Huguang-Zhongyuan (1983: Doomsday)

The National People's Republic of China is a small, isolationist socialist democracy located around pre-Doomsday Hubei province, China. Although the nation is a liberal state today, it's past was barely free.

Pre-Doomsday
Hubei was a prized posession of many ancient Chinese states, as she lay on the majestic Yangtze and was home to the legendary Three Gorges. Hubei also boasted a high abundance of farmland and minerals.

The first state to have control was Chu, of the Warring States Period, and was the site of the epic Battle of the Red Cliffs in the Three Kingdoms era, where Cao Cao's forces were defeated by Liu Bei and Sun Quan.

Nomadic people invaded China in the fourth and fifth centuries, divinding China into north, led by the nomads, and the south, dominated by the local Han Chinese.

After the Tang Dynasty disintegrated, Hubei fell under the control of several different regional powers: Jingnan in the centre, Wu in the east, and the Five Dynasties to the north.

The Song Dynasty reunited China in 982, and divided Hubei into a number of circuits for easier administration. After the Mongols conquered southern China in 1279, the provinces of Hubei, Henan, Gunagdong, and Guangxi were grouped together to form Huguang. During Mongol occupation, Hubei was devastated by the world's first epidemic of Black Death, which soon spread like wildfire across the Old World.

After the Ming drove out the Mongols in 1368, Huguang was reduced in size: to the point of nearly including all of Hubei and Henan combined. During the last Ming years, Hubei was devastated by rebel factions staking their claims. When the Qing took over, they split Huguang into modern Hubei and Henan. Later reforms transformed Hubei into a centre of trade and commerce.

In 1911, the Wuchang uprising occured in the old city of Wuhan, overthrowing the Qing and replacing the centuries old monarchy with the Republic of China. During WWII, eastern Hubei was occupied by Japan.

During the Cultural Revolution, the province was home to infighting between local Red Guard factions.

In the last years before Doomsday, in fear of nuclear war, the old PRC built a subterranean military command post in Xianning.

Post Doomsday
Hubei's capital Wuhan was the industrial centre of China, so naturally, the Soviets nuked it. The Yangtze River became moderately contaminated, and cancer rates soared past 40% within the next few years. Most residents of Hubei flew westward and northward, although conditions were no better off.

For people who stayed behind, life was hell, especially in the ancient city of Lichang. Lichang was the second largest city in Hubei, so people instantly flocked there, causing the population to explode, and because of the breakdown in government, Lichang fell under mob rule.

As more and more people began to die from cancer and malnutrition, cutting the native population in half, mob rule turned against itself, and the city fell into total anarchy.

By 1985, the population was at 5'000'000, but only a third of that was local. Most people were getting out and leaving, if they could. Things were starting to stabilize, little by little, until a minor government was formed in early 1988.

The new government was a commune: a council of elderly CCP members made all major decisions. However, it had little controlled, and gang violence and corruption was rampant.

The Glorious Leader
A radical youth named Lǐngdǎo Wúwèi. There are no early records of his presence, yet in early 1990, as many areas of China were stabilizing, the twenty year old was master of the remaining PLA in the Underground Project 131 of Xianning.

Hearing of the existence of a surviving city in the western areas, he set out from his command post and trekked across the plains of Hubei, until they reached of what remained of Yichang.

Wúwèi laid seige to the city, and in May, it fell. Any remaining gang leaders were publicly executed for their crimes, and well, anyone of opposition. He than sent his militia of 20'000 to secure the county. After the area was secure, he began efforts of reconstructing "China's Detroit".

Small progress was made by July. At this point, radiation was at a near bearable level, and food and clean drinking water was being evenly distributed. The Yangtze was more clean than the surrounding lands, as it is in motion and contantly being replenished.

In August, he founded the Chóngjiàndǎng (Reconstruction Party) with his fellow milita members. On August 8th, 1990, the National People's Republic of China was born.

New Beginnings
Wúwèi reorganized the government and renamed Yichang, Xinjing China`s new capital. He created the Rénmíndàhuì, or People`s Assembly, which served as a legislature and senate, and reorganized the military, transforming his militia into the Rénmínjūn, the People`s Army. He also wrote a new constitution, base on the old constitutions of the PRC and ROC, effectively transforming the NPRC into a right-wing republic blending socialism and primitive democracy into one.

The next few months saw essentually what Wúwèi`s party was named after: recostruction. The decrepit city was transformed, but not into the hustle-and-bustle she once was. The city ad surrounding areas were still incredibly poor, and the people were hardly getting by.

In 1991, the NPRC reintroduce the Yuan, replcing barter. The republic also made daring attempts into the mines and farmland around the city and beyond, and despite the mortality rate (1:3), the NPRC had a steady stream of commerce.

The standard of living was improving, and by 1993, so was morale. On the third anniversary of the new republic`s founding, the people gave Lǐngdǎo the title Glorious Leader for his efforts. Xinjing was industrializing and new jobs were opening, and life expectancy was at a steady 55.

On September 21st, 1993, the Glorious Leader was diagnosed with esophageal cancer.

The End of an Era
A full week after the fifth anniversary of the NPRC`s founding, on August 15th, 1995, Glorious Leader, Chairman Lǐngdǎo Wúwèi, lost the fight to cancer. The Soviets claimed yet another life.

Chairman Lǐngdǎo`s death unveiled the hidden turmoil that the Glorious Leader took so long to repress. Within a week, the greedy and jealous members of the Assembly used their connections in the military to try to claim the republic for his self. The War in the Streets would reverse almost all work that the first Chairman of the NPRC made.

Within weeks, it wasn`t safe to be in the streets. By a few months, assassinations made any attempt at progress fruitless. Thousands upon thousands of people died. It was a dark time for the republic.