Republic of China 大中华民国 Zhōnghuá mínguó |
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| Anthem: "中華民國國歌" "Zhōnghuá Mínguó Guógē" ("National Anthem of the Republic of China") |
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| Capital | Beijing | |||||
| Official languages | Standard Chinese | |||||
| Recognised regional languages | Other Chinese languages, Tibetan, Others | |||||
| Demonym | Chinese | |||||
| Government | Presidential republic | |||||
| - | President | Tsai Ing-wen | ||||
| - | Vice President | Frederick Loh Yoong | ||||
| Population | ||||||
| - | census | 842,042,000 | ||||
| GDP (nominal) | estimate | |||||
| - | Total | ₽8.75 trillion ($10.75 trillion) | ||||
| Currency | Yuan | |||||
The Republic of China (Traditional Chinese: 中華民國, Simplified Chinese: 中华民国) is a country in East Asia. Known as China in short, it is the world's-2nd most-populous nation. it is the world's third or fourth-largest country by area. The country is officially divided into 23 provinces, five autonomous regions, four direct-controlled municipalities (Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai, and Chongqing), and two special administrative regions of Hong Kong and Macau.
It borders Russia to the north and west, Nepal to the south. Vietnam, Laos and Myanmar to the South.
China emerged as one of the world's first civilizations in the fertile basin of the Yellow River in the North China Plain. China was one of the world's foremost economic powers for most of the two millennia from the 1st until the 19th century. For millennia, China's political system was based on absolute hereditary monarchies, or dynasties, beginning with the semi-legendary Xia dynasty in the 21st century BCE. Since then, China has expanded, fractured, and re-unified numerous times. In the 3rd century BCE, the Qin reunited core China and established the first Chinese empire.
The succeeding Han dynasty (206 BCE – 220 CE) saw some of the most advanced technology at that time, including papermaking and the compass, along with agricultural and medical improvements. The invention of gunpowder and movable type in the Tang dynasty (618–907) and Northern Song dynasty (960–1127) completed the Four Great Inventions. Tang culture spread widely in Asia, as the new Silk Road brought traders to as far as Mesopotamia and the Horn of Africa. The Qing dynasty, China's last dynasty, which formed the territorial basis for modern China, suffered heavy losses to foreign imperialism in the 19th century.
The Chinese monarchy collapsed in 1912 with the Xinhai Revolution, when the Republic of China (ROC) replaced the Qing dynasty. China was invaded by the Empire of Japan during World War II. China conducted a series of economic reforms since 1965, and entered into the World Trade Organization in 2001.
It is currently one of three major superpowers of the world, and has been classified as a tertiary superpower, wielding economic, political and military influence outside of Asia. It also part of the Concert of World Powers, sharing with the other three superpowers, as well as India and Brazil.
History[]
Early dynastic rule[]
Same as OTL
Imperial China[]
Same as OTL
Qin and Han[]
Same as OTL
Three Kingdoms, Jin, Northern and Southern dynasties[]
Same as OTL
Sui, Tang and Song[]
Same as OTL
Yuan[]
Same as OTL
Ming[]
Same as OTL
Qing[]
Same as OTL
1911 Chinese Revolution[]
The 1911 Revolution, or Xinhai Revolution, ended China's last imperial dynasty, the Manchu-led Qing dynasty, and led to the establishment of the Republic of China. The revolution culminated a decade of agitation, revolts, and uprisings. Its success marked the collapse of the Chinese monarchy, the end of 2,132 years of imperial rule and 276 years of the Qing dynasty, and the beginning of China's early republican era.
The Qing dynasty had struggled for a long time to reform the government and resist foreign aggression, but the program of reforms after 1900 was opposed by conservatives in the Qing court as too radical and by reformers as too slow.
Several factions, including underground anti-Qing groups, revolutionaries in exile, reformers who wanted to save the monarchy by modernizing it, and activists across the country debated how or whether to overthrow the Manchus.
The flash-point came on 10 October 1911, with the Wuchang Uprising, an armed rebellion among members of the New Army. Similar revolts then broke out spontaneously around the country, and revolutionaries in all provinces of the country renounced the Qing dynasty. On 1 November 1911, the Qing court appointed Yuan Shikai (leader of the powerful Beiyang Army) as Prime Minister, and he began negotiations with the revolutionaries.
In Nanjing, revolutionary forces created a provisional coalition government. On 1 January 1912, the National Assembly declared the establishment of the Republic of China, with Sun Yat-sen, leader of the Tongmenghui (United League), as President of the Republic. A brief civil war between North and South ended in compromise. Sun would resign in favor of Yuan Shikai, who would became President of the new national government, if Yuan could secure the abdication of the Qing emperor. The edict of abdication of the last Chinese emperor, the six-year-old Puyi, was promulgated on 12 February 1912. Yuan was sworn in as president on 10 March 1912. Yuan's failure to consolidate a legitimate central government before his death in 1916, led to decades of political division and warlordism, including an attempt at imperial restoration.
