Large European minority in China

How large does the European population have to be? It could be feasible for some European power to make more of an effort to colonize Taiwan than the Dutch did, overwhelm the relatively small native population with settlers, then have China conquer the island later. Provided Taiwan stays relatively isolated for as long as it did OTL, you could have a substantial population on the island with mainly European ancestry. They would be a fraction of a percentage of the total population of China, but then so are the vast majority of China's ethnic groups. The trick would be coming up with an incentive for settling the island so far from Europe with relatively little to offer compared to the Americas.
 
Reread my suggestion I didn't suggest they settled the densely populated centre, but instead they was settled in the periphery of the Empire, where they would be settled by the Mongols.

Understood, however between land under cultivation by the Chinese and pastoral land used by nomads I'm not sure where you would settle these relatively small migrant populations and have them maintain independence for centuries. Maybe if this was within Mongolia and they remain under Mongol protection indefinitely.
 
Difficult, if not impossible. You can try keeping the Russian minority in Manchuria, somehow. Other than that... ehh... you'd need a lot of dead Chinese...

There is a short story by Jack London that was written during the Yellow Peril era called the unparelled invasion. In 1910 I believe. Basically the Chinese threaten Europeans and America by becoming more powerful and populous so the combined work of the Europeans/Americans is to develop a bioweapon and basically slaughter all the Chinese.

Is that plausible?
This ought to be in the Worst Work of Alternate History thread for mass death scenario. :biggrin:
 
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