Well I was think 1842 after the Opium War. This is when the Open Door Policy was set up. If the nations simply agreed that "for the Chinese" it was best if a more powerful nation set up shop, then I suspect they would all race and try to get their. America may fume for awhile though.
Well I was think 1842 after the Opium War. This is when the Open Door Policy was set up. If the nations simply agreed that "for the Chinese" it was best if a more powerful nation set up shop, then I suspect they would all race and try to get their. America may fume for awhile though.
Assuming that one of them starts the ball rolling. European military superiority was not as great in this era was in it would be later, or for that matter over Africans of the same era.I wonder if rather than outright conquest, Europeans might go for 'spheres of influence', encouraging provinces to break away for the Ming dynasty and become 'independent'.
Assuming that one of them starts the ball rolling. European military superiority was not as great in this era was in it would be later, or for that matter over Africans of the same era.
Without major problems kicking off within China that destroy central authority it would indeed be a very difficult task to conquer much land there.
Contrary to popular belief China was a modernising nation with a fairly 'modern' army (insofar as they had guns). Not really comparable to Africa.
Even if China was right next door it would be difficult, as it is though at the other end of the world the logisics would be a right pain.
True.
There is no colonial Empire that is comparable to China. British India had comparable population, but greater coastlines making conquest easier. Yet the British needed centuries to establish their rule over the whole of India and they had the advantage that India was heavily partitioned in smaller states fighting each other. thus Making china a colony would be much harder.
maybe find a way to get the Emperor of China to acknowledge the authority of an outside power over him. (even if all diplomatic (et al) things gave the illusion that said Outside Power was just running the wider world for the Emperor)
it worked in India, right?
tis a thought.
Nice.."The Emperor has decided to sub out the control of the rest of the planet, due to his desire to ensure that his children get his full attention, and the complete benefit of his wisdom"
I don't think that the Western powers would send troops to protect missionaries and their converts. I think what is needed is economic incentives, factories, railways, mines, etc.WI also Western missionaires established significant enclaves for Chinese converts, along the lines of the Praying Towns in NE for Christianised Algonquians, the French Black Robe missions in Canada, Spain's ENCOMIENDAs in Mexico, or the Jesuit reductions in the Amazon, which were then used as pretexts for Western powers to provide armed garrisons and local admin ?
I don't think that the Western powers would send troops to protect missionaries and their converts. I think what is needed is economic incentives, factories, railways, mines, etc.
China today is still in a similar circumstance. They make cheap shit, it gets marked up 500 percent, and they pay through the nose for any alledged investment in thier infrastructure. Colonialism still shows its ugly head even today.
China's problem now, after its birth control programs, is that it doesn't have the young bodies to support the industry it has fought so hard to create.
JMO
I don't think that the Western powers would send troops to protect missionaries and their converts.