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If you mean the Manhattan Commune, then yes. If not, must be POP Demand only.
That's what I was speaking of. Are you going to create it?
 
NY under the Chinese? :eek: That surely will make them your eternal enemy.:p

Good! Then every time they attack, China can spank their bottom and add a wargoal requiring them to release a state, which China can then make a tributary. Let it continue until there is no America remaining. Besides, the massive levels of revanchism will keep the nation politically unstable, with its economy and infrastructure ravaged by rebellion after rebellion.
 
If you take provinces in North America - does this channel emigration from China (China) towards China (North America) or do they go towards South America instead? Or does this stop emigration from China altogether?
 
If you take provinces in North America - does this channel emigration from China (China) towards China (North America) or do they go towards South America instead? Or does this stop emigration from China altogether?

My understanding is it shouldn't have any direct effect, the immigrants will still keep going to the USA. Albeit to different parts of the USA, since New York won't be considered part of North America anymore for the purposes of international immigration.

If I ever succeed in fully annexing the USA, though, then they will probably redirect to any other democratic nations in the Americas.

Humiliate or cut down to size I could see - taking New York? The ASBs are strong with you.

True, I suppose it is an unlikely target. XD But it's not as far away from China's sphere as it might seem, since China has most of Africa locked down already. Still, I concede it's extremely unlikely as a first target even so. But it was the most effective way to break America's back with limited infamy expense, so I'll just assume alt history Xianfeng has a flair for the grandiose in his expansionist ambitions. XD I'll go back and edit the entry to emphasize that.

Edit: Thanks, fixed the entry! Thanks for pointing out that flaw!
 
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Part 42: Sino-German Friendship​

Germany's entry into the war was absolutely vital to China's plans. China lacked the power projection capability to menace the American east coast; and if America's vast Atlantic fleet abandoned the Atlantic, sailed around South America, and arrived in the Pacific, China risked having its entire invasion force cut off without hope of reinforcement from mainland China. However, if America was threatened by the prospect of a German invasion from the east, America would be unlikely to do that. Thus, China launched a massive diplomatic offensive to strengthen ties with the German Empire.



Under Chinese pressure, Germany had finally enacted a law prohibiting racial discrimination against Chinese people, and setting strict penalties for racial hate crimes committed against Chinese people. The measure was actually quite popular in Germany itself - racists who followed social Darwinistic theory were increasingly forced to admit that according to their own racist theories, the insistence on Chinese racial inferiority was increasingly becoming ludicrous. Slavic people, black people, other Asians, and so forth were however unprotected by the new laws; but Chinese propaganda ignored this unpleasant detail, and the state presses published glowing assessments of Germany as a nation that had cast aside its barbaric European roots and joined the civilized world.

German nationalists were, however, was growing increasingly frustrated with their country's role as an inferior to China in official relations, and taking advantage of China's quiet feelers for support against America, the German government sent a series of demands to China.

1. All official Chinese diplomatic correspondence would refer to Germany as an "ally" rather than a "tributary." In addition, China agreed to cease referring to trade with Germany as "tribute."
2. German citizens in China would be entitled to all the same rights and protections of Chinese citizens under Chinese law, including most controversially a Chinese pledge to not deport Germans before their visas expired, or seize their property, without a formal trial proving they were guilty of a crime. The rules would only apply to those Germans who entered the country legally, of course. German citizens would also be allowed to pursue citizenship the same as the citizen of a Chinese tributary would, even though China had agreed to stop treating Germany as a tributary.
3. The German Ambassador would still perform the kow-tow ritually, but in Germany's case it would purely be a symbolic gesture of respect to the Emperor; rather than a gesture of submission, like it was for other tributaries.
4. China formally agreed to recognize Germany as a civilized nation.

In short, China was forced to agree that henceforth in the relationship between China and Germany, China would merely be first among equals, rather than viewing itself as an overlord.

