China
From Turtledove
For the small Mexican town, see China, Nuevo León.
China is a large country in Asia, with the highest population on the planet. It is one of the oldest continuous civilizations on the planet, having in its history given several inventions and technological advancements to humanity. An empire until the 20th century, China was ruled by several dynastic movments, culminating the Qing dynasty. Throughout the 19th century, China fell into political and economic decline, and was soon dominated up by several foreign powers, including much of Europe and Japan. Each carved out its own economic sphere of influence within the country. Several wars were fought between China and other foreign powers, and each time China suffered humiliating defeat.
In the early 20th century, the Qing Dynasty fell, and China became a republic. However, the republic ineffectually lurched its way through the next few decades until the outbreak of the Chinese Civil War in 1927, when the Nationalists and Communists battled for control of the country. Into this came Japan, which in turn lead to the Second Sino-Japanese War and World War II as the two warring Chinese factions officially (if not practically) called a halt to the Civil War. After Japan's defeat, the Civil War began again, with the Communists achieving ultimate victory, and the Nationalists retreating to Taiwan.
Officially there are two countries that may be called "China", the mainland People's Republic of China and the Republic of China, located on Taiwan. Diplomatically, much of the world views the mainland as the "proper" China.
[edit] China in "Before the Beginning"
China was one of the first countries to convert to Judaism en masse after it was revealed that the Jews were indeed God's chosen people.
[edit] China in The Gladiator
In an alternate where the Soviet Union won the Cold War, the People's Republic of China was the only viable rival for the USSR. The PRC had carved out a substantial sphere of influence in the world, most importantly in East Asia, but it was not unheard of for China to meddle in Russia's immediate sphere. Most famously, Albanian leader Enver Hoxha had broken with the USSR and turned to China in the late 20th century. In the 21st century, there were still pro-Chinese guerillas fighting the pro-Soviet government.
[edit] China in Curious Notions
In the alternate designated as 3477, China was occupied by Germany. Its tremendous size, however, made it nearly impossible to rule to the same extent Germany ruled other countries.
Given this "wild" status, Lawrence Gomes's claim that Curious Notions purchased its far-too-advanced merchandise from China was readily accepted by German authorities.
[edit] China in "Curse of the Three Demons"
[edit] China in Days of Infamy
China was the scene of hard and difficult fighting for the Japanese military. Many of the Japanese soldiers who occupied Hawaii were veterans of fighting in China. These veterans found occupying Hawaii to be much easier.
[edit] China in The Disunited States of America
China had dissolved into various autonomous provinces in the 20th Century. Two or three of these were considered great powers of the world.
[edit] China in In High Places
China was the richest and most powerful country of an alternate where 4 in 5 Europeans were killed in the Great Black Deaths. However, it never filled the void of exploration and technological development that the crippled Europe left, much to the puzzlement of Crosstimers.
[edit] China in In the Presence of Mine Enemies
China was an occupied territory of the Empire of Japan in 2010. It was partitioned by the Japanese with a separate puppet state existing in Manchukuo under an emperor. The Japanese made a systematic use of it as a pool of virtually unlimited cheap manpower.
[edit] China in "Getting Real"
By 2117 China was the sole superpower overtaking the United States during the previous century. In addition to its military and economic power, China led the world in technological research and development. The U.S. refused to recognize this change in circumstance leading to trade disputes and minor military skirmishes which accelerated the U.S.'s decline.
[edit] China in "Les Mortes d'Arthur"
By the twenty-second Century, China had overthrown Communism and restored its status as an empire. It was wealthy enough to send a large team to Mimas, a moon of Saturn, for the sixty-sixth Winter Olympic Games but not so wealthy as to have them sent early to train in the low-g environment.
[edit] China in Southern Victory
China was a minor ally of the Entente during the Great War, even though no fewer than four Entente nations (Britain, France, Russia, and its hereditary enemy Japan) had carved out colonial spheres of influence within Chinese territory.
After the Great War, China's economy had grown so dismal that the worldwide stock market crash of 1929 did not affect it; it had no wealth to lose. Japan also gained much influence in Chinese affairs during this period, and at times even resorted to aerial bombings of Chinese cities.
[edit] China in The Two Georges
China was a British protectorate. Having secured complete control over the Chinese economy and shut out rival colonial powers which sought to carve out Chinese enclaves to themselves was a major source of the British Empire's continuing as a major world power to the end of the Twentieth Century and beyond.
[edit] China in Worldwar
When the Race's Conquest Fleet arrived in 1942, China had been locked with Japan in the Second Sino-Japanese War. The Race quickly took control of Chinese territory (and first made the acquaintance of ginger) and would continue to hold it throughout their war with the major Tosevite not-empires. However, administering China proved no easy task, as the Race was constantly resisted both before and after the Peace of Cairo by both the Kuomintang and Mao Tse-Tung's Communist forces (with the support of the Soviet Union as well as the United States).
In 1964 the Race was temporarily expelled from many of China's major cities including Beijing by a coalition of Chinese factions. While this rebellion was eventually put down, a second mainly communist rebellion employed anti-tank and anti-air missiles to drive the Lizards from Beijing and other cities in 1966 and hold them for a longer period of time. Though the Lizards eventually retook the rebel controlled-territory, they realized that it would probably be necessary to negotiate with the various factions.