The revolution is named Xinhai because it occurred in 1911, the year of the Xinhai (辛亥) stem-branch in the sexagenary cycle of the traditional Chinese calendar. The Republic of China on the island of Taiwan and the People's Republic of China on the mainland both consider themselves the legitimate successors to the 1911 Revolution and honor the ideals of the revolution including nationalism, republicanism, modernization of China and national unity. In Taiwan, 10 October is commemorated as Double Ten Day, the National Day of the ROC. In mainland China, the day is celebrated as the Anniversary of the 1911 Revolution.
1921 Chinese Civil War[]
After the victory of the Whites and the Monarchists in the Russian Civil War, White Russians helped the right-factions of the Kuomintang defeat the communists. President Sun Yat-Sen however, was very skeptical of the Russians, fearing that Tsar Cyril I would attempt restore the Qing Dynasty, or another monarchy of China. In addition, the Russians favored Yuan Shikai a the leader of modern China.
However, Baron Pyotr Wrangel told Chinese leaders that Russia would not partake in such an operation, or any operation as the fragile Tsarist state, still dealing with its own internal anti-Tsarist movements, could no longer partake in anymore overseas military operations. However, the Tsarist state provided moral support for the northerners.
Interwar Period[]
During the Interwar Period, this is pretty much the same, as China again, is faced with a Second Sino-Japanese War. Starting with the Battle of Nanjing, a battle in which the Russians got involved, helping culminate in a Chinese-Russian victory over the invading Japanese forces. The Russian reasoning was that the Japanese were killing Chinese Christians, and that was the duty of the Russian state to protect Christians of the Far Eastern World.
Second World War[]
During the Second World War, a vengeful Empire of Japan returned to finish, or almost-finished what it had accomplished. However, the Japanese did not target Nanjing at first, due to the Russian naval garrison stationed there, as Japan already had the United States and British Empire to deal with.
Like our timeline, Japan experienced rapid success, especially in the north where many warlords sided with Japan. Additionally, the Qing dynasty's heir-apparent, Puyi was installed as the puppet Emperor of Manchukuo like in our timeline, as well as the State of Mengjiang, and the Presidency of Wang Jingwei.
China sustained a large number of 1.5 million dead, another 1.8 million wounded and 150,000 missing. Additionally, the fact that the monarchists of China sided with the Empire of Japan led to a dissionance in Russia's bid to protect monarchies, as Russia was an enemy of Japan. Additionally, the Russians ended up capturing Manchuria after the war.
Post-World War II[]
Chiang Kai Shek in 1947
China came under the rule of President Chiang Kai-shek, as China was considered one of the "great powers" of the Allied nations. President Chiang agreed to ceded Manchurian territories to Russia as a reward for their role in the 1937 Battle of Nanjing, and the large amounts of manpower, troops and supplies the Russians sent in aiding the Chinese forces in the north. Due to the fact that the monarchists sided with Japan, Chinese monarchism took a heavy blow, what many consider the "nail on the coffin".
Chiang Kai-Shek now stood as the undisputed-favored head of state. However, President Chiang's leadership was challenged by insurgency in Xinjiang, the Tibetan independence movement and opposition from pro-monarchists of the north, undermining the image as a great world power.
At this point, President Chiang could no longer bear the brunt of pressure, and granted Xinjiang its independence, limiting his efforts to the Han and Hui Chinese. The Republic of East Turkestan was short-lived, when President ???? ???? declared war against Russia to wrestle control of Central Asia, with President ????? proclaiming to be the "Turkic Hitler". This triggered a Russian invasion of East Turkestan, but Moscow continued to acknowledge Tibet as being part of China, and refused to support Tibetan independence by force.
Additionally, thanks to the devastation of the war, many in China showed little interest in keeping Xinjiang, or even Tibet for that matter. The Russians refused to support the pro-monarchists, seeing how much influence Chiang Kai-Shek held across China.
Thus, Chiang Kai Shek was involved in a tug-of-war between Russia and the Western powers.
1949-present, modernization - rise to superpowerdom[]
Yan Xishan presidency 1949-1954[]
Since there is no communists in this timeline, the Second Chinese Civil War is fought between the northern warlords and the established Chinese government. Yan Xishan, one of Chiang Kai-Shek's most-trusted allies, became the President of the Republic of China from 1949 to 1955. He was a political reformer who supported the spearheading of Chinese adaptation of western technology, and is credited as being one of the founding fathers of Modern China.
