The Empire Of Heaven; Dragon Over Asia

I was considering making this a formal timeline post rather than a discussion/debate, but due to my lack of knowledge of the later Qing empire and asian politics at the time, I chose accordingly.
To the point: What could've happened to save the Qing Empire? When? How? How would this ripple out into the rest of the world and change geopolitics such as Japanese expansionism, European colonialism, etc.
 
You'd need a POD sometime around 1800, where China has a Meiji Restoration of sorts. This means that thirty years or so have passed between this reform and the first Opium War. Here, the Chinese government refuses opium, but has a reasonably strong army to fight back. HK is never ceded to Britain, and none of the concessions are set up. The Chinese also keep control of Outer Manchuria (not ceding it to Russia), Korea, and Taiwan. Japan is unable to expand, and even if the Meiji Restoration occurs as per OTL, Japan will never be a strong power, most likely a Chinese proxy. What will be interesting is what the Qing do in WWI...
 
The Japanese navy would still likely at least match the Chinese navy, as China would have to spend considerable resources on land forces.

A good POD would be if the Qianlong Emperor is intrigued enough by McCartney to exchange embassies with Britain.
 
I haven't seen much on the 1917 Qing Restoration attempt, if you want to be really different. You'd have to change a lot, but I think it might be worth a look.
 
I haven't seen much on the 1917 Qing Restoration attempt, if you want to be really different. You'd have to change a lot, but I think it might be worth a look.
How do you suppose the Restoration could've gone better? More loyal soldier from the Han/Manchu/Mongolians? Foreign aid? My first thought is a much more capable Royalist Party, capable of rallying more support and loyal armies to their side, taking much of Mongolia, Manchuria and some of the Han Chinese land in the Monarchist counter-coup.
 
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