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| Capital | Tianshui | ||||||
| Largest city | Tianshui | ||||||
| Other cities | Linxia, Quinyang, Bayin, Jinchang, Wuwei, Alxa, Wuzhong, Zhangye, Zhongwei, Pingliang, Tongchuan, Ya'nan, Haibei, Gannan, and several others. | ||||||
| Language | Mandarin Chinese | ||||||
| Religion | Buddhist | ||||||
| Government | Federal Presidential Republic | ||||||
| Legislature | Parliament | ||||||
| President | |||||||
| Secretary | |||||||
| Population | 8,720,160 (estimate - Feb 2014) | ||||||
| Established | 25th June 1991 | ||||||
| Independence | from People's Republic of China | ||||||
| declared | 1984 | ||||||
| recognized | 30 May 1988 | ||||||
| Annexation | to People's Republic of China | ||||||
| date | 14 February 2014 | ||||||
| Currency | Yuan | ||||||
The Republic of Gansu was a small nation in central China. Hit by one nuclear warhead by the nuclear strikes, at Lanzhou, the government immediately enacted martial law. This failed, however, and in 1992, they were overthrown in a popular rebellion, with the region's first democratic elections taking place in 1993. The current leader of the nation is Lu Hao, Secretary of the State. In 2001, it launched a series of campaigns to expand somewhat beyond the borders of Gansu, but didn't make much progress, due to the lawless areas beyond, as well as fear of attracting the attention of the Siberians or the remnant government of the People's Republic of China.
After a Communist victory in the 2013 elections, and the following intervention by the PRC to support the communist government, on the 14th of January 2014, Gansu united with the People's Republic of China. The former nation was divided into administrative provinces like the rest of the PRC and is now a full part of the nation. Yet unrest continues in many regions of the nation, mostly in the form of a small insurgency by those who want an independent, capitalist Gansu in the western section of the country.
History[]
Pre-Doomsday[]
In imperial times, Gansu was an important strategic outpost and communications link for the Chinese empire, as the Hexi corridor ran along the "neck" of the province. The Han dynasty extended the Great Wall across this corridor, also Yumenguan - the Jade Gate Pass, near Dunhuang and Yangguan fort towns along the wall. Remains of the wall and the towns can still be found. The Ming dynasty also built the Jiayuguan outpost in Gansu. To the west of Yumenguan and the Qilian Mountains, at the northwestern end of the province, the Yuezhi, Wusun, and other nomadic tribes dwelt, occasionally figuring in regional imperial Chinese geopolitics.
With the Qingshui treaty, concluded in 823 between the Tibetan Empire and the Tang Dynasty, China lost for a long while the whole of Gansu province. After the fall of the Uyghur Empire, an Uyghur state was established in Gansu that lasted from 848 to 1036 AD. During that time, many of Gansu's residents converted to Islam.
The province was also the origin of the Muslim Rebellion of 1862-77, which later spread to much of China and resulted in the deaths of upwards of twelve million Chinese Muslims in addition to the decimation of Chinese Muslim culture in Yunnan province, where over one million Muslims were killed by Qing forces. Among the Qing forces were Muslim Generals like Ma Zhan'ao and Ma Anliang who helped the Qing crush the rebel Muslims. The Dungan revolt of 1895–1896 spread into this province from Qinghai as well.
Its frequent earthquakes, droughts and famines have tended to slow its economic progress, until recently when based on its abundant mineral resources it has begun developing into a vital industrial center. An earthquake in Gansu at 8.6 on the Richter scale killed around 180,000 people in 1920, and another with a magnitude of 7.6 killed 275 in 1932. Muslim General Ma Hongbin was acting Chairman of the province, and Muslim General Ma Buqing was in virtual control of Gansu in 1940. Liangzhou District in Wuwei was previously his headquarters in Gansu, where he controlled 15 million Muslims.
Post-Doomsday[]
Gansu's capital, Lanzhou, was nuked by Soviet nuclear warheads, leaving hundreds of thousands of people dead in its aftermath. Whatever government remained re-organized themselves into a cabinet and declared martial law to prevent rioting. However, Lanzhou was the largest population centre and the centre of the province's nuclear power. After it was nuked, the surrounding areas came under immense clouds of fallout which mainly affected all of the southern part of the province, which was the most densely settled and agriculturally rich half. This essentially killed the food supply and resulted in millions of deaths due to radiation and starvation in the first few months alone.
