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| Capital | Nanjing | ||||||
| Largest city | Shanghai | ||||||
| Other cities | Chongqing, Beijing, Tianjin, Guangzhou, Chengdu, Wuhan | ||||||
| Language official |
Mandarin | ||||||
| others | Zhuang languages, Miao languages, Yi, Tuija, Yao, Dong, Tibetan, Bai, Hani | ||||||
| Area | 4,691,224 km² | ||||||
| Population | 1,352,578,434 | ||||||
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China (Chinese: 中国), officially the Republic of China (Chinese: 中華民國), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population of more than 1.35 billion. China spans 3 time zones and borders 9 different countries (land and maritime borders). It covers an area of approximately 4.6 million square kilometres. China is a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council, BRICS, and the World Trade Organization. China's economy is, by some counts, the strongest economy in the world, with the possible exception of the UK. It has a large and modern military. China borders Mongolia and Russia to the North, Tibet and Uyghuristan to the west and Burma, Laos, Vietnam to the South and Korea to the East.
History[]
Ming Dynasty[]
In 1368 the Mongols were driven from China. In 1405, the new Ming dynasty sent Zheng He to Southeast Asia, India, Arabia and Africa. They returned with giraffes but some Chinese sailors were shipwrecked in Kenya. Their main goal was to collect tribute and prove Chinese superiority. Large Chinese populations settled in Southeast Asia at this time due to new alliances with the states there, today the largest overseas Chinese population is in Thailand (9 million), the city of Singapore in the Federation of Malaya is majority Chinese and Cantonese people predate Spanish rule in the Philippines.
Overseas expansion ended after the death of the Yongle Emperor and a failed invasion of Vietnam. Japanese pirates known as the Wokou began to raid China soon after and the Portuguese arrived and took some Chinese as slaves. The Portuguese were defeated at the battle of Shancaowan, but the Portuguese defeated local pirates so they were given Macau as thanks. The Ming also helped the Koreans fight off the Japanese in the Imjin war, although much of their military strength was spent fighting the Mongols.
Qing Dynasty[]
Peasant rebels sacked the capital in 1644, establishing the Shun dynasty. Some Ming generals opened the gates on the great wall, allowing the Manchus to invade China. They conquered both the Shun and what remained of the Ming. They earned the mandate of Heaven and continued the centuries-old method of getting people to pass exams in order to work for the government. But they also imposed the queue hairstyle on the Han, as a symbol of their subservience to the Manchus. The Manchus also constructed the willow palisade to stop Han Chinese from moving onto Manchu lands. The tribal military structure of the Manchus was also imposed on the Chinese, creating the famous banner armies.
The Manchu emperor awarded land to the Ming generals that supported him, but when he tried to take back their lands they revolted. This turned into the Revolt of the Three Feudatories, as it spread to the general population it evolved into a uprising of Ming loyalists. During this war the Qing conquered Taiwan. The Manchus had previously conquered Korea and later turned it into a vassal of Qing China.
They fought wars against Russians, Mongols, Dzungars and Nepal, but more detrimental to them were internal rebellions by the Miao, Tibetans, Sufis and secret societies. At the same time the banner armies had become useless in war due to corruption and they were increasingly involved in national politics. The limits of Qing military might were becoming evident, since they failed in their invasion of Burma and Vietnam. The Burmese notably had several French military advisors aiding them by suggesting strategy and by getting European weapons to Burma.
Century of Humiliation[]
Former tributaries of China were now being taken as colonies by Europeans, while the Chinese military largely discouraged the use of firearms. When the British tried to negotiate with the Chinese it was done in Latin, the Chinese didn't see any difference between the contemporary British and the Roman merchants from centuries earlier. The British hated the fact that they were restricted to just a few cities and that they had a huge trade deficit with China. They found selling opium was a good way to reverse these. Governors had taken money to pay for training and arming their men but they just pocketed the money. They had only 100,000 men. While generals were chosen because of nobility, not competence. The Chinese generals were so corrupt and cowardly that the British won the war with only 12,000 men.
When the Opium war was over the British acquired Hong Kong, beginning the treaty port system where Europeans would take a city in China as their sovereign territory. It was also the first time they had used "gunboat diplomacy" against China. The Americans, Japanese, Russians, French, Germans, Austro-Hungarians, Italians, Spaniards and Belgians all sent their navies to China to force concessions out of them (Italy failed as the Chinese called their bluff about having enough men to take Shanghai).