This was very controversial in China, and many conservative and reactionary officials objected fiercely; Germany, they argued, was still very much an uncultured barbarian power, and to claim a status nearly equal to the Middle Kingdom was ludicrous beyond words to them. However, others countered that while Germany still had much to learn, their steadfast loyalty to China's leadership proved they were well on the path to civilization, leaving their barbaric past beyond; and while it would indeed be presumptive of Germany to claim such high status for itself, if the Emperor chose to award such status to Germany in return for its great aid to the civilized world against the European barbarians, he had every right to give such a magnanimous reward. China would still be the true center of world civilization, after all, but it was entirely possible for there to be lesser centers of civilization who would look to China for guidance. One noted liberal scholar declared,

"Was it not true that the Daqin (Roman), Indian, and Muslim empires of the past had learned much from China, nearly abandoning their barbarian ways before China absence allowed them to fall to the forces of barbarism? China must not withdraw from the world again, and China must support all those nations who would look to the Middle Kingdom's leadership! Germany is a shining beacon, spreading the light of our civilization to the barbaric lands of Europe."

The Emperor agreed to all of Germany's demands, in the end, but the controversy would go on for a long time.

Nevertheless, the new legal protections were to be the beginning of a massive golden age of commerce between the German Empire and China. Many trade treaties were swiftly signed between the two powers; German industrialists were eager to purchase the near limitless supplies of luxury goods and raw materials coming out of China and its vast array of tributaries, and the Chinese were eager to purchase and study more modern German technologies and goods. This led to a massive boom in China's shipping industry, which grew at an alarming rate that threatened to equal the British Empire's vast trading empire; though China was still held back by a lack of steam engine technology, many Chinese merchants took it upon themselves to sell their old wooden hulks and instead buy new, German-manufactured steamships. China's small but very wealthy population of capitalists eagerly invested money in Germany, in part because they felt investment in Germany's more market-oriented economy might be more secure and profitable than reinvestment in China's state capitalist and heavily merchant-phobic economy. German business-people replied in turn, eagerly buying up stocks in China's factories; while China's 51%-state controlled rule made it impossible for the Germans to seize control of any of them, the heavily state-subsidized Chinese textile industry presented a very secure and high-growth investment alternative for Germans worried about the volatility inherent to free markets.

Other European powers were increasingly alarmed at how Germany's economy seemed to be drifting out of the Western bloc, fearing Germany had permanently aligned itself with the Qing Empire against their fellow Europeans. And it was against this background that Germany tentatively began to agree to support Chinese plans for expansion.



Alas, efforts to justify the war were still fraught with problems.



Meanwhile, the island of Shumshu, once nothing more than a Chinese military base, appealed to the Emperor for full recognition as a province of China proper; the Emperor granted the request.



Meanwhile, the Balkan War commenced in Europe, with the Ottomans mounting a perhaps ill-conceived attempt to liberate Bulgaria from Romanian control, which Romania had held ever since the Ottomans lost an earlier war. However, Greece and Serbia rose to the defense of Romania, and the decaying Ottoman regime had difficulty facing all of them at once.

At the same time, war broke out in Europe, as Belgium demanded Polish independence. All the great powers in Europe joined in on side or the other, though ultimately the war would end without Russia losing Poland. China payed little attention to the conflict.



Meanwhile, America finally noticed the massive military build up in Fusang, and America's leaders began to fear a Chinese invasion was imminent.



Chinese propaganda efforts to smear the Americans, painting the Americans as aggressors who were planning an unprovoked attack on Fusang, did not exactly reassure the USA.



Nor did China's unilateral annulment of prior military access treaties with the Americans, signed during the war against Mexico. (Picture taken from before the war in Europe broke out, used here instead for narrative reasons)



Nor did the realization that with China's rapidly expanding tributary network in Africa, a second front from the east was a very real fear.





In even more alarming news, China's government decided to refocus its efforts from promoting scientific theory and philosophy, to a massive encouragement of military and industrial modernization, as China's economy geared up for a massive war. If China was to defeat the more modern American army, a serious program of military modernization was needed.



In one last major philosophical advance, however, social science underwent a massive revolution, as Chinese academics increasingly devoted themselves to studies like linguistics, archaeology, economics, law, and other less technical sciences.
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But it was becoming increasingly clear to the entire world that a Sino-American War was an inevitability; the only question left was when it would break out.
 
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True, I suppose it is an unlikely target. XD But it's not as far away from China's sphere as it might seem, since China has most of Africa locked down already. Still, I concede it's extremely unlikely as a first target even so. But it was the most effective way to break America's back with limited infamy expense, so I'll just assume alt history Xianfeng has a flair for the grandiose in his expansionist ambitions. XD I'll go back and edit the entry to emphasize that.

Edit: Thanks, fixed the entry! Thanks for pointing out that flaw!

