Ancient China conquer Korea and Japan

I recently watched an animation of the political changes in East Asia from antiquity to today:


Video inspired me to ask the question : what would happen if the Han dynasty was more expansive and conquered the entire Korea and southern Japan. Whether there would sinicization these countries ?
 
But, the Romans conquered Britain, despite having similar problems. Japan is close to Korea.
Japan is a bit more isolated and far from China(Korea counts less because it would be for the Chinese a peripheral place itself also still a bit more far), also Japan is far more mountainous.
 
But, the Romans conquered Britain, despite having similar problems. Japan is close to Korea.
And it turned out to be a major mistake.The province of Britannia yielded very little profit which could not be obtained except by occupation alone.Rome had to post about a tenth of it's forces just garrisoning the place,implying that rebellions were constantly .It also turned out to be a lair for seditious forces.The local garrison constantly rebeled.The Romans also failed to conquer the entire island.Japan was also much larger and more populous than Britain.The Chinese forces had trouble supplying ventures into Korea alone,not sure why they would even try to go further.
 
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Korea is much more likely than Japan; it's geographicly closer and historicly they were often tributaries of the various Chinese Dynasties. The main things in the way of chinese rule of Korea would be conquering and then mantaining control despite the Changbai mountains and the Yalu River. Even this would be difficult and would likely have to be garissoned heavily by Chinese troops to mantain control, but it is still possible as several Dynasties habe conquered parts of Korea. Japan on the other hand was even worse; they were across the sea, had a high population, was relatively poor compared to China( for much of it's history) and was quite militant (for much of it's history). Any conquest and subsuquent occupation would be a massive drain on Chinese manpower and resources and would almost definitely be a failed endevour. The best case scenario is that China conquers Korea and then uses it's now closer geographical position, military strength and economic might to bully parts of Japan into paying tribute. Direct control of the home islands by the chinese is not only unlikely but it would simply be foolish.
 
Korea is much more likely than Japan; it's geographicly closer and historicly they were often tributaries of the various Chinese Dynasties. The main things in the way of chinese rule of Korea would be conquering and then mantaining control despite the Changbai mountains and the Yalu River. Even this would be difficult and would likely have to be garissoned heavily by Chinese troops to mantain control, but it is still possible as several Dynasties habe conquered parts of Korea. Japan on the other hand was even worse; they were across the sea, had a high population, was relatively poor compared to China( for much of it's history) and was quite militant (for much of it's history). Any conquest and subsuquent occupation would be a massive drain on Chinese manpower and resources and would almost definitely be a failed endevour. The best case scenario is that China conquers Korea and then uses it's now closer geographical position, military strength and economic might to bully parts of Japan into paying tribute. Direct control of the home islands by the chinese is not only unlikely but it would simply be foolish.

During the reign of the Han Dynasty Japan did not have a large population nor was a centralized state. Chinese sources suggest that there were about a hundred small tribal principalities. Therefore, a possible conquest would be quite easy.
 
During the reign of the Han Dynasty Japan did not have a large population nor was a centralized state. Chinese sources suggest that there were about a hundred small tribal principalities. Therefore, a possible conquest would be quite easy.

Which is why I added "relatively poor" for the list of things why it wouldn't be conquered. Tribes like that aren't worth conquering-- they're bent on tradition and are poorly developed and would almost surely cause more trouble than they are worth.
 

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Which is why I added "relatively poor" for the list of things why it wouldn't be conquered. Tribes like that aren't worth conquering-- they're bent on tradition and are poorly developed and would almost surely cause more trouble than they are worth.
Chinese expansion was rarely driven by concerns over resources. In fact, if a region was strong enough, China tended to adopt a conciliatory approach towards them should they recognize Chinese hegemony.
 
Chinese expansion was rarely driven by concerns over resources. In fact, if a region was strong enough, China tended to adopt a conciliatory approach towards them should they recognize Chinese hegemony.
Chinese expansion was throughout history largely non-existent. The chinese saw themselves as the most prosperous in the world up until the Qing Dynasty more or less. They expanded to whatever the limits of a contemporary china was at the time with rare exceptions to that rule. And while one might point to the rather gradual increase in land area experienced by ancient Chinese Dynasties until they reached to roughly the borders of China proper in the Han one can attribute that to cultual dispersion as surrounding cultures become progressively more Chinese and thus soon become part of China proper, either willingly as you said or by conquest. Japan was most certainly not Chinese during the Han Dynasty not to menton the geographic and logistical difficulties a Dynasty would have to undertake to even gain and then retain control of Japan.
 
After conquest of Pekche in 660 and Koguryo in 668, in alliance with Silla, Tang tried to run the conquered lands directly, instead of, e. g. handing them over to their ally Silla.
OTL, Silla attacked Tang in 671, and ended up winning.
WI Tang won, and ended up directly holding Silla as well?
 
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