Hong Xiquan suffered a mental breakdown after failing the government entry exam so he read a translated bible and proclaimed himself to be the brother of Jesus Christ. The rebellion sparked conflict across China, including Hakka-Cantonese clan wars, the Dungan and Panthay revolts and several factions of bandits or secret societies created their own countries. The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom's war with the Qing killed 25 million people, making it the second deadliest conflict in human history. At the same time as all that the second Opium war broke out, this time France and the United States joined the British. Russia also took advantage of the war to take Eastern Manchuria and several Chinese forts in central Asia. The Western-trained Ever Victorious Army was created just after the second Opium war and it played an important role in defeating the Taiping.
Artist's depection of Japanese war crimes during the Sino-Japanese war
In 1894, China's client state, Korea had been forced by Japan to cut all ties with China. Japan continued to support Monarchist and conservative groups in Korea that were at odds with China's interests, Japan was confirmed to have supported a failed coup in Korea. Japan and China both agreed to withdraw from the Korean peninsula, while the Chinese military had the rebellion's leader drawn and quartered. When a second rebellion occurred China sent troops to help at the request of the Korean king, Japan sent troops against China and then the Japanese sunk a British ship carrying reinforcements, war was declared. Japan won, and took Taiwan as a colony and Korea as a vassal.
After that the Russians, Germans, British and French all rushed to gain territory in China and a partition seemed quite likely. The Chinese peasants saw the increasing foreign influence and decided to act, the largest of these groups was the Fists of Harmony and Justice, known to Europeans as "Boxers". They killed foreigners and Christians as they marched to Beijing, were they laid siege to the foreign legations. Britain, France, Germany, Russia, Japan, Italy, Austria-Hungary and the United States landed troops in China to lift the siege while Russia also invaded on it's own, taking all of Manchuria. The Qing did not give permission to the Eight-Nation Alliance to land so they saw it as an invasion. The Qing army itself laid siege to the legations. The war ended with a crushing defeat for the Chinese. China paid huge war reparations while Russia added Manchuria to it's empire.
Republic of China[]
Sun Yat Sen
In 1911 the child emperor Puyi abdicated, Sun Yat Sen declared the Republic of China. General Yuan Shikai became Provisional President after Sun resigned. He soon made plans to create a new dynasty with himself as its first Emperor. At the same time, the first world war broke out in Europe. China requested that all foreign armies leave Chinese soil immediately, all but Japan accepted. Japan sent demands to Yuan that would extend their control over China, in exchange they would recognise him as Emperor. When the deal went through Yuan was met with anti-Japanese and anti-Yuan protests. When Yuan declared himself Emperor these protests got worse and he abdicated after only 83 days. In 1917 there was a brief attempt to restore the Qing Dynasty to power, as troops led by Zhang Xun (backed by Germany) seized the capital and held it for two weeks until Republican forces recaptured it.
Most of China was carved up by independent warlords, who then fought each other, some cliques include the Guangxi, Ma, Shanxi, Sichuan, Yunnan and Zhili. The Kuomintang (Sun Yat Sen's party) and Manchuria became the most powerful forces in China.
The Soviets supported the Kuomintang, believing that they were part of an anti-imperialist revolution. Although the Kuomintang's alliance with the Soviet Union soon began to crumble. The Soviets wanted the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to merge with the Kuomintang. Mao Zedong, the CCP leader refused. After threatening to dismiss his Soviet advisors Chiang Kai-shek convinced the USSR that the CCP was an enemy. Chiang Kai-shek then led a vicious attack against the Chinese Soviet Republic.
Mao decided to led his men to Gansu (it was under the rule of the Ma family, a group of Chinese Muslim warlords allied with the Kuomintang). The whole time they faced machine gun attacks and bombings. The CCP then split into factions, Zhang Guotao led some men to Malaya in an attempt to help the Malays establish a Communist state, while Mao continued on to Xinjiang, where he died fighting in a local war.
Chinese propaganda illustration (c. 1930) celebrating cooperation between its military and that of the German Weimar Republic
Since the attack against the Communists was not entirely sanctioned by the USSR the relations between the two countries were significantly damaged. As such they sought relations with Germany in 1926 as a replacement of their alliance with the Soviets. Qingdao (known as Tsingtau to the Germans) was captured in the Great war by Russian forces. After the war Chiang Kai-shek restored the territory to Germany. Nazi Germany and China would remain allies for the duration of the Second World War, with China being sympathetic to Germany but still neutral, similarly to OTL Spain, China and Germany even made Qingdao a jointly controlled region so the allies could not take it without technically invading China. German military advisors suggested that China consider Japan as a potential threat, and that it shouldn't be underestimated even though it just lost to Manchuria. But Japan quickly declined so the advice was ignored.