Yeah, the edited version does sound better, and I'm glad you addressed the German demands in this update.
 
Your pictures are in the wrong order - on purpose? It's obvious that the Poland Crisis started before the war between Belgium+friends and Russia+France broke out, not the other way around. Since this leads to a massive Central European War with Germany participating this should influence your own war preparations against the US of A - after all, with Germany fighting France and Russia at the same time it seems unlikely that they can aid you in yet another trans-atlantic conflice.
 
Your pictures are in the wrong order - on purpose? It's obvious that the Poland Crisis started before the war between Belgium+friends and Russia+France broke out, not the other way around. Since this leads to a massive Central European War with Germany participating this should influence your own war preparations against the US of A - after all, with Germany fighting France and Russia at the same time it seems unlikely that they can aid you in yet another trans-atlantic conflice.

Oh yeah, I completely forgot about that whole war. XD I think it just ended in a white peace (or maybe Russia/France being cut down to size?), since I never saw an independent Poland. Still, I should update my AAR to discuss it. Thanks!

Edit: Updated. And no, it didn't really effect my war against America; I think the crisis war was over by then.
 
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Cartman's worst nightmare is coming true! =O
 
A Chinese invasion of New York. I guess the loonies were right.

*Puts on aluminum hat*

I for one welcome our new Chinese overlords.
 
Part 43: The World in 1874

The world had changed much in the past few years, with China on the rise.





Qing agents have rapidly spread their control deep into the heart of the African interior, using a combination of diplomacy, threats, and proxy wars to spread their control with only minimal operations by their own military forces. Qing agents were hard at work trying to organize new monarchies and spread pan-African, anti-Western propaganda among the many peoples they subjugated. It was a seemingly impossible task. Chinese objectives called for three main governments; a greater Somalian kingdom, a South-Central African state, and a North-Central African state focused on the Niger Delta. To say that the Xianfeng Emperor and his court had underestimated the difficulty of carrying out these instructions would be a colossal understatement.

The Somalis had a common cultural heritage and a long history of monarchies ruling the region, and would relatively easily be united into a unified state under the Sultan of Hobyo along with parts of Kenya; but Somalia was alone among the three planned states. The Empire's other two proposed states were both massive nations that together exceeded China itself in land area. They would be host to such a wide variety of ethnicities with little in common that many Qing officials on the ground in Africa predicted they would inevitably collapse even if the Qing somehow miraculously managed to convince all the necessary Qing tributaries to consent to the plans.

Many cabled back to Beijing offering alternative solutions; however, the Qing high command in Beijing did not even bother to pass the protests onto Xianfeng. They instead merely repeated their orders, reiterating that China's primary long-term strategic objective in Africa was to create powerful tributaries who would aid in the struggle against the barbarians; the aim was to accomplish this through a combination of modernization and the formation of larger, better organized nations. In large part due to centuries of being preyed upon by the slave trade, Africa had alarmingly low population density and a very underdeveloped economy; small nations like Buganda simply would not have enough manpower to be able to mount a credible military threat to the barbarians in Europe. And so the Qing officials in Africa continued their seemingly impossible task, trying to at least persuade the tributaries to agree to confederacies of some sort. (read: The game mechanics automatically create super-huge dominions in Africa that unite all contiguous colonies into one ridiculously large nation, and this is me trying to rationalize that into my roleplaying)

Meanwhile, the British and Italians moved rapidly to establish colonies in Northern and Western Africa, where the Chinese had yet to spread their influence.

2015-01-18_00007_zpsfhxapzqa.jpg


In South and Central America, the British, Americans, and Chinese competed for diplomatic influence; Colombia remained a Chinese tributary despite fierce efforts by the British, French, and American embassies, all of whom were hoping to build a canal. The Chinese were also interested in a canal, but Qing engineers rejected the plans as unfeasible. China simply lacked the technology; for now, at least. Venezuela and Brazil, meanwhile, were firmly in the British sphere of influence. And the United States of Central America was steadfastly loyal to the United States of America. Tensions on the border between Colombia and the USCA were also heating up, as China and the USA inched closer to war.



Europe was in a state of war, debating the fate of Poland, to the great disinterest of China. As it was clearly an offensive war that Belgium had started, China clearly had no treaty obligation to support Germany, and Germany did not press the issue.



