Why the Chinese play cricket (an Imperial Federation timeline)

During the 3rd Iteration I always liked marking who made the 500th, 1000th, 1500th etc post. It was a little ego indulgence on my part as to how well the TL seemed to being received. I thought I'd keep that tradition here. Sooooo woo how, 500th reply goes to @UrbanNight. I will now return to the regularly scheduled TL posts :cool:
 
I was considering suggesting Xiàn (憲) as dynasty name for the southern dynasty.
Will the state officially refer to itself as Great Xianfa (大憲法) or use one of the names for China, such as Zhōngguó (中國) or Zhōnghuá (中華)?

Xianfa just fits them so well, way better than Gaige. As to how they'll refer to themselves officially. I think they'd start of with exclusively using Xianfa or even Great Xianfa, though Great Xianfa may be too far for the radicals like Sun. They didn't do that well in most of the Chinese Civil War and nearly went under. They're the ones who signed the Boxer Protocol with the Great Powers plus they still have a 'foreign' Manchu Emperor, both of which cost them heavily in terms of Chinese support. So they really need to keep the support of the more moderate traditional monarchists. But as time goes on and their reforms kick in (along with the Guangxu Emperor standing down in favour of a Han Chinese Emperor), turning southern China into a modern industrial regional power and edging toward world power rivaling Japan, they'll probably shift to 中华帝国 Zhōnghuá Dìguó (Chinese Empire I believe) and maybe eventually even 中华民族 Zhōnghuá Mínzú (google tells me this is Chinese nation).
 
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Xianfa just fits them so well, way better than Gaige. As to how they'll refer to themselves officially. I think they'd start off with exclusively using Xianfa or even Great Xianfa, though Great Xianfa may be too far for the radicals like Sun. They didn't do that well in most of the Chinese Civil War and nearly went under. They're the ones who signed the Boxer Protocol with the Great Powers plus they still have a 'foreign' Manchu Emperor, both of which cost them heavily in terms of Chinese support. So, they really need to keep the support of the more moderate traditional monarchists. But as time goes on and their reforms kick in (along with the Guangxu Emperor standing down in favour of a Han Chinese Emperor), turning southern China into a modern industrial regional power and edging toward world power rivaling Japan, they'll probably shift to 中华帝国 Zhōnghuá Dìguó (Chinese Empire I believe) and maybe eventually even 中华民族 Zhōnghuá Mínzú (google tells me this is Chinese nation).
In Traditional Chinese these are 中華帝國 Zhōnghuá Dìguó (Chinese Empire) and 中華民族 Zhōnghuá Mínzú (Chinese Nation/Ethnicity).
I'd doubt the state would officially be called Zhōnghuá Mínzú because of its ethnic meaning, but it would definitely be used in official announcements, propaganda, etc.
 
In Traditional Chinese these are 中華帝國 Zhōnghuá Dìguó (Chinese Empire) and 中華民族 Zhōnghuá Mínzú (Chinese Nation/Ethnicity).
I'd doubt the state would officially be called Zhōnghuá Mínzú because of its ethnic meaning, but it would definitely be used in official announcements, propaganda, etc.

My continuing thanks. Trying to navigate the Chinese language seems a little like trying to understand quantum physics to me. Well actually I probably do better with quantum physics than the Chinese language lol.

The path of the southern Chinese dynasty is pretty due to an uneasy alliance between three men. The Guangxu Emperor, Zhang Zhidong and Sun Yat-sen. These three are pretty much responsible for its creation. The key change ITTL is the Guangxu Emperor was educated in Britain (yes this really does require hooking up the TL's genitals to a truck battery to make happen, but so far it is the only time I've had to go to that extreme). This resulted in a major change in his personality from the OTL. While he kept his unrealistic expectations regarding the pace of reforms, probably even making them more extreme, he's far less under Cixi's influence and has a much better understanding of the world outside the Qing court.

As already posted, he only returned to China properly after the outbreak of the Sino-Japanese War in 1894. He had returned briefly in 1887, but at that point he wanted to stay in Britain for further education and his actions during that time very quickly convinced Cixi he was way too liberal in his outlook. So he got shipped back while Cixi tried to gain enough support to replace him. While she hadn't gained enough support to get rid of him totally by 1894, she had been able to convince the conservative elements in the Qing court he was not 'the right man for the job' as Emperor. So when he did come back and almost immediately recognised the Chinese were going to get their backsides handed to them by the Japanese and tried to open peace negotiations, she was able to stage a coup and reimpose a regency under her control. Wasn't hard for her to do that, the Emperor was totally unprepared for Qing court politicos and she easily out maneuvered him.

