kernals12

Banned
China%2Bhumiliation.jpg

This 19th century French cartoon is famous. It depicts Britain, Germany, Russia, France, and Japan slicing up China. This of course is symbolic of China's century of humiliation. Now, let's take this to its logical endpoint and have China be broken up and turned into colonies. What would it look like? And how would it end up?
 
Have Vietnam gobble up China's South. Vietnamese culture is already close enough to (southern) Chinese culture, so IMO conquest and Vietification shouldn't be all that hard, all the while preventing absorption into the Chinese culture.
 
Have Vietnam gobble up China's South. Vietnamese culture is already close enough to (southern) Chinese culture, so IMO conquest and Vietification shouldn't be all that hard, all the while preventing absorption into the Chinese culture.
I don’t think so.The Vietnamese even speak a totally different language.
 

kernals12

Banned
Have Vietnam gobble up China's South. Vietnamese culture is already close enough to (southern) Chinese culture, so IMO conquest and Vietification shouldn't be all that hard, all the while preventing absorption into the Chinese culture.
Although, if Vietnam were to have trouble hanging on to China, it would be Vietnam's... wait there's a metaphor for this from OTL that I just can't put my finger on.;)
 
Looking back, I often wonder how this couldn't have happened. Britain could probably have been able to, during the warlord period, establish some sort of alliance, and eventual protectorate state in China, easily followed by the other Europeans/Japanese.
 
Looking back, I often wonder how this couldn't have happened. Britain could probably have been able to, during the warlord period, establish some sort of alliance, and eventual protectorate state in China, easily followed by the other Europeans/Japanese.
Britain was militarily exhausted along with most of the other great powers during the Warlord period.They were so exhausted that they simply did not want to mount even colonial campaigns in their own colonies.
 
I don’t think so.The Vietnamese even speak a totally different language.
Hm...I was thinking more of Vietnam in comparison to Japan. Think Vietnamese ending up as the language of the elites.

Though I'd say culture does not necessarily equate to language. For example, Vietnamese Opera can be completely unintelligible with Cantonese Opera, but they can still share many characteristics in everything from costumes to storylines. Vietnam has been under Chinese rule for a full millennium and thus shares lots of characteristics with Han Chinese culture.
 
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Britain was militarily exhausted along with most of the other great powers during the Warlord period.They were so exhausted that they simply did not want to mount even colonial campaigns in their own colonies.

You could even go before this though. The Qing weren't the most stable country in the late 1800s.
 

kernals12

Banned
Looking back, I often wonder how this couldn't have happened. Britain could probably have been able to, during the warlord period, establish some sort of alliance, and eventual protectorate state in China, easily followed by the other Europeans/Japanese.
The Soviet Union sort of managed to do that with Mongolia.
 
Historically Vietnam had conquered parts of China. However, I think a Partition couldn't work in the same way as say the Partition of Poland.

I think it'd have to include a number of Asian groups to succeed - which isn't impossible, but difficult considering the initial arrangement.

But say you have France via Vietnam, Britain via an attempt at Tibetan Protectorate status (i.e. use them as a proxy), Japan, Spain, Netherlands, even Russia.

You've got a lot of people there with competing interests.

As a stab, some 'transfers'

Tibet - Total control over the Plateau. They'd probably be interested in the Taklamakan Desert and Kashgar.
Russia - They'd probably want the Takklamakan Desert and Kashgar too. So yay...
Japan - Korea, and probably the territories around the Yellow Sea.
Spain - Taiwan is negligible, but interesting. Parts of the coastline perhaps. They seem like they could be sidelined however.
Netherlands - Coastal cities are their best friend.
Vietnam (France) - The Pearl River Delta, Valley, and surrounding territories.

In this the three largest land transfers beneficiaries are Vietnam, Japan and Tibet. I can't see anyone too eager to control the deeper inland territories in China besides maybe Japan and Russia (but those two would be direct conflict for them). As a result, I think you'd find a China that is a shadow of its former self left as a rump as the most likely end goal for all parties. A rump state that most trades via Japaneses, or French ports. (Maybe the Dutch, just so they can be difficult).

I honestly expect this isn't possible, but a Netherlands with intermediate coastal territory between the Vietnamese territory and Japanese Territory, and a larger Tibet seems the likeliest way to partition it. In which case, the history of a China that has rail lines between itself and the Dutch cities could be interesting. Dutch as a second Chinese language?
 
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