The Yellow River was also contaminated, affecting water supply for the following two years after Doomsday. Around seven million people, out of the Pre-Doomsday population of approximately 20 million people, died due to the annihilation of the south by the nuclear strike and the resulting fallout in the following 3 years. This left the population struggling at around 12 to 14 million, starving and in desperate need of food and water. Infighting and famine set in, continuing to further affect the already broken population and worsening conditions even further - leading to the deaths of millions more in the coming years. In the meanwhile, the Cabinet tried to control as much of the region as they could from their new capital, Tiangshui. Yet things were only going to get tougher.
Hardships[]
However, after around three years, the nuclear fallout began to clear up, allowing the remaining populace to start to grow crops in the former agricultural fields. By now, a large exodus had taken place to either the rumoured People's Republic in the east or Tibet to the south-west. With the return of slightly better conditions, a few thousand did begin to return, however. Only after outside contact and trade enabled the buying of fertilizers, which helped to increase food production, did the numbers of people returning increase. However, the population did not grow for the following years, continuing to fall as radiation sickness and famine continued unchecked within the province.
In this time, things got even harsher for the survivors of Gansu; one problem was replaced with another. Raiding soon started by surrounding gangs. The PRC also carried out raids against the region and although the cabinet managed to fight them off in many regions, for the most part they were at the mercy of the raiders. This meant that the nation continued to see a fall in resources and population and people could not make a living. The central cabinet continued to try to organise the regions and using militia soldiers they began to instill control in many lawless regions of the former province of Gansu. Only then did things begin to finally come under some control.
By 1991, things finally started to stabilize and the population started to slowly, but surely grow. The population was left at around an abysmal 6 million, with millions dead since the onset of Doomsday. Fallout, famine and raids had all taken their toll on the people of the nation but now things seemed to reach a point where the situation was starting to improve. Crops began to grow once more as the weather helped crops grow and renewed the fertility of the soils. The younger generation who had bore witness to all the horror and chaos now played a part in helping the nation get back on its feet as farmers toiled hard on their fields. However, sick of the way the region had been run in the previous 8 years, the younger populace took to the streets, demanding democracy and the right to decide their own destiny. Even some of the cabinet were tired of being bossed around by the communist regime and most blamed the inner cabinet for the terrible handling of the situation in which more that 14 million people had either died or had fled the nation.
The cabinet soon sent militiamen to disrupt the riots and calm the situation down. However, this did not go down well with either the rioters or the militiamen. The cabinet soon faced a riot, and those within the cabinet soon expressed their doubts with the way things were being run too. The inner circle, knowing they were looking at a civil war in which they had no chance to win - decided to willingly step down from power and give control to an interim government. This turned out to the the best-supported cabinet move and people cheered on the streets as news got to them that the cabinet had decided to step down. Over the next 18 months, the interim government set the stage for the first democratic elections in the region, while organising areas such as farming, industry and the armed forces in a more efficient manner. The government also declared the creation of the Republic of Gansu - declaring itself a successor state to the former People's Republic. However, the nation became on edge as they waited for the PRC's response. There was none, and the people of Gansu took a sigh of relief.
By the spring of 1993, the first democratic elections took place. The major parties were the Communist Party, the Republican Party and the Liberal Party. The main contest came down to between the Liberals and the Republicans - with the Republicans gaining a slim majority in Parliament - allowing them to form the government. The new government immediately began to expand on trade links with Tibet and build new connections with the state to help the nation come out of the grim conditions it was currently in. The move was popular and only served to increase the popularity of the new government. For the first time in a decade, the population began to register growth instead of decline as living conditions improved slightly. However, by this point most of the nation had become completely agricultural.
Many in older generations disagreed with the idea of democracy, but did not pose any real threat due to their declining numbers and their links with the "old" China. However, the same "old guard" would play a large hand in the twist the nation would take towards 2013. As conditions began to stagnate, the older generation's ideas would once more gain support.
Contact[]
The first international contact with another survivor nation was made in 1988, with Tibet. Seeming to be a peaceful nation, trading with them began pretty quickly. Although many in the cabinet were hesitant of an independent Tibet, they had no choice but to trade with the nation as survival depended on it. Initially, it was mainly the resources excavated for fertilizers, which helped to increase crop production and feed the populace. With the food production continuing, other pressing topics were taken into account. Infrastructure had almost collapsed post-doomsday and whatever could be reconstructed, with some help from Tibet, eventually was.