While the Emperor wasn't able to end Cixi's regency, the crushing Chinese defeat in the war did gain him a lot of support with the reformers in the court and allow him to largely take charge of the Qing military moderanisation after the war. During the next three years, he learnt the fine art of political intrigue and built up a solid support base mostly in southern China (particularly strong in Guangdong and Guangxi). So when the French, Germans and Russians forced a series of humiliating territorial concessions in late 1897 and early 1898, he had enough support to end the regency and take direct control of the Chinese government. This is when he plunged headfirst into reform (roughly the OTL 100 days reforms, though he got more like 200 days ITTL). As with his attempts in the OTL, he pushed way too far way too quickly. Plus his anglophillia meant he favoured British and US interests too much, freezing out the French, Germans and Russians. This allowed Cixi to stage another coup (backed by said French, Germans and Russians along with Yuan Shikai).

Cixi still couldn't get enough support to get rid of him totally yet, but she did put him under house arrest as per the OTL. This is when she started backing the Boxers. The Boxer War went pretty much as per the OTL up until the Emperor's supporters sprung him from house arrest. He went to Nanjing and was able to form a rival government with the support of the leaders of the Pact for the Mutual Defence of the Southeastern Provinces. Well except Yuan Shikai, who realised the Emperor was very much NOT keen on him after his support of Cixi's coup, so he fled to Shanxi, taking a good part of his army with him. He'd ultimately join up with Cixi when she fled to Xi'an. This when China split, with two competing governments, Cixi's in Xi'an and the Emperor's in Nanjing. The Xi'an government will eventually become the Zheng in northern China and the Nanjing government the Xianfa in southern China.

The Emperor appointed a Grand Council composed largely of Han Chinese headed by Zhang Zhidong and brought the more radical reformers such as Sun Yat-sen into his government. This alienated most of the Manchu officials, but did buy him enough wider support to survive what came next. By now the Great Powers had crushed the Boxers and occupied Beijing. Realising there was no other option, he moved to negotiate with them before Cixi could. While he managed to play the Great Powers off against each other fairly well (those three years learning the intricacies of Qing politics plus his European education paid off here), the terms imposed where harsh and humiliating for the Chinese. This cost him a lot of support in China, something the Xi'an government did not fail to capitalise on. The Xi'an still had control of a significant portion of China's new armies and launched a military campaign to regain control of China. They didn't attack the Great Powers, but they did attack the Nanjing forces starting with Hubei.

Initially the Nanjing forces held fairly well, but then Li Hongzhang, one of the Emperor's biggest supporters and commander of a large portion of the best Nanjing forces died. His successor defected to the Xi'an, handing them much of northern China along with the majority of the new armies and the two modern Chinese arsenals at Hanyang and Chengdu. From here, the Nanjing government was fighting for its life. They still had some extremely good troops from Guangdong and Guangxi, but they were stretch very thin. Plus the Europeans were very reluctant to sell guns to both sides after the Boxer War, so the Nanjing were very short of equipment. Eventually the British did agree to allow the Nanjing government to buy weapons, but this was expensive. Given what they had, the Nanjing did pretty well for awhile. Mostly due to a particularly good general on their side, helped by some infighting and incompetence on the Xi'an part. But eventually the Xi'an were able to buy off one the commanders of the troops defending their capital at Nanjing. This forced the Nanjing government to abandon a very large chunk of territory, including Nanjing and Shanghai, and brought the remaining undecided provinces over to the Xi'an.

This is where I'm up to in the TL development, with the Nanjing government having relocated to Guangzhou and looking like its about to go under. My sketch has them surviving, mostly due to Yuan Shikai staging a coup against Cixi, declaring himself Emperor and offering the Nanjing a ceasefire to allow him to consolidate his power. The narrowness of their survival forces the three major players in the Nanjing government to develop a compromise system between the radical reformers led by Sun Yat-sen who want a republic and moderates headed by Zhang Zhidong who want a constitutional monarchy, with the Guangxu Emperor playing mediator.
 
