Hopefully the six months it took for the Japanese to take control of Manchuria won't have been wasted by the Nationalists. In any case Chinese public opinion is now fired up and ready for war.
Excellent update!! The war is beginning a bit faster than in OTL!!
And I would like to ask, whether or not the elected government in Tokyo would "create trouble" for the Kwantung army as in OTL. You know, Japanese prime ministers Reijiro Wakatsuki and Tsuyoshi Inukai did not even recognise the independce of Manchuria before April 1932.
Inukai opposed the actions of Kwantung army at first, and he would be assassinated in the infamous May 15th Incident in 1932. If nothing is changed in TTL Japan, Wakatsuki of the Rikken Minseito (Consitutional Democratic Party) should have been the Prime Minister of Japan at the time. Would he get mad or remain silent like Giichi Tanaka, and then got removed from office in 1929?
Holy crap! That is so cool!! I remember reading Zhang had his own car (which were rarer in China than Western nations) , but didn't realise it was battle capable! Ok, now I have to retcon my post to include this!I wonder--could that be his late father's custom-made Packard, which came with side-mounted machine guns?
I hope the collorationist generals get their asses handed to them eventually.
Okay, I wuv Li Zongren, and definitely think he was one of the more capable leaders during this period (and indeed it's probably no coincidence that the Guangxi Clique were among the more capable warlords in China).
I also agree, though, that you sort of paper over Zhang zoulin. His son in OTL proved himself a capable fighter, no?
I'd recommand not to use this picture which is obviously from a later period: the Chinese soldiers are wearing GI-style helmets which in OTL were only issued in 1942, and the Jeep is another anachronism.Chinese soldiers patrolling the streets after the Shanghai Incident.
The way things are playing out is quite interesting. Incidentally, in this kind of circumstance, I think the men involved would address each other by their respective courtesy names: Lixin for Wang, Zhesheng for Sun, Delin for Li, Yongzhi for Kong and Shaochuan for Gu.
I'd recommand not to use this picture which is obviously from a later period: the Chinese soldiers are wearing GI-style helmets which in OTL were only issued in 1942, and the Jeep is another anachronism.
The courtesy name, or zi, is a practice that fell out of use later in the 20th century but which was still seen among men of Jiang's generation. It is based on the fact that it was traditionally considered disrespectful for adult men of the same generation to address each other by their given names. So instead of that they would use a pseudonym, either attributed by a mentor figure or chosen by themselves. It was usually dissyllabic.Are those names the Chinese words for their positions? If so then I can just stick to president, minister, general, etc. or are they names they perosnally had? (My knowledge on this stuff is a bit lacking)
Just wonder how China with initial positive development would get destroyed in the 1990s The population of Hong Kong in TTL would probably be 10,000,000+ (HK can accept far many people... only if you destory those countryparks, occupying around 47% of land in Hong Kong)And here's a little teaser for whats coming in the next few posts
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18 April 1995
Los Angeles
USA
Moving to Los Angeles may have been the best move that John Lau had ever made. Despite the lack of radiation around southern China and Hong Kong, the British colony had been flooded to the brim with refugees fleeing the chaotic mainland. The last year had seen some semblance of order restored to the still-liveable parts of China, but the government was only surviving by the skin of its teeth. So the people still left the country in droves, seeking a better life in places like Hong Kong, South Japan, Vietnam, even Korea, which had taken some damage from the nuclear exchange between the old Chinese government and the former USSSR, but had managed to secure plenty of aid from Europe and the US.'
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From ‘The Complete Second World War, Volume 1: The Opening Moves, From Manchuria to Yugoslavia’
By Robert Keegan
© 1985, Coleman Publishing Group, St Louis, USA
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Zhang Xueliang wasn't going to retreat. His father hadn't retreated in battle and he wouldn't either. If the Japanese wanted a fight he would give it to them
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this is getting really interesting I hope the Chinese can push the Japanese out of China before our time and the Chinese civilians will not have to suffer as heavily
So the professional core of the NRA is gone - and the Second Sino-Japanese War seems to be heating up much earlier than in OTL. Does this mean that the GMD will have to rely on the warlord armies to a larger extent if and when the Japanese begin their offensive, or will Li Zongren try to make peace with the Japanese to buy time to rebuild the NRA? If he chooses to do so this would entail cutting loose the rebels in Manchuria, evacuating Rehe, and possibly giving up all of Manchuria.
The courtesy name, or zi, is a practice that fell out of use later in the 20th century but which was still seen among men of Jiang's generation. It is based on the fact that it was traditionally considered disrespectful for adult men of the same generation to address each other by their given names. So instead of that they would use a pseudonym, either attributed by a mentor figure or chosen by themselves. It was usually dissyllabic.
THis was a good update, and I like the hints being dropped about the world beyond East Asia in this timeline.
The Chinese have Binary Divisions?
Just wonder how China with initial positive development would get destroyed in the 1990s The population of Hong Kong in TTL would probably be 10,000,000+ (HK can accept far many people... only if you destory those countryparks, occupying around 47% of land in Hong Kong)
Yes. And I recognise the possibility that a stronger China, or perhaps a one-time-superpower may really cast a spell on the future of China instead. Anyway, love to see how things are to gradually turn crazy in TTLYou did read the prologue right?
I suppose some mainland cities with a 5,000,000+ population could escape being nuked too?but don't worry HK isn't going to take any direct hits , but even 10,000,000 isn't enough to absorb a devastated mainland which will still have at least several hundred million people