When the Republican Government game to power in 1993, it looked to expand the links the nations had, especially with Tibet. Although Gansu had a lot of old industry, agriculture was still the priority. The nation was able to get fertilisers from Tibet which helped the nation grow its crops and produce a slight surplus. This surplus could initially be used for trading and storing up and if raiders attacked the nation and Gansu was unable to do anything - then the surplus would be given to them to appease them. However, the nation continued to grow more crops and by 1996, had sold enough to earn a fair deal of revenue and put it back into the failing industry. As a result, a few major factories were restarted and it gave Gansu more to sell to the Tibetans.
The nation also met with Hubei - or the National People's Republic of China. However, most diplomats began to refer to the nation as the National Republic of Hubei and the name stuck. The diplomats stated the nation was in a worse condition to Gansu and could not be much help to the nation. Trading with the nation did begin, helping to expand upon links with the nation, but things did not go further from there on.
It was clearly evident to the government that the People's Republic lay to the east. Therefore, no attempt was made to contact them or establish diplomatic relations, although both nations knew each others' existence. The nation always assumed a cautious stance when talking about the PRC and tried to keep on the low, trying not to provoke them in any fashion so the PRC would come for Gansu. This tactic mostly worked. Gansu was also aware of the People's Republic of Yunnan, although no diplomats ever formally met any Yunnanese representative or entered their territory.
Towards the new millennium, Gansu was beginning to grow in strength. The Republican Party was elected again in 1998, this time on a more war-hawkish platform. Immediately in the second term, the government began to organise the militias into a proper force. Although taking a lot out of the economy, the move was popular as it now gave the nation a proper army capable of taking on raider head on and destroying their attempts to take foodstuffs and equipment. Citizens were also recruited and by 1999, Gansu had a proper armed forces capable of defending the borders of the nation. With the ongoing trading with Tibet, weapons would be bought from the nation and used to augment the capabilities of the soldiers.
Modern Era[]
The new millennium brought with it continued growth of the nation in terms of population and economy. However, living conditions were still horrible, at best. The government was forced to pour more money into the armed forces and infrastructure instead of welfare projects for the people of the nation due to necessity. The nation needed the soldiers to protect its borders while improving the infrastructure would hugely benefit not only domestic but also regional trading. With such a large portion of the nation's GDP poured into these projects - the conditions of both did improve - but at high expense of the people living in Gansu. Their lives had not improved while they continued to work hard for their nation and due to the fact most of the populace worked in the agricultural sector, they were annoyed with the government giving those who were working in the new factories more priority over them.
Although this led to economic growth, the people of the nation became fed up with the government. Abhorred parties such as the Communist Party once more began to gather a small following, while the Republican Party's support shrank significantly. In the 2003 election, the Federal-Liberal Alliance won at the election comfortably while the Republican Party lost a large amount of support. The new government quickly began to once more pour money into the agricultural field and this helped keep much of the populace happy. However, by 2004, the party began to consolidate the territories nominally under its control - bringing more people and resources under its control but also straining the economy as they tried to pour money into agriculture and infrastructure in the new provinces.
However, this brought them to the attention of the PRC, in 2005. Reports were soon coming into the nation that the PRC was about to invade. The government began to rapidly arm men and called its reserves to active service. Not only this, the nation began to pour money into the armed forces once more - along with working hard to improve the infrastructure conditions within the nation to make the transportation of men to the front easier. Almost every man who could fight was organised into some sort of militia group and they would help with everything from fighting to emergency construction work to transporting the injured and such. After 4 months of drastic measures, the government finally gave the order to stand down as it became apparent no invasion was coming in the winter of 2005.
However, the mobilisation cost the nation dearly. Farmers faced a lack of manpower and the harvesting of crops was not as efficient as it should have been, leading to food shortages over the winter. The government blamed the threat of the PRC invasion and that helped to keep the populace in order - just. Food had to be imported from trading partners and the growth rate of the economy slowed to its lowest rate since 1993. Yet the following Spring would help the nation get back on the track to growth, although the government now knew that it could not completely focus on agriculture now and thus had to divert revenue in three directions. This meant that living conditions were not improving for the people as much as they had hoped it would have, leading to a growth in support for the Communist Party once more. The older generation now began to preach how the region had been a centre of growth before all the chaos and the coming of the so-called "democratic government".