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This is where I'm up to in the TL development, with the Nanjing government having relocated to Guangzhou and looking like its about to go under. My sketch has them surviving, mostly due to Yuan Shikai staging a coup against Cixi, declaring himself Emperor and offering the Nanjing a ceasefire to allow him to consolidate his power. The narrowness of their survival forces the three major players in the Nanjing government to develop a compromise system between the radical reformers led by Sun Yat-sen who want a republic and moderates headed by Zhang Zhidong who want a constitutional monarchy, with the Guangxu Emperor playing mediator.
Makes sense or is at least self-consistent.

If you're planning to have China transition away from an empire or to a figurehead emperor, like in Japan, change the name in the same manner and use 中華國 Zhōnghuá Guó (State of China).
 
Makes sense or is at least self-consistent.

If you're planning to have China transition away from an empire or to a figurehead emperor, like in Japan, change the name in the same manner and use 中華國 Zhōnghuá Guó (State of China).

Still have some work to do on the southern reformers. The radicals will be pushing for a pure figurehead, while the moderates will want the Emperor to have a role sort of like the British or Italian monarchy. Plus have to find a suitable Han candidate because regardless, the Qing have to go, especially after Yuan kicks the Qing out in the north (though the ex Guangxu Emperor will still have a role, nobody's willing to totally lose his talents and connections in Europe). Duke of Yangshang or Marquis of Zhu would work for the pure figurehead, but the British/Italian model would require some more elder statesman type.
 
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Wow, I think I have found my potential candidate for the first Xianfa Emperor, Li Jingfang. A respected career Qing diplomat with extensive service in Europe and former ambassador to Japan. Known liberal and reformist sympathies but has no political ambitions. Adopted son and biological nephew of Li Hongzhang (died 1901), who was a major and much respected leader of the reform movement for over 30 years and critical founding member of the Guangxu Emperor's first government in Nanjing. His credentials seem ideal.
 
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Sept-Dec 1897: Carving up the melon
~Sept-Dec 1897: Carving up the melon

September 1897: A Muslim mob massacres hundreds of Cretan Greeks along with the British Vice-Consul, his family and fourteen British soldiers and sailors. As a result the International Squadron puts troops ashore and expels the Ottomans from the Island. The island is turned into the autonomous Cretan State under a High Commissioner, with the initial appointee being Prince George of Greece and Denmark.

September 1897: The Pashtun Uprising has spread to the Afridi tribe in the Khyber Pass, who being to attack and besiege the garrisons in the pass In one of these attacks a force of twenty one men of the 4th Battalion, 12th Sikh Regiment hold off 10,000 Pashtuns for several days before being wiped out to a man. The Battle of Saragarhi will become the Sikh Regiment's Regimental Day. To deal with the uprising the Malakand Field Force under General under General Bindon Blood is dispatched to deal with the Mohmand revolt while a much large force under General William Lockhart is gathered to secure the Khyber Pass.

September 1897: Concerned by the growing prosperity of Hong Kong and growing British influence in southern China, the French coerce the Chinese into granting them a concession to build a railway from the Vietnamese border to Guangzhou. The concession includes the right to deploy military force to protect the railway at French discretion. Work on surveying the route begins immediately.

September 1897: Despite Britain's continued refusal to recognise the US annexation of Hawai'i, the new US Secretary of State John Sherman and British Ambassador Julian Pauncefote sign the Sherman-Pauncefote Treaty agreeing to the construction of a British owned undersea telegraph cable between California, Hawai'i and Fiji. The new cable will link the US into the All Red Line. However, that the cable will be British owned creates fierce debate in the US Congress, with many in the US concerned about British ownership of the cables. To assuage these fears the Anglo-American Telegraph Company is formed to control the cable. The Imperial owned Trans Pacific Cable Company will hold 50% of the shares, with the other 50% held by US companies. This compromise allows the Treaty to be narrowly ratified by Congress.

October 1897: Lord Wallington steps down as Viceroy of India and is replaced by Lord Elgin. One of his first acts is to introduce a major reduction of the much hated Salt Tax as India's ongoing development is generating significantly increased income. He continues his predecessors policy of consulting the INC, which now dominates the elected positions in the Provincial Legislative councils, in his administration of India.