Xishan, hailing from Sanxi during his warlord days, turned the province into a major producer of coal, iron, chemicals, and munitions. Yan's generous support for the Research Association for the Improvement of Chinese Medicine generated a body of teaching and publication in modern Chinese medicine that became one of the foundations of the national institution of modern traditional Chinese medicine that was adopted in the 1950s. Throughout his rule, he attempted to promote social reforms that later came to be taken for granted but were highly controversial during his time, the abolition of foot binding, work for women outside the home, universal primary education, and the existence of peasant militias as a fundamental unit of the army.
Although only assuming the post of President of China for 5 years, up until he was succeeded by Chiang Kai-Shek, for what would be his third presidency, as Yan was getting quite old. However, Yan continued to be a mentor to Chiang, up until his death in the 1960.
In spite of President Xishan's short tenure as President, he paved and set the seeds for the modernization of Chinese society. These reforms made China an attractive world power.
Third Chiang Kai-Shek presidency 1955-1974[]
By the time that Chiang Kai-Shek ascends to the presidency for the third time, the Chinese yuan started to increase in value.
From this point on, China takes a very similar trajectory as the PRC of our OTL, it grows to become a superpower of the Eastern World, thanks to the political influences of Yan Xishan and Wu Peifu, and provides an answer to both the United States and the Russian Empire for world hegemony. However, its culture and tactics are quite different, the entire "cheap labor" culture is non-existent in China, and the entire "cheap imitation" culture is also non-existent in China. China remains a nation much-envied for its resources.
Additionally, this also marks an era where Chinese Christians come to the dominate much of the upper echelons of Chinese society, with both Chiang Kai-Shek his successor and KMT-comrade, Zhang Xueliang being Christians. Although future presidents after these two would be Buddhist, Daoist or Chinese Folk Religion, however half of China's military and political elite were dominated by Christians.
Although the monarchists fled to Russia, Moscow made it clear that they would not support the Beifang Movement in any overthrow attempt against Chiang Kai-Shek's presidency, as Moscow did not want a superstate of American alliance at its doorstep. Thus, leaders in Moscow continued to reinforce their support for Chiang Kai-Shek, and given that Chiang was a Christian, this only further spearheaded the religious support for Chiang.
Zhang Xueliang Presidency 1975-1990[]
Zhang Xueliang, President of China from 1976 to 1990
Since the Chinese don't follow old communist and Soviet models, they modernize earlier, and build a navy much earlier. President Zhang started to put a major emphasis on the development of the Chinese navy. Additionally, one of President Zhang's biggest moves was the re-focusing of the territorial defenses to peasant paramiltaries, while the government puts its efforts into the navy.
It is currently the world's third-most powerful military. In-your-face colonialism really never goes away, and the Chinese begin to project their influence globally in the 1980s, via Africa, sending peace-keeping forces in the various war-torn regions.
In addition, in an effort to "unify" the Chinese of the globe, the Singaporean government under Lee Kuan Yew allowed the Chinese to build a naval presence in Singapore, placing a thorn in Malaysia and Indonesia's territorial aspirations.
Mohammad Siad Barre is not a communist in this timeline, but a secular nationalist, and thus, became China's first "puppet dictator" so-to-speak, preventing the Somali Civil War from breaking out. Somalia borders Ethiopia, a Russian ally. Both countries begrudgingly cooperated against the activities of Somali pirates.
Although both the United States and Russia made attempts to court with China, the country clearly cemented its role as a buffer between the U.S. and Russian Empire.
Space and Arms Race[]
Beginning in the 1950s, following Western refusal to allow Yan Xishan and Chiang Kai-Shek and the Chinese government access to sophisticated missile technology, this turned President Chiang towards the orbit of Russia. The Chinese and Russians cooperated in the space and arms race - though, China eventually would break off amicably and develop its own place in the space and arms race. Similarly to the temporary Sino-Soviet cooperation, China and Russia cooperated and were regarded as allies by the western powers - but in reality, Chinese leaders aspired to create their own power bloc, using cooperation with Russians as their stepping stone.
The Chinese launched their own successful satellite in 1970, the Dong Fang Hong I. The Chinese also became another mass producer of ICBMs.
China began to outpace the United States as the world's secondary superpower. After the United States withdrew from most of its overseas bases, the Chinese started to establish an overseas presence. Compared to the 84 Russian overseas bases, the Chinese now posses 29, compared to the 15 of the United States.
Demographics[]
Language[]
Standard Modern Chinese is the official and national language - which is based from Mandarin, which enjoys the status as a separate local languages. Mandarin is spoken natively by 73% of the population. The rest of the Han population speak Hokkien, Hakkla and Cantonese, also considered national languages in the country. Cantonese is the next-spoken after Mandarin. All four languages are Sino-Tibetan languages. Due to the diverse and complex nature of Chinese language, an average Chinese person has difficulty picking up on all the dialects and etc.
