15.11. The Rise of Contenders: Oriental Mainland
The Red Nation
The death of Mao Ze Dong on 28th March 1978 shocked the core of communism in China. Not only it shone a new light on the Marxist ideology, but it represented a new way of thinking, centralized yet democratic, which put envy towards most nations all around. His image displays hope for a better People’s Republic of China. However, all those years of progress will be passed on to his wife, who has nothing in favour of her husband’s setup.
Before Mao Ze Dong’s death, his CCP was divided into two conflicting factions. The Reformist Clan, supported by Deng Xiao Ping, was the moderate wing for the CCP. It promoted Mao’s soft stance towards intellectuals, while also persuading him to privatize parts of the commercial sector. Although Mao never asserted any promises, he started to side with the Reformists. The clan also supported France’s new communist ideology and wished to maintain friendly ties to now the holder of the world’s oil.
The other faction is the Conservative Jiang Qing and her Gang of Four. Unlike the reformist, they perpetrated Mao’s friendly terms with intellectuals as reprehensible. The Western thinking that the intellectuals provided amidst their plans and designs pushed the nation into a force of democratization. Several youths began parading for more freedom, the KMT even infiltrated Fujian and Zhejiang, gathering sympathizers. For Mao, as long as the economy flourished, people will stay supportive of the ideology. Affirmative outcomes manifested widely in Northern and Western China. The Southern, however, remained defiant, even after decades of submission. Still, Southern China was getting keen on the Beijing government, and successfully influence the Pearl River Delta that Hong Kong citizens flocked towards the promising communist government. Especially after a recommended project about building the next megacity, empowering residents announced their encouragement for Mao Ze Dong.
Nevertheless, the conservative faction had enough, and havoc ensued. Her initial policy after her ascension was the Cultural Revolution. Jiang Qing proclaimed a revision of Chinese history, as well as serving the communist ideology as the martyr above all the previous governments. All she needed to bolster this effort was a failed intellectual project or anything that can undermine the influence of scholars and academia. That event happened just weeks after the paramount leader was changed.
The Banqiao Dam was constructed back in 1951 and finished in 1953. The construction of the dam was built by Chinese intellectuals, also by Soviet engineers. In 1969, the dam was evaluated by Chen Xing, stating that the dam was subjected to imminent disaster, and the government must proceed with pressing stratagem. Much to Chen’s surprise back then, Mao demanded reconstruction of parts of the dam. The dam was strengthened and adjusted, fixing the base and open more outputs for control water accumulation. In 1975, hurricane Nina 1975 passed through the dam regions, killing the residences around. Yet, the dam remained intact and had become one of the greatest success the government had conducted, as well as Mao’s confidence with the intellectuals. Sadly, in 1979, the dam broke due to extensive damage from decay and the hurricane.
Ban Qiao Dam Failure (1979)*
Despite the faults not to be entirely the Chinese engineers. Jiang Qing couldn’t care less, as this was her perfect opportunity. She broadcasted the disaster nationwide, exaggerating counts and dramatizing the effects of the disaster. She blamed many of the scholars to cause the deaths of thousands from the flood and famine that followed. Expectedly, demonstrators increased due to being accused of something they never did. Jiang Qing took an iron heart and proceeded to purge according to her will.
At first, she revised the idea of Maoism to strengthen labourer and peasantry. Unlike Mao’s current thoughts of putting the scholars as to the third force, Jiang Qing sufficed in two, and actually promoted the two fundamental classes into soldiers of the communist thought. As for this to happen, Jiang Qing promoted the Red Front, a new youth movement that functioned similarly to a cult for Madame Mao. With the extreme planned economy, Jiang Qing pushed for becoming the literally supreme commander of the state.
Peasant Soldiers reading the Little Red Book, Jiang Qing's book doctrine about her**
Burning of scriptures, traditional clothes in Tibet**
Then, the Cultural Revolution sought to change in four basic aspects. The Four Olds: Custom, Culture, Habit and Ideas, were provoked to be the obstacles of the People’s Republic. Propaganda arts produced substantially, indoctrinate a new generation to fight academics. Intellectuals protest in 1980 and were responded with massive crackdown and purges from the university. Pagodas, temples and ancient scriptures were either broken down, altered, or scraped in favour of the Paramount’s wishes. The people’s Republic of China had become a society worse imagined.
