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There are a multitude of very good reasons why Chinese characters, hanzi, work within the context of writing in China. To name a few: the Chinese languages are basically made of homophones which would be harder to parse written only in letters; each character carries its own meaning, so it's...

Suppose at some point during his reign, Napoleon III had decided he wanted China to become a colony of France just as India had become a colony of Britain.* China was going through a low period at the time, and France was second only to Britain as an international Great Power. Still, China is...

Something I've been thinking about recently that I was inspired by the Europe-only Russia thread to post about. This seemed like it would constitute a hijack of that thread, so I'm giving it its own thread. See, I always wondered what compelled the Russians to move east into a land so nearly...

I am working on a TL that requires, but is not directly about, an effective Spanish withdrawal from the New World in the early 16th century. My POD is that Cortes gets defeated by the Aztecs and King Carlos decides to rearrange Spain's priorities and concentrate on the Old World. My assumption...

Is it possible to have a Protestant sect arise in or spread to Spain during the Reformation period and become large enough to become influential? It doesn't matter whether their tradition is Lutheran or Calvinist or what, and it certainly isn't necessary for the government itself to convert...

In thinking about forms of government, there's a scenario I've often wondered about. This may be too big a variable and create too many butterflies to be able to build any kind of AH from, but I'm curious to see if anyone has any input on it anyway. Here it is: The Founding Fathers of the...

How can we have the English Commonwealth develop into a true, enduring republic, bypassing military dictatorship and Restoration of the monarchy? In particular, I have it in mind that the tradition would eventually develop of all Englishmen, wherever they may live, being regarded as equals, so...

I was reading somewhere (was it Guns, Germs, and Steel? I think it may have been) that, despite its early start and knack for technological innovations, China nevertheless had one major disadvantage compared to Europe in that, for most of its history, it has been one single, unified nation. The...