
The Sun Rises in the East
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日は東から昇る
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太陽從東邊升起
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태양은 동쪽에서 뜬다
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ព្រះអាទិត្យរះនៅទិសខាងកើត
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सूरज पूरब में उगता है
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Mặt trời mọc ở hướng Đông
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The world we know today was built off the back of Europe. For much of history, outside of some trading, the Western and Eastern worlds were relatively separate from each other, and about pulled even in technology, though China certainly had the upper hand in that field. Then gunpowder went west, the Renaissance happened, there was a period of stagnation in Asia as China looked inward, and the next thing you know, Great Britain controls half the world and is knocking on China's door to get them addicted to opium.-
日は東から昇る
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太陽從東邊升起
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태양은 동쪽에서 뜬다
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ព្រះអាទិត្យរះនៅទិសខាងកើត
-
सूरज पूरब में उगता है
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Mặt trời mọc ở hướng Đông
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The rise of the West seems almost inevitable in today's historical view. But what if the East rose instead? There is no explicit POD here. But our story begins with the Mongol Empire. The bloated empire manages to last longer, and while Mongol influence declines, Chinese meddling expands, until the whole nation is essentially one big Yuan Dynasty. Eventually, the empire does break up, but Chinese and Asian culture by that point has seeped into Russia. The Golden Horde of TTL is just diet China.
While China focuses on the continent, the Majapahit Empire looks to the Pacific for expansion. They take the first steps east, landing in Australia, then New Guinea, then Fiji. Eventually, they land in South America, and word gets back to Asia about the New World. Colonization hijinx ensue. Nihon gets extremely psyched at the prospects of new land, and something similar to the OTL Meiji Restoration takes place, putting an expansion-minded emperor on the throne. The Shogunate form of government survives, though, as the way the Nihonese control their extremely-populous Mexica Shogunate that way. Goreyo and China got interested next, and Nihon took down the Inca. In the 1760s, the most populous Nihonese colonies in North Occidentia declared independence, and over the next century spread east to the Atlantic. Currently, sights are set on exploiting resources in the backwards kingdoms of Europe (except for Eikoku [Britain], Nihon's little pet, who seeks its own sphere of influence in France and the HRE) and colonizing Africa, which the Majapahit, Indians, and Thai are looking into.
That's the basic skeleton of my interpretation of an Easternized World.