In 1982, the Great Famine happened in Southern China, and Jiang Qing blamed it also on the intellectuals. She appointed also her own supporters even into the lowers branches of government, and kill everyone against her. Unlike her husband, the proletariats were extremely frightened of her, even so criticizing her. Any negative content aiming at her was promoted as taboo. In the same year, Jiang Qing eradicated the entire reformist faction, either killed for treason, exiled, or silenced into extensive house arrest. The CCP had been entirely supportive of her.
The foreign policy of China became aggressive under Madame Mao. She declared the Great Scare and the Great Mission, both of this promised Chinese expansionism beyond borders. The Great Scare involved the United States, Japan and Korea; all of them threatening the survival of the regime. Therefore, in retaliation, China pursued relations with the Soviet Union and the Comecon, as well as inviting India to join the cause. The Great Mission, however, was China’s covert operations to influence Continental Asia. As France’s Mitterrand shouted for appeasement to Germany, China induced anti-France communist rhetoric to Indochina. Rival generals under the junta government of Thailand and Myanmar soon erupted into the domestic competition. By late 1984, Laos had evolved into a civil war between the militarist and communist militias. North Vietnam was secured by China. Starting in 1985, the Chinese funded Khmer Rouge and destabilized Cambodia.
The Last Crownland in Asia
Chinese domestic events had been very influential towards the Colony of Hongkong, especially after Australian Aggression. The 99-year lease will end by 1997, yet Mao had eyed for the colony ever since the British declined rapidly. Prime Minister Arthur Kenneth Chesterton had been delighted to abandon the colony and give to the Chinese yet sooner than scheduled. However, his meeting with the Queen enforced him to do otherwise. Queen Elizabeth II instructed the Prime Minister to retain the possession of the colony until the deadline. In a latter thought, Chesterton complied, as Hongkong may be a stepping corner for future revanchist wars against Indonesia. The colony had a few administrative changes involving the power of the General Governor. After simplifications of colonies into Dominions, Hong Kong endured as the last colony of the United Kingdom. However, the colony had a regional council, and a governor-general to administrate the land.
Pro-CCP protest emerged after 1972, possible after the BUP’s Afrophobia which may extend to Sinophobia. The Chinese citizens demanded a referendum for integration to the Chinese Mainland, which was flourishing in growth. Much of it also came from the scare of the Apartheid conditions of South Africa, imaging each native that Hong Kong will soon be one. Still, the BUP maintained harsh repression against the supporters. Hong Kong fears motivated them to emigrate from the nation. Some labours flocked to Mainland China, while businessmen moved to South Vietnam and Indonesia.
Another suggestion from the Royal Family, which the BUP agreed, was exiling a few hard-lined Conservative MPs there. The party, or the remnants of it, had moved into the BUP platform. Some of them, however, remained strict to the conservative values. One MP who had created troubles for the BUP was Margaret Thatcher. A strong advocate of liberalism, small government and privatization had become an impediment for strong government, nationalization BUP. After Jim Prior ascended into the premiership, he appointed Margaret Thatcher as the first woman, former party-affiliated, and politician Governor General of Hong Kong. In November 1974, she effectively moved her station to Hong Kong, and the region changed dramatically.
Upon arrival, Margaret Thatcher ended the dissonant relation between the Hong Kong Council and the Governor. Weak governance, obstinate racism and corruption-plagued the growth of the region. She effectively increased her control to rooted out all impartial defects from the old administration. Fortunately, as more conservative exiles arrived in Hong Kong, the Council had become effectively hers, she then pushed for her agendas.
