In the year 1910, Jack London (author of The Call of the Wild and other books) wrote a sci-fi story (although it reads like alt-history nowadays) for a magazine. In the story, all of China becomes a satellite state of Japan and China undergoes heavy industrialization within a single decade. In 1922, China turns against Japan and annexes Korea, Manchuria, and Taiwan. In the 1970s, China's population grows massively and it decides to conquer Japan and all of the European colonies in Asia. The European response to this incursion is to use biological warfare to wipe out 99% of China's population and kill the rest with soldiers. USA and Europe then colonizes China and "This opens the way to a joyous epoch of 'splendid mechanical, intellectual, and art output" (the author's words, not mine). The biological weapons then used to genocide China are subsequently banned and destroyed.
So ignoring how bizarre and awful it is that the genocide of billions of Chinese people can be portrayed as a positive thing; I want to know how plausible is this story from a historical perspective. Particularly
So ignoring how bizarre and awful it is that the genocide of billions of Chinese people can be portrayed as a positive thing; I want to know how plausible is this story from a historical perspective. Particularly
- How plausible is it that China in the early 20th Century or even late 19th Century industrialize to the same extent that contemporary Japan did?
- How plausible is it that this China can win a war against Japan and end up taking over Korea, Manchuria, and Taiwan? Later on this China will also conquer all the European colonies in Asia.
- How plausible is it that the 1900s Western Powers can come up with a weapon that can wipe out the vast majority of the Chinese population without said weapon backfiring on them?