Is it possible at any point after the fall of the Zhou Dynasty, for China to remain several independent states, rather than unite under the Qin or Chu or *insert dynasty here*?
Is it possible at any point after the fall of the Zhou Dynasty, for China to remain several independent states, rather than unite under the Qin or Chu or *insert dynasty here*?
So if I'm understanding this correctly, it's not impossible, just incredibly difficult?No, because in OTL the Zhou fell to the Qin. Those independent states were runaway vassals under the rule of a king without any hard power and ceremonial authority.
But my smartassity aside, I think the states were just destined to be united in some fashion, there's too much gravity already at work, the fact that much of the Balkanization of the Spring and Autumn period was turned over by the time of the warring states, what once was dozens of petty statelets were now a handful capable of exerting actual authority. If you want China to remain broken then you need outside powers to get involved. I'm not sure who'd have the given strength in the SPAP to take adavantage of the disunity, maybe the Yue to the south. But internally, those lands at their core just unite regardless. The periphery can fall out of orbit but invasion would have to happen for Middle Kingdom to be shattered
How would one go about doing this?Preventing the erosion of other ethnic identities like Di, Xianbei and Qiang would also help, as it would create more fault lines to disrupt a unified Chinese state.
How would one go about doing this?