This nearly cost the Alliance the majority in the 2008 election, with the Communist Party registering significant growth in following and seats while the Republican Party continuing to stagnate. However, they maintained majority by the skin of their teeth and tried to rectify the problems of the nation by putting more money back into the agricultural sector, like what they had done at the start of their first term. It began to work as the people's lives began to become better while agricultural output began to increase. But many began to feel it was too little, too late. The Communist Party began to promise greater growth for the workers of the nation and an end to the need of having to spend so much money on the armed forces when it could be used to help industry and agriculture. The Alliance saw this opinion was popular with the people and immediately cut funding for the armed forces, putting it straight into infrastructure and industry. However, this was a mistake (as the government soon found out) as the government should have put it into the agricultural sector as it was where more than half of the nation was employed. The Communist Party used this to great advantage and capitalised on the mistake. By the time the government tried to put more money into agriculture, most of the money had already been spend on projects relating to industry.
Small riots soon began as many protested that the government was doing nothing for them. These rioters were spurred on by the Communist Party - hoping to cause chaos and blame it on the central government while looking to benefit and gain a greater following. Many, by 2010, already began to predict that the Communist Party could win the election - if not coming close. To try to gain more support within the rural populace, the government began to stop projects relating to the reconstruction of damaged factories and used the money they saved back into the agricultural sector. This angered the industrial workers, who had mainly been the Alliance's most devout voters. However, this began to cause an agricultural boom and finally began to better rural conditions for the people. Following this, a population boom began to show too and for the first time since 2008, in 2011 the support for the main government increased. They continued their agricultural focus for the next year, before deeming it necessary to once more focus on industry in cities.
However, the PRC had been watching the growth of the Communist Party of Gansu with interest, then glee. They immediately began to covertly fund the party hoping that they could increase their support within the people of Gansu. It worked, with the older generation becoming more vocal about which government they would like to see in power while continuing to blame to government of being partial.
2013 soon dawned and Election day came closer. In a bid to try to boost support, the government incorporated more territories on the 23rd of March, three days before the Presidential election. However, even this would not prove enough.
Unification[]
People came out to vote in full force on the 26th of March, 2013. Voter turnout was a whopping 98%, with people wanting to exercise their democratic right, especially at a time when there were extreme views coming into mainstream. Options were wildly varied, but most people could guess the election would come down between the Communist Party and the Federal-Liberal Alliance, or FLA. People were found queuing for hours at voting booths and it took a whole day for the results to be counted and announced. On the 28th of March, the results of the election was announced. The Communist Party had won the election with a bare minimum of 51%, with the FLA gaining 46% of the votes. Almost immediately, Communist supporters began to cheer in the streets, celebrating the victory of their party.
However, protests soon began the following evening against the results, with many calling for a re-election due to the fact they believed the Communist Party had manipulated the elections. On the 29th, these protests soon got heavier as tens of thousands began to march against the Communist Party. These protesters soon began to clash with Communist supporters and chaos broke out on the 1st of April. Police were soon sent in to calm the situation down, which was surprising since many had expected the Communist government to have cracked down on the protesters on the first day of protesting.
Chaos within the capital ensured as the Police had to order the closing of shops to keep control in these desperate conditions. However, even these measures were not enough and after two weeks of heavy protesting, the rioting spread to other cities of Gansu on the 17th of April. Amid these riots, the newly elected Communist government had begun talks with the People's Republic to try to build economic and geopolitical links with the nation to improve the economic condition of Gansu while allowing the nation to reduce the number of active soldiers needed. These talks went well and the PRC made it clear that they would be willing to intervene in support of the current government.
When word of these talks got to the general populace, the scale of the protests only began to increase. The pro-Communist supporters, along with the Army could not keep control of the situation and lost control. The rioting and protesting spread to all major population centres of the nation and became violent. Therefore, the Gansu government had reluctantly ask the People's Republic to intervene and bring the violent situation back down under control and, on the 1st of May - after a week of mobilisation, the PRC sent its troops to try to bring the situation back into control. Troops were authorised to use heavy handed measures to make sure the job was done and the nation regained order. Yet with the entrance of PRC troops in Gansu, the nation gained a large measure of influence within the Communist government. They began to be seen as saviours by the government, who had no problem with giving the PRC more influence within matters of governance.
