AHC: China Conquers India

I'm not. China, a massive country with a huge internal population to control and administer isn't really going to be able to do the same to a similarly large external population. The Brits managed it for roughly 150 years through a relatively decentralised system backed by strong national and economic institutions with almost everything working out perfectly for them.
(A) That's not a solution to the AHC, or even constructive criticism, so it's not on topic.

(B) That's not what you said in your first post. Your post was tantamount to saying "You must be totally ignorant of China and India to even suggest this challenge," which is mildly insulting and, again, offtopic. We aren't discussing my knowledge of China and India here, much less inviting baseless criticism of it (and it is baseless, because I made this AHC precisely because it's unlikely, hence the C), so it's still trolling.
 
(A) That's not a solution to the AHC, or even constructive criticism, so it's not on topic.

(B) That's not what you said in your first post. Your post was tantamount to saying "You must be totally ignorant of China and India to even suggest this challenge," which is mildly insulting and, again, offtopic. We aren't discussing my knowledge of China and India here, much less inviting baseless criticism of it (and it is baseless, because I made this AHC precisely because it's unlikely, hence the C), so it's still trolling.

Actually that's a fair point. I apologise for not adding anything constructive. I'm too used to seeing people with too little knowledge of South/East/South-East Asian conditions come up with strange space filling empires, but that isn't an excuse. You have my unreserved apologies.
 
Actually that's a fair point. I apologise for not adding anything constructive. I'm too used to seeing people with too little knowledge of South/East/South-East Asian conditions come up with strange space filling empires, but that isn't an excuse. You have my unreserved apologies.
Completely accepted. I hope I didn't come off as bitter.
 
Don't troll.

Firstly, Britain (or the EIC, if you'd prefer it be more specific) benefited hugely from Indian disunity, and did play factions off against one another, so I'm not getting your point with the second line of this post.

And secondly, what prevents an alternate China from potentially getting lucky in a similar way to Britain?

The British were only able to do that because they got lucky with Mughals collapsing thus causing India to be disunited; Empires do not collapse every day, the Mughal Empire itself (which came to be in the 16th century) was preceded by centuries of Empires ruling India and only collapsed because of a specific series of events.


Offhand, I would say that China's inward and landward focus stand in the way, but Zeng He was proof that, at least as early as the Ming Dynasty, it was possible for that trend to be reversed. If a long term Chinese presence in the Indian Ocean were established

Zheng He and the treasure fleet did not represent any major Chinese interest in establishing Naval control, it was simply glorified theater and a useful way to gather tribute from the existing Chinese tributary states that was supported by a single Emperor.

Chinese philosophy and history has always been land focused, hell ALOT of Emperors over the centuries were known for saying stuff like 'Islands can never be part of China' do to China being the Kingdom of the Land/Earth (there's really no good way to describe the attitude, and they'd never actually use the term I just did).

Now, having said all that it is possible to get a more outward facing China, however it's not possible to get it to conquer all of India.
 
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raharris1973

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Empires don't collapse every day, but they do collapse every couple hundred years.

Also, even if the OP is played out, a Yuan Dynasty, or Qing Dynasty conquest led by a non-Han elite could be interesting too. How long could China and India be under the same dynasty, and with what effects on later ties in history?
 
Chinese philosophy and history has always been land focused, hell ALOT of Emperors over the centuries were known for saying stuff like 'Islands can never be part of China' do to China being the Kingdom of the Land/Earth (there's really no good way to describe the attitude, and they'd never actually use the term I just did).

Do elaborate. Hainan was colonized very early and never got dumped or anything.
 
Do elaborate. Hainan was colonized very early and never got dumped or anything.

Hainan was an interesting case of being taken very early in Chinese history, then abandoned and then only taken later due to demographics and the pre-existing conquests; essentially it was the exception to the rule.
 
Having more of a Chinese community in India could be a interesting and more possible alternative challenge
 
No Chinese ruler worth his yellow robes is going to attempt to rule India directly. Tribute and vassalization seem to be more likely if the central government is strong. If the central government in China is weak, expect to see more Chinese settlers in India.

At no point will China directly assume responsibility for India's problems. That's for them to figure out.
 
Hainan was an interesting case of being taken very early in Chinese history, then abandoned and then only taken later due to demographics and the pre-existing conquests; essentially it was the exception to the rule.
Hainan is also very close to the mainland and kinda hard to ignore. China never got more than an toehold on the next closest big island, Taiwan, and other than the Yuan dynasty, never bothered with Japan.
 
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