Three Chinas?

How could we get three different countries claiming to be China? Extra points if one's imperial, one's a republic, and one's communist.
 
How could we get three different countries claiming to be China? Extra points if one's imperial, one's a republic, and one's communist.
Uhm... most communist regimes are, and were republics. Not democratic ones, of course, but neither was Nationalist China.
 

Thande

Donor
How could we get three different countries claiming to be China? Extra points if one's imperial, one's a republic, and one's communist.

The first one can be done with the Manchu invasion (Qing, Ming and Zhou) but the second proviso is a wee bit more difficult.

I suppose if something stops Japan interfering in China in the 20th century, you could have a republican revolution in China proper but the Qing hold on in Manchuria...then a Communist state (maybe in Taiwan for irony) crops up later?
 

Thande

Donor
Uhm... most communist regimes are, and were republics. Not democratic ones, of course, but neither was Nationalist China.

Oh, good catch; when Americans say republic I automatically, wearily translate it into 'democratic state' and forget I'm doing it :D
 
Sorry for the confusion. I meant one monarchy/empire, one communist or socialist republic, and one non-communist or socialist republic.
 
Sorry for the confusion. I meant one monarchy/empire, one communist or socialist republic, and one non-communist or socialist republic.
Yes, I figured that was the case, but, for reasons of clearing that piece of confusion up at the start, I asked nontheless.
 
it actually came pretty close to happening in OTL:

there was Manchukuo, a Manchu empire with Puyi leading it, Mao's Communist China, and the ROC.

maybe if the ROC somehow democrat-ized in the 20s or 30s it would work.
 

Hendryk

Banned
How could we get three different countries claiming to be China? Extra points if one's imperial, one's a republic, and one's communist.
How about this: Yuan Shikai's plan to set himself up as emperor doesn't backfire quite as badly as in OTL; while the bulk of the Beiyang Army breaks from him, he retains the loyalty of a few retainers, among them Feng Guozhang and Duan Qirui, who help him impose his rule on the east-central provinces (the territory held by the Zhili clique at the beginning of the Warlord Era in OTL). While he rules for less than a year, upon his death, his son Keding inherits the throne and is kept as a convenient figurehead by the military strongmen who are actually in charge. In the following years, this neo-imperial China fails to extend its rule to the other provinces, but manages to consolidate its home base.

Meanwhile, Manchuria is taken over by Zhang Zuolin, who rules as a warlord but finds himself unable to prevent creeping Japanese encroachment throughout the 1920s. In order to resist all-out invasion, he calls on the Soviets for help in 1932, and Stalin is all too happy to seize the opportunity to retake the region lost to Japanese influence in 1905. After three years of war, Japan is forced to leave Manchuria alone, but Zhang realizes to his dismay that his regime has by then been thoroughly infiltrated by Soviet agents and local Communists. He is deposed in 1936 and Manchuria becomes a formally independent country called the People's Republic of China, in fact a Soviet puppet state.

This leaves southern China, where Nationalist influence is strongest. From its base in Guangdong, the GMD takes control of neighboring provinces. An attempt to overthrow the neo-imperial regime to the north fails when the Northen Expedition is repelled, and the Nationalists decide to instead consolidate their local rule while waiting for another opportunity to reunify China.

Voilà!
 
How about this: Yuan Shikai's plan to set himself up as emperor doesn't backfire quite as badly as in OTL; while the bulk of the Beiyang Army breaks from him, he retains the loyalty of a few retainers, among them Feng Guozhang and Duan Qirui, who help him impose his rule on the east-central provinces (the territory held by the Zhili clique at the beginning of the Warlord Era in OTL). While he rules for less than a year, upon his death, his son Keding inherits the throne and is kept as a convenient figurehead by the military strongmen who are actually in charge. In the following years, this neo-imperial China fails to extend its rule to the other provinces, but manages to consolidate its home base.

Meanwhile, Manchuria is taken over by Zhang Zuolin, who rules as a warlord but finds himself unable to prevent creeping Japanese encroachment throughout the 1920s. In order to resist all-out invasion, he calls on the Soviets for help in 1932, and Stalin is all too happy to seize the opportunity to retake the region lost to Japanese influence in 1905. After three years of war, Japan is forced to leave Manchuria alone, but Zhang realizes to his dismay that his regime has by then been thoroughly infiltrated by Soviet agents and local Communists. He is deposed in 1936 and Manchuria becomes a formally independent country called the People's Republic of China, in fact a Soviet puppet state.

This leaves southern China, where Nationalist influence is strongest. From its base in Guangdong, the GMD takes control of neighboring provinces. An attempt to overthrow the neo-imperial regime to the north fails when the Northen Expedition is repelled, and the Nationalists decide to instead consolidate their local rule while waiting for another opportunity to reunify China.

Voilà!

Very good! That'd be a pretty interesting TL.
 

Hendryk

Banned
Very good! That'd be a pretty interesting TL.
Here's a rough and ready map to go with it.

Three Chinas 2.GIF
 
Well I suppose you could always have Wei, Wu and Shu become pernament if you want a really old POD... ;)
 
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