In 1928 the last warlord state in China was captured by the Kuomintang in the Northern Expedition. Although Mongolia, Tannu Tuva, Tibet, Uyghuristan and Hainan were all considered rightful Chinese lands they had been independent for just under two decades, they were recognised by the League of Nations and had alliances with regional powers like Britain and Russia. So trying to reconquer them was considered pretty much impossible by the Germans and they suggested instead trying to exert influence over these states without invading them. Hainan became a Chinese protectorate in 1932.
Chiang announced a series of reforms that would prevent the century of humiliation from ever happening again:
- Never alienate the common man, this can be achieved though encouraging ethnic Chinese nationalism
- Fight corruption and keep unnecessary forces out of politics
- Be adaptable and modern, this means being on the same technological and social level as the west, foreign policy must recognise the west as equals and demand the same from them. Renegotiate the unequal treaties
- The government, especially the military, must be a meritocracy
- End feudalism and nobility
- Never self-isolate
Shanghai in the 1920s
As a result of these six Principles several coastal cities in China (notably Shanghai) began to modernise and attract foreign investment. Modernisation took other forms, such as the simplification of the Chinese writing system for education (public schools were also being built across the country). Various practices, such as prostitution and food binding, were banned during this period. Freedom of religion was guaranteed for all citizens and in 1938 China paid the last of the Boxer rebellion war reparations.
They also made plans describing how democracy could be introudced to China. It called for autocratic warlords to form political parties in the regions that they governed and allow opposition parties to run. After the election the victorious party would form a government and its candidate would become governor. This process would turn warlord states into democratic provinces.
The main concern of the Chinese military was fighting the Soviets in the War in Uyghuristan. Since the war was very clearly against Communism a wave of anti-communist sentiment swept across China. Chiang Kai-shek started to plan a purge of the very diverse political landscape within his party. He worked with Hu Hanmin, a conservative philosopher, to work towards making the KMT a right-wing party.
Wang Jingwei was a Chinese anarchist politician, but he was still part of the Kuomintang. He was very popular and was considered Chiang's main rival as successor of Sun Yat Sen. When Chiang began a purge of the Party he sent Wang (his friend) on vacation in Europe. Upon his return Wang led the rival Left-wing elements of the KMT in a new government based out of Wuhan. When the Wuhan Regime was destroyed several popular Leftist politicians, such as Wang Jingwei and Eugene Chen were killed.
Chiang was then removed from power and replaced with Hu Hanmin in 1931 due to the controversial suppression of the rebellion. A group of Chinese Fascists known as the Blue Shirts Society then approached Chiang with plans to install him as a "Benevolent Dictator". The group was mainly made up of military academy graduates who took heavy inspiration from Mussolini and had fought in many of the Kuomintang's wars.
As warlord states began the transition into provinces, some provincial rulers (warlords allied with the KMT or rulers that had been installed by the KMT) began to resist Nanjing's democratisation plans, which mostly stated that warlords would step down if they lost upcoming elections. During, before and after the 1932 elections, provincial warlords began to revolt. This started a 12 year long war that ended in a victory for the central government, at the cost of 3 million lives.
When Hu died in 1936 he was replaced by Feng Yuxiang. Feng Yuxiang was the first Chinese leader to establish term limits, he ran against Chiang Ching-kuo in the 1946 presidential election. He lost to Chiang Ching-kuo in 1956. Feng Yuxiang was the first Christian (Methodist) ruler of China.
Feng Yuxiang served as President of the Republic of China during World War II, and tried to maintain China's neutrality. This was made easier since no fighting took place within the vicinity to China. In addition to this the War against the rebellious former warlords was ongoing, although it ended in 1944. Around the same time was another phase of the Xinjiang Wars, this time taking the form of direct conflict between the Khanate of Uyghuristan and the Ma Clique.
In 1946, the USSR invaded Manchuria due to its strong ties to the now-defeated Axis powers. Feng Yuxiang met Joseph Stalin and the two began talks about reincorporating Manchuria into China. In 1950, Manchuria was annexed by China and the last Soviet troops withdrew. The European Settlement Area (ESA) was created as an area where the hundreds of thousands of European settlers in Manchuria could be mostly autonomous, this was one of Stalin's main conditions for a handover since most of the people there are Russian.
China also joined the Marshall Plan that was implemented initially by the United States for European countries after World War II, but China was added due to its recent wars and a desire to integrate it into the Western World.