Governor-General of Hong Kong Margaret Thatcher (1974-)****
Privatization, liberalism and a free-market economy were reinforced in Hong Kong. The government in the UK shared a disappointment to Thatcher’s conflicting beliefs to be implemented there, yet Thatcher had brokered a deal with Jim Prior. Under Thatcher, the UK should give her self-governance and independence of will to Hong Kong. In return, Hong Kong will give a negotiable amount of revenue, also helping the United Kingdom out from the self-made isolationist stance after BUP’s rise. Jim Prior signed the deal, called the Thatcher-Prior Agreement, with confidence from the British Parliament.
The first ten years of her rule had become great progress for the citizens of Hong Kong. Business returned and thrive in Hong Kong. Japanese shipment came again to the port, and the city had returned its status as an Asian continental port, competing with Singapore. Relations with the United States was originally bitter under Shafer and the first Carter term. Yet, relations improved on Carter’s later second term, and Hong Kong thrived.
Margaret Thatcher, 1984
In 1981, Thatcher announced Hong Kong as a tax haven, even appealing to more business to come to Hong Kong. The spending was so efficient that 25% of the profit was returned to the UK, which was derived to pay the welfare programs. In 1982, even Japan announced mutual assistance with the UK, as combating the Chinese attempts of expansionism and also improving business vice versa. In 1983, a secret agreement was made to Lee Kuan Yew, giving Hong Kong a profitable economic friendship with Indonesia’s Singapore. Jiang Qing threatened the region in March 1984 after many Chinese mainlanders fled to Hong Kong after the change of leadership. She backed down in 1985, thinking that Hong Kong will return to China by 1997. Currently, Hong Kong, even under the hated BUP Britain, was lovable by Western nations. Thatcher called this paradox Britain’s One Country Two Systems, expressing the Colony’s vastly opposing policy than the United Kingdom.
** The little Red Book OTL is about Mao's views. ITTL would be about Madame Mao's view and a mixture of Mao's old ones.
***Tibet is still under repression, and with India under China's friendly terms, Tibetans will never stand a chance.
**** Margaret Thatcher's OTL persistence maintain ITTL, she became one of the exiles to HK, and become one loved politician there.
We return to the domestic policy after this, covering few shifts under the PUP and Subandrio's administration.
The death of Mao Ze Dong on 28th March 1978 shocked the core of communism in China. Not only it shone a new light on the Marxist ideology, but it represented a new way of thinking, centralized yet democratic, which put envy towards most nations all around. His image displays hope for a better People’s Republic of China. However, all those years of progress will be passed on to his wife, who has nothing in favour of her husband’s setup.
Before Mao Ze Dong’s death, his CCP was divided into two conflicting factions. The Reformist Clan, supported by Deng Xiao Ping, was the moderate wing for the CCP. It promoted Mao’s soft stance towards intellectuals, while also persuading him to privatize parts of the commercial sector. Although Mao never asserted any promises, he started to side with the Reformists. The clan also supported France’s new communist ideology and wished to maintain friendly ties to now the holder of the world’s oil.
The other faction is the Conservative Jiang Qing and her Gang of Four. Unlike the reformist, they perpetrated Mao’s friendly terms with intellectuals as reprehensible. The Western thinking that the intellectuals provided amidst their plans and designs pushed the nation into a force of democratization. Several youths began parading for more freedom, the KMT even infiltrated Fujian and Zhejiang, gathering sympathizers. For Mao, as long as the economy flourished, people will stay supportive of the ideology. Affirmative outcomes manifested widely in Northern and Western China. The Southern, however, remained defiant, even after decades of submission. Still, Southern China was getting keen on the Beijing government, and successfully influence the Pearl River Delta that Hong Kong citizens flocked towards the promising communist government. Especially after a recommended project about building the next megacity, empowering residents announced their encouragement for Mao Ze Dong.
Nevertheless, the conservative faction had enough, and havoc ensued. Her initial policy after her ascension was the Cultural Revolution. Jiang Qing proclaimed a revision of Chinese history, as well as serving the communist ideology as the martyr above all the previous governments. All she needed to bolster this effort was a failed intellectual project or anything that can undermine the influence of scholars and academia. That event happened just weeks after the paramount leader was changed.