America, meanwhile, was in a state of political turbulence. The Civil War had left horrific scars on the American Republic, and the tensions with China had thrown open those wounds.

Currently, Ulysses S. Grant, Northern hero of the Civil War, was President; but the Democrats controlled the House and Senate. After the Civil War, the Radical Republicans had implemented a radical campaign aimed at true racial equality; however, most white people had gradually lost interest in such radical reforms, sparking a Democratic resurgence and the rise of the KKK; countless horrific atrocities occured against black people who dared to vote or run for office, and new "Jim Crow" laws spread. President Grant had in many ways been the last hope of the Radical Republicans, and he initially restored the popularity of the Radical Republicans. However, the publishing of a new book by a KKK member, "The Yellow Terror," sparked the ultimate end of the Radical Republicans' formerly tight grip on power. The book was one of the most popular in the country, leading to a massive resurgence in racist sentiments nationwide; it painted Asian people as a subhuman menace, and some of the book's lines could be interpreted as a call for mass genocide of the entire Chinese population. Combined with accusations of corruption against the Grant administration, Grant's party soon lost control of both houses of Congress in the 1872 presidential elections, as two former Confederate leaders took over the House and Senate on a campaign promise to liberate California from the Chinese menace. Grant himself retained office, if only barely; but he lost almost all his power.

This sweeping victory plunged the country into great instability; there were genuine fears a second Civil War could break out, as some of the newly empowered former Confederates semi-seriously entertained the idea of reintroducing slavery, and many Northerners were absolutely infuriated to see rebels risen to such high office, after their friends and relatives had died fighting to stop them. More pressingly, the bellicose anti-Chinese and Manifest Destiny rhetoric of the Senate and House leaders had helped attract unwanted Chinese military attention, even as President Grant desperately tried to do diplomatic damage control; he did not want a war against China, knowing full well China would likely win.

Of course, Grant's fears were realized; the Xianfeng Emperor had chosen to act against the Manifest Destiny rhetoric. Once the military buildup in California/Fusang became known, the racism escalated; there were numerous instances of violent racist terrorism against Chinese immigrants in America, and Congress passed laws (overriding a veto) forcing President Grant to begin registering Chinese people for later shipment to internment camps in the event of war. Chinese people were the largest racial minority in America after black people, so the consequences of this law were of a great magnitude. Most of the racially Chinese people affected were fully assimilated American citizens, many of whom weren't even Chinese citizens anymore (and most of whom were Republicans); the radical Republicans furiously condemned this action, leaving the nation even more polarized. And worse, all these provocations played straight into China's hands, with each incident making it easier for China to justify the war.

Thus, the America China faced was racially divided by racism, and ethnically divided by a Yankee-Dixie split; and thus even more ill prepared for the impending Qing invasion.

2015-01-18_00008_zpshue28jgf.jpg






China, meanwhile, was a changed nation. It had gone from a technological backwater to once again being a nation with near-unrivaled political power and influence, and a culture that was the envy of the rest of the world. Literacy was rapidly increasing, with even many wealthier peasants able to afford to give their children an education in the rapidly increasing number of private schools; China's population had gone from 3.9% literacy to 22.2% literacy in only 38 years.

However, China remained technologically backwards; it used wooden ships powered by sails, its soldiers still used tactics straight out of the 1830s, its economic structure was still relatively unmodernized, and its industry was incapable of even producing its own precision parts, relying on imports from the British Empire. (translation: Almost all my techs outside of culture are still level 1 or level 0, other than what I needed for colonization)



Still, China's population remained the largest on the planet, a diverse people of a wide variety of ethnicities; and in all the areas of prestige, military might, and industry, it was one of the mightiest nations on the planet.

(And with that, going on hiatus again. This time it's because Photobucket warned me I'm close to maxing out bandwidth for the month. I'll resume either once I've found a reliable alternative image hoster to use, or in March; whichever comes first.)
 
May I recommene Imgur? It is a good site that does limit you in any way (unlike Photobucket).
 
I use Imgur as well. The only downside is that you can only put that many photos inside a single folder - but that's no real problem. I subsequently named my Folders Carthage_1, Carthage_2 and so on.
 
Huh. Is there any way you can force the U.S. to "release" the South, skinning it as Southerners using the war as cover for a resurgance?

Why would they? They've retaken their majority in Congress, and have sheltered themselves quite well on the local and state level.