Was it possible to colonize China?

Actually, thinking about iit, I believe we should ask if China WAS colonised or not.

It was not one titular power but a consortium of power had total control over its foreign and military policies, a huge control of its economy and the ability to extract territory and further wealth at will.

It seems to me at least like a protectorate
 
If the Ming collapse is not followed by Kangxi's consolidation but if instead China fragments into increasing #s of warring states, not on track to reconsolidate for over a century, and if a European power has the right strokes of luck, maybe, just maybe, different parts of China could become an "India" for various European powers like Britain, France or Russia.


Examples- Wu Sangui helps the Shun beat the Qing, but the Shun fail to establish a legitimate dynasty, the three feudatories and Ming revivalist revolts prosper and become entwined with European power politics, early "treaty ports" and factories are more widely established, there are rebellions or civil wars every generation and so on.

Wu Sangui has almost no reason to help the Shun. Li Zicheng murdered his family and was an all-around idiot, since he wanted to exterminate Ming forces. Wu Sangui had to open the gates.
 
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