By early July, the PRC troops managed to bring Gansu back under control - enforcing martial law and putting in curfew to make sure the people obeyed them. They managed to quash most unrest but there were still regions of chaos, which the PRC would go on to bring under their control in the next few weeks. The successful intervention bought the PRC great respect from the government of Gansu. However, many of those who supported the government felt abandoned due to the fact they had been put under such strict laws. This would go on to change over the next coming months as the PRC began to reduce the number of soldiers on patrol. However, for the time being - the PRC was playing policeman within Gansu. Martial law was lifted over the next month, but curfew was still in place. The People's Republic convinced the government that their troops would be needed to help "rebuild and maintain security", thus giving the PRC greater control over the affairs of Gansu's government.
The PRC then began to boss around the government of Gansu, threatening to pull out at various times if their "requests" were not met. Some of their "requests" helped boost morale within the nation - such as the reduction of PRC troops, with pro-government supporters given greater liberties over their counter-parts as well as the responsibility to alert troops of possible riots and protests (which helped to maintain order). Yet the PRC also forced the government to fire many politicians they deemed "corrupt" and instead in their place they put in some of their own party members. By December, the post of President had become largely a symbolic one - with most of the power now in the hands of the People's Republic. To ensure the people of the nation did not rebel - the nation began a "hearts and minds" campaign, spewing out propaganda which stated they would be better under Communist control and they would not have to pay taxes to fund soldiers with the money coming straight back to farmers and workers. This helped them to gain greater support with the populace of Gansu, which began to largely agree with the policies the government had put into place. The people might have agreed with the policies, but many still did not support the new government. Yet they had no choice but to carry on with their lives, hoping it would get better.
And it did. Over January, due to the fact Gansu did not need to fund an army, more money was put into the agricultural sector - helping to prove it with a much needed boost. This finally helped the PRC gain greater support with the populace, and in a bold move, announced the uniting of Gansu with the People's Republic of China on the 14th of February, 2014. Although the first couple days did see an increase in unrest in many regions, by the 18th this soon subsided. Gansu was now part of the People's Republic of China.
Government[]
Gansu was a federal presidential republic. The main house of government was Parliament, which has 100 members. They are elected by their regions. Eight of them are selected by the popularly elected governor to join his cabinet. The other two are the governor and the secretary, elected by Parliament. It is divided into 100 regions, where each region votes for one minister to join Parliament. General elections are held every five years, with members of parliament being elected by universal (adult) suffrage based on a proportional representation system by state.
There were three main political parties in Gansu: The Gansu Federal Party (GFP) and the Gansu Liberal Party (GLP), which formed the Federal-Liberal Alliance and the Gansu Republican Party (GRP). The Communist Party of Gansu also made a staggering comback in the last three years- being elected in the last ever election in Gansu on March 26th, 2013, albeit in shady circumstances. They overlooked the union of Gansu and the People's Republic.
The Communist Party of Gansu and the Communist Party of the People's Republic promptly merged following the union of the two states.
Military[]
Gansu has a strong military. However, other than major border skirmishes with large organised gangs, it has not yet truly been tested in battle against another nation. In 2005 there was a scare when it was believed the PRC was about to invade. Every man able to fight was given a gun and posted to the border in the hope of being able to fend off an attack. Thankfully, this attack never happened.
While no actual war has taken place, Gansu has often defended itself from PRC raids. However, it is widely acknowledged that if and when the PRC decides to invade, Gansu will undoubtedly fall. Gansu's regular army numbers at around 50,000 troops serving with around another 100,000-150,000 in reserve. Its army is divided up into mainly three branches: regular serving, special forces and paramedic troops.
Economy[]
Gansu's economy is mainly dependent on two major things: mining and agriculture.
Gansu grows many different types of crops both to feed its people as well as export to other nations to earn money so it can be invested back into the nation. Some of the crops grown in Gansu include linseed, maize, wheat and rice as well as several other types of crops. However, wheat and rice are mostly produced as these grains feed the nation and are sold in the domestic market. Many medicinal herbs are grown, which are helpful for hospitals in need of these to treat patients.
Gansu mines many minerals, metals and natural resources which include antimony, chromium, coal, cobalt, copper, fluorite, iridium, iron, lead, limestone, mercury, nickel, oil, platinum, tungsten, and zinc. The nation's main priority is phosphors, which help by making various fertilizers, supplementing those from Tibet. Their main trade is in various other metals such as iron, which are sold at cheap prices while helping the nation earn some profit. This has helped the infrastructure and economy grow somewhat, but not enough for the nation to pour more money into its industrial sector. The country is extremely poor despite all this. Most of the agriculture is used by the government to feed the populace and does not make much profit.
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