The Dragon Rises
Taipei (1971)
While America was roiled by turmoil, Eurasia stumbled, and Germany caught its breath, a fourth power was emerging. The Republic of China had spent the post-war era industrializing and preparing itself under American guidance. A large portion of America's incredible post-war boom was built off of selling goods to China as the country rebuilt. China was led by Zhou Enlai in this period, taking over for Chiang Kai-Shek in 1945 as the latter man's increasing autocratic tendencies annoyed his men and displeased his American backers. Zhou was elected President of China in free and fair election on November 3rd, 1946. Lacking term limits, President Zhou would remain in the post until his death in 1980. A fair-minded leader, proud small-d democrat, and a mandarin in the Confucian mold, Zhou's policies set China on the path to success, even as he was forced to delicately handle ongoing nationalist and revanchist movements.
Zhou emphasized economic growth over all else. American investment provided the bulk of the needed starting capital, although Irish, Quebecoise, Venezuelan, Scandinavian, and Italian investors did their fair share as well. However, President Zhou made it a goal to wean the nation off of its dependence on foreign investment as soon as possible, and he created a generous tax structure to encourage Chinese-run businesses to invest heavily in their country. The results were astonishing. In 1946, only a small fraction of China's 520 million strong population had electricity or running water. By 1970, 98% of China's 812.2 million people had access to both. Hundreds of new dams were built to power this massive need for energy, although plenty of coal was still required. Ancient villages were torn down to make way for modest, but comfortable apartments and townhomes. Factories sprung up, and China ended American dominance over the East Asian and South Asian steel markets by 1965. China excelled in heavy industry but still lagged the US in consumer products. Even the products China did make were perceived (correctly usually) to be inferior to American products. Despite this particular weakness, a byproduct of China having a weaker engineering and design class than the United States, the level of transformation cannot be overstated. In the course of a generation your average Chinese man went from being a peasant farmer living in a primitive village whose only access to the outside world was an unpaved road to working as a unionized factory worker going to and from work in an air-conditioned bus or train (cars were still luxury items, albeit increasingly common) and then coming home to a modern apartment. Where once food insecurity was endemic, the average family could prepare traditional Chinese fare on an electric cooktop or in a standard issue GE stove, and while they waited they could go into their small fridge (about 1/3rd the size of an American one) and pop open a six-pack of Coca-Colas for mom, dad, and children while they waited.
This rapid economic modernization didn't just drastically improve the Chinese standard of living; it made China a behemoth. By the time of Zhou's death, the Republic of China was the 3rd largest economy in the world, and Germany was just barely clinging onto #2. With this abundance of riches, China invested heavily in education, infrastructure, and the military. China created a new National Examination System that was essentially a modern take on the mandarin exams. Exams came in two rounds. At the end of primary schooling, Chinese children would take the National Secondary Education Exam, which would determine which secondary school they would go to. The upper 20% of students would go onto the Premier Secondary Schools, which had the most rigorous curriculum of any secondary school of a major power, and which could almost guarantee college admissions. The middle 60% would go to Secondary Schools, which were more in line with a typical middle school, and sent a majority of students into trades. The bottom 20% were shunted into remedial school and military schools. After two tiers of Secondary School, the
gaokao would be administered. Widely considered the most brutal college entrance exam in the world, attempts at cheating became so prevalent that the ROC made cheating on the exam a felony for which a student could be tried as an adult, often alongside their parents. For those who excelled on the
gaokao, life became their oyster. They were guaranteed spots in China's most elite universities, and the ROC would subsidize high performers if they chose to study abroad, typically in America, Germany, or the Tripartite Empire. America was by far and away the biggest recipient of Chinese exchange students, creating a new Americanized Chinese elite. For those who passed, albeit in a middling fashion, China had many decent universities for them to go to, creating the beginnings of an educated middle class. For those who didn't pass (a majority) trade school, the workforce, or the military were all options. In infrastructure, China and the United States invested in the Beijing-Guangzhou-Shenzen-Hong Kong high speed rail line in 1969. The longest and biggest high-speed rail line in the world, it revolutionized Chinese transit, integrated American Hong Kong more closely to the mainland (economically) and demonstrated the superiority of the Free World. Germany and Eurasia would soon begin their own long high-speed rail lines, sparking a competition among the Great Powers.