The Banqiao Dam was constructed back in 1951 and finished in 1953. The construction of the dam was built by Chinese intellectuals, also by Soviet engineers. In 1969, the dam was evaluated by Chen Xing, stating that the dam was subjected to imminent disaster, and the government must proceed with pressing stratagem. Much to Chen’s surprise back then, Mao demanded reconstruction of parts of the dam. The dam was strengthened and adjusted, fixing the base and open more outputs for control water accumulation. In 1975, hurricane Nina 1975 passed through the dam regions, killing the residences around. Yet, the dam remained intact and had become one of the greatest success the government had conducted, as well as Mao’s confidence with the intellectuals. Sadly, in 1979, the dam broke due to extensive damage from decay and the hurricane.
Ban Qiao Dam Failure (1979)*
Despite the faults not to be entirely the Chinese engineers. Jiang Qing couldn’t care less, as this was her perfect opportunity. She broadcasted the disaster nationwide, exaggerating counts and dramatizing the effects of the disaster. She blamed many of the scholars to cause the deaths of thousands from the flood and famine that followed. Expectedly, demonstrators increased due to being accused of something they never did. Jiang Qing took an iron heart and proceeded to purge according to her will.
At first, she revised the idea of Maoism to strengthen labourer and peasantry. Unlike Mao’s current thoughts of putting the scholars as to the third force, Jiang Qing sufficed in two, and actually promoted the two fundamental classes into soldiers of the communist thought. As for this to happen, Jiang Qing promoted the Red Front, a new youth movement that functioned similarly to a cult for Madame Mao. With the extreme planned economy, Jiang Qing pushed for becoming the literally supreme commander of the state.
Peasant Soldiers reading the Little Red Book, Jiang Qing's book doctrine about her**
Burning of scriptures, traditional clothes in Tibet**
Then, the Cultural Revolution sought to change in four basic aspects. The Four Olds: Custom, Culture, Habit and Ideas, were provoked to be the obstacles of the People’s Republic. Propaganda arts produced substantially, indoctrinate a new generation to fight academics. Intellectuals protest in 1980 and were responded with massive crackdown and purges from the university. Pagodas, temples and ancient scriptures were either broken down, altered, or scraped in favour of the Paramount’s wishes. The people’s Republic of China had become a society worse imagined.
In 1982, the Great Famine happened in Southern China, and Jiang Qing blamed it also on the intellectuals. She appointed also her own supporters even into the lowers branches of government, and kill everyone against her. Unlike her husband, the proletariats were extremely frightened of her, even so criticizing her. Any negative content aiming at her was promoted as taboo. In the same year, Jiang Qing eradicated the entire reformist faction, either killed for treason, exiled, or silenced into extensive house arrest. The CCP had been entirely supportive of her.
The foreign policy of China became aggressive under Madame Mao. She declared the Great Scare and the Great Mission, both of this promised Chinese expansionism beyond borders. The Great Scare involved the United States, Japan and Korea; all of them threatening the survival of the regime. Therefore, in retaliation, China pursued relations with the Soviet Union and the Comecon, as well as inviting India to join the cause. The Great Mission, however, was China’s covert operations to influence Continental Asia. As France’s Mitterrand shouted for appeasement to Germany, China induced anti-France communist rhetoric to Indochina. Rival generals under the junta government of Thailand and Myanmar soon erupted into the domestic competition. By late 1984, Laos had evolved into a civil war between the militarist and communist militias. North Vietnam was secured by China. Starting in 1985, the Chinese funded Khmer Rouge and destabilized Cambodia.
The Last Crownland in Asia
Chinese domestic events had been very influential towards the Colony of Hongkong, especially after Australian Aggression. The 99-year lease will end by 1997, yet Mao had eyed for the colony ever since the British declined rapidly. Prime Minister Arthur Kenneth Chesterton had been delighted to abandon the colony and give to the Chinese yet sooner than scheduled. However, his meeting with the Queen enforced him to do otherwise. Queen Elizabeth II instructed the Prime Minister to retain the possession of the colony until the deadline. In a latter thought, Chesterton complied, as Hongkong may be a stepping corner for future revanchist wars against Indonesia. The colony had a few administrative changes involving the power of the General Governor. After simplifications of colonies into Dominions, Hong Kong endured as the last colony of the United Kingdom. However, the colony had a regional council, and a governor-general to administrate the land.
