Chinese Australia

We're all gawking over the idea of China's Zheng He discovering America. Although it is a possibility, I feel that it's as overused as Nazis and Confederates.

What about Australia? I mean if Zheng He could sail to California, was there a reason that no one discovered Australia until th 1600s?

1413

A Land south of Majapahit was only whispered about in Java, which met the ears of Sailor Zheng He. He quickly devoted some time to make a detour to the Lands South of Majapahit, and was off by night fall.
 
I suspect Australia would be borderline worthless to the Chinese, to be fair.

Seeing how marginal the ancient soil is for agriculture, I'm going to have to agree. Now if the Chinese expedition discovered gold tracks, that might be different. Then they might just stay long enough in a given area to mine it out.
 
I've always thought there could have been more contact between the seafaring peoples of Indonesia and Northern Australia. What effects this could have had, I'm not sure. Maybe Islam is introduced to the aboriginies?
 
I've always thought there could have been more contact between the seafaring peoples of Indonesia and Northern Australia. What effects this could have had, I'm not sure. Maybe Islam is introduced to the aboriginies?

I don't know; aboriginal culture is far more ancient that that of any civilization or religion. Why would they convert? Plus, mariners are interested in trade, and what do the native have that they could want? Maybe some king (or the Chinese Emperor) might want a kangaroo in his menagerie.
 
Plus, mariners are interested in trade, and what do the native have that they could want? Maybe some king (or the Chinese Emperor) might want a kangaroo in his menagerie.

Sea cucumbers, which were harvested by trepangers from Indonesia and sold in Chinese. This happened in OTL 18th century. What I'm saying is maybe it starts earlier and therefore has a more profound effect on the people.
 
In terms of incentives, gold would do it. Perhaps if opal becomes an object of desire.

IMO something catastrophic would have to happen to make the Chinese want to settle Australia. IOTL the Chinese diaspora of SE Asia was created largely due to the catastrophic last couple of centuries of the Qing dynasty. Perhaps if Australia was better known (a sustained Ming era of discovery could do that), the convulsions of the Ming dynasty could have fostered similar emmigration patterns. So we'd be talking about in the 16th-17th centuries, with people fleeing from rebellions and the Manchu invasion.
 
A Chinese Australia would quickly become independent if enough people settled it. That'd really be interesting...
 
IMO something catastrophic would have to happen to make the Chinese want to settle Australia. IOTL the Chinese diaspora of SE Asia was created largely due to the catastrophic last couple of centuries of the Qing dynasty. Perhaps if Australia was better known (a sustained Ming era of discovery could do that), the convulsions of the Ming dynasty could have fostered similar emmigration patterns. So we'd be talking about in the 16th-17th centuries, with people fleeing from rebellions and the Manchu invasion.

Are you sure about that? The Chinese population of the Philippines was already large enough in the 2nd half of the 16th century to be viewed as a danger by the Spanish, after all.
 
The collapse of the Ming dynasty did also create Chinese diaspora in the near abroad. Phillipines, Vietnam, Indonesia, Taiwan, etc - but the bulk of the modern diaspora was created later during the collapse of the Qing dynasty. This second diaspora was not only larger but was also more far flung. By that time of course the Chinese people knew of a larger world.

In the 19th century there was a huge gold mining driven migration to Australia. I read at one point there was more Chinese in Australia than Whites. But they were virtually all men, and left when the gold ran out along with Australia's banning of Chinese female immigration.

That's characteristic of Chinese migration patterns. People emmigrate when things are truely dire, and go home if they can't put down roots. Quite different from European migration which is usually a state supported program of New World investment.
 
Are you sure about that? The Chinese population of the Philippines was already large enough in the 2nd half of the 16th century to be viewed as a danger by the Spanish, after all.

They were afraid that the Chinese would ally with the Natives who wanted independence...The Chinese assimilate to the south east asians when they migrate there before the modern era.
 
I read at one point there was more Chinese in Australia than Whites.

Perhaps in some small mining areas. No way is this true across the whole country.

Australia is a long way away from China by wooden boat. There is no good way to settle it with a large enough population of Chinese before ~1800, at which point European colonisation would begin.

One thing though, if they did do it the Chinese would likely settle in the NW (since it is closer). This wouldn't prohibit European (British or French) settlement in the East as in OTL. You could end up with two entirely different civilisations on the continent.
 
The collapse of the Ming dynasty did also create Chinese diaspora in the near abroad. Phillipines, Vietnam, Indonesia, Taiwan, etc - but the bulk of the modern diaspora was created later during the collapse of the Qing dynasty. This second diaspora was not only larger but was also more far flung. By that time of course the Chinese people knew of a larger world.

In the 19th century there was a huge gold mining driven migration to Australia. I read at one point there was more Chinese in Australia than Whites. But they were virtually all men, and left when the gold ran out along with Australia's banning of Chinese female immigration.

That's characteristic of Chinese migration patterns. People emmigrate when things are truely dire, and go home if they can't put down roots. Quite different from European migration which is usually a state supported program of New World investment.

Perhaps a situation where a European colonial power controls Australia but is not particularly inclined to settle it, such as France or the Netherlands. Gold attracts Chinese settlers, who aren't barred but rather simply taxed or later encouraged to work in other areas such as plantations. Mostly men, they interbreed with largely Aboriginal women and create a unique race.
 

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I find Chinese settler colonies to be quite ASB anyway, the Chinese peasants had not the same freedom of movement as the Europeans. Chinese trading colonies are much more plausible, but Australia would not be a very good trading colony at all.
 
Are you sure about that? The Chinese population of the Philippines was already large enough in the 2nd half of the 16th century to be viewed as a danger by the Spanish, after all.

Actually, had the Spaniards let the Chinese to come the Philippines freely without restrictions, Philippines including some parts of Mindanao will be swamped by the Chinese and makes the Philippines as Taiwan on steroids.
 
Actually, had the Spaniards let the Chinese to come the Philippines freely without restrictions, Philippines including some parts of Mindanao will be swamped by the Chinese and makes the Philippines as Taiwan on steroids.

Philippines and Taiwan were different cases as I said before...the Chinese respect the Filipinos more than the Taiwanese and know the history of that area more than the locals..

A Land south of Majapahit was only whispered about in Java, which met the ears of Sailor Zheng He. He quickly devoted some time to make a detour to the Lands South of Majapahit, and was off by night fall.
I think Majapahit can colonize Australia not the Chinese.
 
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