunan; the Republic of Nanchang; the Republic of Shanghai, the Meizhou Republic; Canton; the Kingdom of Fujian, Taiwan and Hainan; Zhuanguo; and the Republic of Uyguristan.
The 2003 Cantonese War
In 2003, a short-lived war broke out between the belligerent Empire of Hunan and the Commonwealth of Canton (officially, the "Do Ge GwongDung", or 'Way of Canton' / ANARC [Aleatoric Natal Agency of (R)evolutionary Canton]). Canton and its foreign allies proved victorious and the war has left Hunan a shambles which the League of Nations is conferred upon the Japanese to restore to order following a hasty retreat by the Cantonese. Japan remained in control from 2006 until late 2015. In 2015, the Hananese elected a new King, Fuxing, a descendent of the Chrysanthemum Throne, married to the grand-daughter of Balhaijoñ, former member of the Imperial Chinese house.