Tibetan is the next most-spoken single language outside of the Chinese languages.
Religion[]
Shaolin Buddhist Pagoda forest
China is a multi-religious society, and is considered one of the most religious and spiritual countries in the world. Most if not, all of the world's major religions can be found in China. The largest religions in China are Buddhism, Taoism, Confucianism, Chinese Folk Religion, Christianity and Islam. However, intermixing between influences from the religions is extremely common in the country, to where sometimes it can be un-distinguishable. Chinese Folk Religion, Taoism and Confucianism are the three oldest religions in China, and Buddhism was introduced around the 60s A.D. Now known as Mahayana Buddhism, it is China's largest religion. and the four religions are considered National Heritage Religions in the country. Although Buddhism originates in India, but China's own adaptation of Buddhism has no transformed the country into a center of Buddhism. Mahayana Buddhism is the largest Buddhist section in China, followed by the Tibetan Buddhism, followed in Tibet and Mongolia respectively. Chinese Folk Religion is a collective term for varying folk religions followed by the Han Chinese, and Sino-Tibetans, outside of Tibet. Taoism is a mysterious religion.
Niujie Mosque, old mosque in Beijing
Chinese Buddhism, via Chinese Folk Religion as well as Confucianism has influenced the countries around it, namely Japan, Korea, Vietnam and to a lesser extent, Mongolia (one of the automous territorial units within Russia).
Catholic church in Hong Kong
Although Christianity has already had a presence in China via the Ancient Nestorians, did not gain serious traction until the 1700s with the arrival of major branches. The largest branches of Christianity practiced in China are the Protestant, Methodist, Lutheran and Roman Catholic. As for Islam, it was introduced during the Tang dynasty via the western Silk Road. The earliest forms of Islam were a syncretic and pagan form. Islam is practiced in China's western regions.
Islam is also one of the largest religions practiced in China, mostly western China, and was introduced by Persian Muslims. The Hui people, are native Chinese-speakers who follow Islam. Likewise, with the Hui people, a distinct Sino-Islamic culture has formed.
Politics[]
The Republic of China runs on a presidential republican form of government. Although the state claims to be democratic, the Chinese Nationalist Party, or the KMT, has dominated Chinese politics ever since its inception, with virtually no opposition. Many have come to view the Chinese government as an authoritarian one-party state hoodwinking as a republican democratic state, however, the majority of UN and HDI reports noted that human rights violations in China are relatively low, and the country ranks highly in the HDI index.
A President is elected every 4 years, modeled after the United States presidential elections.
Economy[]
The Chinese economy is the world's 2nd-largest, considered a global economy, at around $10.75 trillion OTL USD, as its nominal GDP. Every economic industry prevails in China. China has its own personal economic zone of trade partners and bears heavy influence in Southeast Asia, where it contests Russian and American influence.
China is the world's largest manufacturing economy and exporter of goods. It is also the world's fastest-growing consumer market and second-largest importer of goods. China is a net importer of services products. It is the largest trading nation in the world and plays a prominent role in international trade. China became a member of the World Trade Organization in 2001.
China is a major trading partner of most countries in the world. With 430 million workers, the Chinese labor force was the world's largest as of 2020. However after its invasion of Southeast Asia in 2022, all of those listed trade partners enacted, with the exception of Pakistan, Brazil and Somalia, nearly-froze economic relations with China.
China ranks No.3 globally in patents, utility models, trademarks, industrial designs, and creative goods exports. It also has two (Shenzhen-Hong Kong-Guangzhou and Beijing in the 2nd and 3rd spots respectively) of the global top 5 science and technology clusters, which is more than any other country. As of January 2022, China has 497 million 5G users and over 1.3 million base stations.
The economic sanctions placed against China as a result of their invasion of Southeast Asia has severely hampered its economy.
Military[]
China is considered one of the world's three paramount military superpowers, and has its own indigenous arms industry. The Armed Forces of the Republic of China serves as the armed wing, and is divided into the army, navy and air force. It currently has the world's largest navy, however - has been unable to project that power, thanks to the economic sanctions placed upon it by many nations.
In its power rankings, it sits 2nd to Russia. Its military spending is $387.50 billion OTL USD, the world's 2nd-largest expenditure. Its military is the 2nd most powerful military in the world according to most rankings.
China currently possesses the world's 2nd-largest amount of overseas bases, having them in multiple continents. In 2010, the Chinese government secured agreements with the governments of El Salvador and Guatemala of establishing naval bases, finally joining Russia in having overseas possessions in North America.