Pro-CCP protest emerged after 1972, possible after the BUP’s Afrophobia which may extend to Sinophobia. The Chinese citizens demanded a referendum for integration to the Chinese Mainland, which was flourishing in growth. Much of it also came from the scare of the Apartheid conditions of South Africa, imaging each native that Hong Kong will soon be one. Still, the BUP maintained harsh repression against the supporters. Hong Kong fears motivated them to emigrate from the nation. Some labours flocked to Mainland China, while businessmen moved to South Vietnam and Indonesia.
Another suggestion from the Royal Family, which the BUP agreed, was exiling a few hard-lined Conservative MPs there. The party, or the remnants of it, had moved into the BUP platform. Some of them, however, remained strict to the conservative values. One MP who had created troubles for the BUP was Margaret Thatcher. A strong advocate of liberalism, small government and privatization had become an impediment for strong government, nationalization BUP. After Jim Prior ascended into the premiership, he appointed Margaret Thatcher as the first woman, former party-affiliated, and politician Governor General of Hong Kong. In November 1974, she effectively moved her station to Hong Kong, and the region changed dramatically.
Upon arrival, Margaret Thatcher ended the dissonant relation between the Hong Kong Council and the Governor. Weak governance, obstinate racism and corruption-plagued the growth of the region. She effectively increased her control to rooted out all impartial defects from the old administration. Fortunately, as more conservative exiles arrived in Hong Kong, the Council had become effectively hers, she then pushed for her agendas.
Governor-General of Hong Kong Margaret Thatcher (1974-)****
Privatization, liberalism and a free-market economy were reinforced in Hong Kong. The government in the UK shared a disappointment to Thatcher’s conflicting beliefs to be implemented there, yet Thatcher had brokered a deal with Jim Prior. Under Thatcher, the UK should give her self-governance and independence of will to Hong Kong. In return, Hong Kong will give a negotiable amount of revenue, also helping the United Kingdom out from the self-made isolationist stance after BUP’s rise. Jim Prior signed the deal, called the Thatcher-Prior Agreement, with confidence from the British Parliament.
The first ten years of her rule had become great progress for the citizens of Hong Kong. Business returned and thrive in Hong Kong. Japanese shipment came again to the port, and the city had returned its status as an Asian continental port, competing with Singapore. Relations with the United States was originally bitter under Shafer and the first Carter term. Yet, relations improved on Carter’s later second term, and Hong Kong thrived.
Margaret Thatcher, 1984
In 1981, Thatcher announced Hong Kong as a tax haven, even appealing to more business to come to Hong Kong. The spending was so efficient that 25% of the profit was returned to the UK, which was derived to pay the welfare programs. In 1982, even Japan announced mutual assistance with the UK, as combating the Chinese attempts of expansionism and also improving business vice versa. In 1983, a secret agreement was made to Lee Kuan Yew, giving Hong Kong a profitable economic friendship with Indonesia’s Singapore. Jiang Qing threatened the region in March 1984 after many Chinese mainlanders fled to Hong Kong after the change of leadership. She backed down in 1985, thinking that Hong Kong will return to China by 1997. Currently, Hong Kong, even under the hated BUP Britain, was lovable by Western nations. Thatcher called this paradox Britain’s One Country Two Systems, expressing the Colony’s vastly opposing policy than the United Kingdom.
==================================
*The Ban Qiao dam failed in 1975 OTL, but with intellectuals performing better under Mao, and also less repression, the dam withstood until 1979.** The little Red Book OTL is about Mao's views. ITTL would be about Madame Mao's view and a mixture of Mao's old ones.
***Tibet is still under repression, and with India under China's friendly terms, Tibetans will never stand a chance.
**** Margaret Thatcher's OTL persistence maintain ITTL, she became one of the exiles to HK, and become one loved politician there.
We return to the domestic policy after this, covering few shifts under the PUP and Subandrio's administration.
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