Colonized by Asia

Silver. Also, not all European colonization was entirely economically driven.

Economic incentives provided the main initial thrust though.

As for silver, I'm pretty sure there are closer places to get it and besides, without the New World, the amount of specie in Europe is going to be much lower than in OTL.
 
On the other hand, we have at least one example (Europe) where overpopulation did not drive significant emigration for a long time, so I don't think we can assume that the existance of population pressures automatically leads to the etablishment of new colonies.

Does it really matter what Europe did? We have plenty of evidence that China's population could, and would move.

In some ways it was actually more mobile than Europe's population, actually.
 
Economic incentives provided the main initial thrust though.

Sure. But even a tiny handful of settlements could, given three or four hundred years, grow into something substantial.

As for silver, I'm pretty sure there are closer places to get it and besides, without the New World, the amount of specie in Europe is going to be much lower than in OTL.

There are definitely closer places to get it, but the Chinese appetite for silver was massive in OTL, so any additional sources would attract interest. The fact that there would be far less specie in Europe without the New World rather reinforces that, IMO.

Does it really matter what Europe did? We have plenty of evidence that China's population could, and would move.

In some ways it was actually more mobile than Europe's population, actually.

While I'm far from being an expert on China, I'm not sure that the ways in which China's population was (compared to Europe as a whole) more mobile can be taken to make the example of the only Old World population presented with virgin land in the New irrelevant.
 
While I'm far from being an expert on China, I'm not sure that the ways in which China's population was (compared to Europe as a whole) more mobile can be taken to make the example of the only Old World population presented with virgin land in the New irrelevant.

Umm.

About four million Chinese moved to the "virgin lands" of China's Southwest frontier between 1500 and 1800, from various areas of China. 2 million to Manchuria between 1600 and 1800.

This isn't including the people who settled in Southeast Asia and Taiwan, of course.

China's population was simply less bound to the land than much of Europe's was, and moved around accordingly.

To imagine that they wouldn't move to "Gold Mountain" is a bit weird.
 
As for silver, I'm pretty sure there are closer places to get it and besides, without the New World, the amount of specie in Europe is going to be much lower than in OTL.

Actually, New World Silver was the majority of what was used in China by the mid-16th century, IIRC.

(Might've been around 1600, but that's the latest date I'd use).
 
Umm.

About four million Chinese moved to the "virgin lands" of China's Southwest frontier between 1500 and 1800, from various areas of China. 2 million to Manchuria between 1600 and 1800.

This isn't including the people who settled in Southeast Asia and Taiwan, of course.

China's population was simply less bound to the land than much of Europe's was, and moved around accordingly.

To imagine that they wouldn't move to "Gold Mountain" is a bit weird.

I knew that. I'm not saying that we would see no Chinese emigration to the New World - I'm saying that any emigration would be comparable to the 1.5 million who left Europe in the three hundred years before 1800, which is pretty consistent with the figures you give above. Especially considering that any migrants could also go to Machuria, Taiwan, etc.
 
Hmmm hard to say, hard to say.

Well, when does all this colonization go about?

On the off hand I could see the two to definitly have some sort of colonization to be China and Japan, but still they are tricky.

First China, if this is Ming or later China (they did throw off the Mongols) I would imagine they would be in the best position to colonize. Due to their:
1.Might
2.Population
3.Technology
Yet, they would make the MesoAmerican Nation-States protectorates (they had a heganomic empire) but maybe little "China-Towns" on the coastal areas for trade.
On the Californian coast I can definitly see as a main area of colonization-filling around silver/gold lodes and the fertile areas and non-fertile (the Chinese irrigation and canal systems were superior to all untill the Industrial Age) lands bringing life much as it is now.

Japan: Depends if it unified or not, but colonization possibles are able for both.
Japan having a large-large-large pirate population. I can see independent Pirate-Lords setting up towns that grow into pirate strongholds up and down the West North American coast (preying on Chinese shipping).

My thoughts for the night.
 
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