China as constant great(ish) power

Russia managed to maintain their great power status for centuries. Sure it had their ups and downs but even when down it had to be calculated into all political shennanigans. Sure they were a bit bacward, both politically and technological/military but they made that up with numbers and they weren't that behind so that simple tech improvements would give their enemies decissive edge. And thier size ment that they would have enough resources to function and even gross inefficiency would allow for extraction of sufficient quantity to llow economy to function

Could same happen with China? I'm not talking about great power like Spain or France at their peak but a country that would be able to influence happenings in their neighbourhood and when confronted would require serious mobilisazion of resources and/or colaition of several great powers.

POD of your choice......
 

Hendryk

Banned
That's OTL, pretty much. The period between 1840 and 1945 was a historical anomaly; even in its weaker moments, China was still a respectable regional power. In fact if you're willing to call pre-20th century Russia a great power, then China also qualifies as one, and over a much longer time period.
 
even in its weaker moments, China was still a respectable regional power.

If it was a respectable regional power, then why was it violated territorially and economically time and time again by European powers, not to mention that the United States did so once and that the Japanese did so over and over again? Before 1945, no one would possibly consider China as an ally in any way other than as a vacuum for Japanese forces. Hell, the international community did not support China in any way during World War II until the Rape of Nanking. And even then, that was more of domestic pressure rather than any respect for the Chinese.
 
If it was a respectable regional power, then why was it violated territorially and economically time and time again by European powers, not to mention that the United States did so once and that the Japanese did so over and over again? Before 1945, no one would possibly consider China as an ally in any way other than as a vacuum for Japanese forces. Hell, the international community did not support China in any way during World War II until the Rape of Nanking. And even then, that was more of domestic pressure rather than any respect for the Chinese.

Read what Hendryk wrote. He's saying that this time period was an anomaly of about a century or so where China slipped far below it's ordinary weaker moments to a level where it was dominated by external powers.
 
A pretty common POD would be the early elimination of Empress Dowager Cixi as a political force, as it allows for the Self-Strengthening Movement to have gone on, although I am not too sure that it would have succeeded even then, as I am not too much of a Chinese enthusiast. Another, less common, POD would be no isolationist policy pursued by the Ming and Qing Dynasty.
 
If its an anomaly than its not really constant...

That's why Hendryk said "pretty much".

Anyway, I'd say the best POD should be earlier than Cixi. The opium wars already showed that China was weak in comparison to European powers. That might start a movement for reform. And that would guarantee that China is stronger than both Japan and Russia in time.
 
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