Militarily, China was rapidly building muscle. Although eventually Chinese sidearms and rifles would be made by domestic producers, China took advantage of its alliance with the US to buy up large amounts of advanced military equipment at low prices. By 1964, China was a force to be reckoned with. In 1969, they demonstrated this. With Eurasia still in crisis from the severing of American and European economic ties, her grasp on her Tibetan puppet state slipped just enough for a nationalist revolution to begin. China saw her window of opportunity and took it. In June of 1969, 100,000 Chinese troops marched and parachuted into Tibet, sweeping aside the crumbling security forces and deporting ethnic Russian settlers. Eurasia threatened war, but everyone knew that the threat was empty. Paving all the highways gold would have been a more affordable endeavor than war with China. However, Moscow made it clear that any attempt to take "integral Eurasian territory" would incite nuclear war. Nonetheless, China quickly went about asserting Chinese rule in Tibet, sparking a decade-long insurgency. The rebellion would finally end in 1979, as promises of cultural autonomy combined with rising standards of living took the steam out of most Tibetans' sails. While the public was overjoyed at this "reclamation of integral Chinese land," a large nationalist segment of the population was not. While not racial Han nationalists (the public execution of Sun Yat-Sen mostly eliminated that movement) many Chinese were Han cultural supremacists. They wanted to recreate the borders of the Qing Empire under a "proper Chinese government" and once again make the Middle Kingdom (now the Middle Republic) center of the Asian world. President Zhou was able to tamp down this movement, in part by giving them some of what they wanted. When Germany was forced to surge troops into the Middle East in the mid-70's, an aging Zhou took advantage once again and managed to make Burma and Thailand (Germany's only Asian clients) into de facto tributary states of Beijing. China had already overthrown the Communist governments of Nepal and Bhutan in '71 and made them into new tributaries as well. Each nation adopted Chinese style democracy (including its strong executive) and began emulating Chinese culture.
It helped that China's culture was blossoming in a way not seen in at least a century. Shanghai became a center of "Shanghai Jazz" and was also known as the "Beaconsfield of the East." In Beijing, a revival of traditional Chinese musical styles began. A revolution in Cantonese literature in Guangzhou and American Hong Kong united the two world powers more closely as Americans eagerly read translations of these works. The so-called Guangzhou Renaissance focused on novels emphasizing the human condition and Confucian traditions. Some literature upheld Confucianism, others exposed its hypocrisies and follies. With these attractive cultural products in tow, China was once again becoming a respected civilization across the world, with massive soft power potential to complement its rising economy and powerful military. China was truly a growing superpower.
This rising superpower inspired anxiety in, and conflict with, her former benefactor. While most Americans and Chinese were fond of one another and the alliance would continue for many decades to come, there was a deal of unease in the US about China's rapid rise. Some in Washington feared (not without reason) that China might try and force them out of Asia. Others feared that the rising tide of nationalism would spark China to wage a nuclear war with Eurasia after Beijing successfully detonated an atomic bomb in August, 1966, becoming the fifth member of the nuclear club after Italy. Chinese rage over the loss of Manchuria and Xinjiang was real and abiding, and America's de facto recognition of these annexations was not popular in China. The Chinese also disliked America's "overbearing" role in the Alliance for Liberty and Washington's broad sphere in Asia. However, little could be done about these because many, particularly in Asia, feared that China would be a more controlling hegemon than Washington. Then there was the issue of Hong Kong. China requested the first of many referendums about reuniting Hong Kong with China in 1970, and was shocked to see a 60-40 vote in favor of remaining in the Union. Despite these issue, Washington and Beijing did work well together. America respected China's growing power with more say in the AFL, and China remained genuinely grateful for American support. The "Most Powerful Marriage in the World" would continue for many years.
Flag of the ROC
A military parade in Guangzhou (1965). Notice the revanchist map of China.
Chinese fashion models (1969)
President Zhou on vacation in Taipei (1975)