October 1897: The 1891 Irish development acts have thus far proven relatively effective in encouraging the development of industry in Ireland outside of Ulster. In an effort to further encourage such development the Shannon Water and Electrical Power Act is passed. It envisions the construction of a massive hydroelectric power scheme on the Shannon River in Ireland. The act has created a great deal of controversy, with the estimated cost at over £2.5 million {£2,798,044}. However it is believed this scheme will on it own provide the vast bulk of electrical generation capacity required in Ireland for the foreseeable future, as well as massive employment during the three to four years it will take to build the scheme, with the cost being recouped within fifteen to twenty years through the sale of power.

October 1897: General Blood's Malakand Field Force successfully restores order to the area around Peshawar, forcing the Mohmands to submit and agree to pay large fines for the uprising. Meanwhile the larger Tirah Force under General Lockhart begins its advance into the Khyber Pass.

October 1897: In line with his Risikoflotte strategy, commander of the German navy Admiral von Tirpitz succeeds in getting a Naval Law passed by the Reichstag. It calls for the construction of a fleet of 19 battleships, 12 large cruisers and 30 smaller cruisers by 1903. While the law is aimed at challenging British naval dominance, its passage goers largely unnoticed in Britain as it poses no immediate threat to British dominance.

November 1897: Having been unable to convince his superiors to act on the obvious miscarriage of justice in the Dreyfus Affair, now Lieutenant-Colonel George Picquart reluctantly turns the evidence over to Dreyfus's lawyers, who after failing to obtain any official response take the matter to the press. With Dreyfus's innocence and the true culprit revealed, the result is a national scandal with France split into between Dreyfus's supporters, known as the Dreyfusards, and the Anti-Dreyfusards convinced of his . Despite Esterhazy's guilt being now made clear, the French General Staff continue in their attempts to protect him.

November 1897: With the US press full of stories about supposed 'atrocities' being committed by the Spanish in Cuba, US public opinion has become firmly in favour of some form of intervention to end Spanish control of Cuba. In an effort to end the rebellion, President McKinley offers to mediate a settlement. While the offer is initially rebuffed, the election of a new liberal government in Spain leads to an opening for such mediation, with the new Spanish government stating its willingness to offer concessions.

November 1897: The Red Sword Society, an anti-Western Chinese secret society murders two German missionaries. The German government uses the incident to seize control of Jiaozhou Bay on the Shandong Peninsula. With the French, Germans and Russians still cooperating, the Chinese face the prospect of war with three Great Powers and are left with no choice but to permanently cede sovereignty over the area as the Kiautschou Bay Colony along with major commercial concession in Shandong Province in return for a one off payment of five million marks {£265,689}. The will go on to develop the town of Tsingtao in the new colony as their major naval base in Asia.

November 1897: With Relations with the US rapidly deteriorating, the Spanish purchase the former Brazilian battleships Riachuelo, Aquidaban, Alagoas, and Mato Groso, along with the cruisers Amazonas and Almirante Abreu. These additions will more than double the number of modern armoured ships in the Spanish navy.

December 1897: The Treaty of Constantinople is signed ending the Greco-Ottoman War. The Greeks are forced to cede parts of Thessaly back to the Ottomans and pay heavily reparations. The reparations bankrupt the Greeks and they are forced to take out large loans and place their finances under Great Power control.

December 1897: In recognition for their heroism during the The Battle of Saragarhi, the 4th Battalion, 12th Sikh Regiment is transferred to become the 5th Battalion of the Indian Regiment of Guards. The Sikh Regiment will never raise a 4th battalion again.

December 1897: With the Germans having seized Kiautschou Bay, the Russians grow fearful they may attempt to also take control of Lüshunkou to exploit its strategic locations. With the Li-Lobanov Treaty allowing them to station over 10,000 troops on the Liaodong Peninsular, the Russians send warships into the town and seize control of the vital port.

December 1897: General Lockhart's Tirah Force retakes the last of the forts taken by the Afridi in the Khyber Pass, restoring British control. He will continue punitive operations until April 1898, by which stage the Afridi are will to submit and pay large fines along with turning over a considerable number of rifles as punishment, restoring order to Pashtunistan.
 
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The Uk are making tiny steps towards the right direction, i am happy to see it.

Poor greece, hopefully they'll regain their footing soon enough.
 
I see that Shannon River dam was OTL built only in 20s by the Irish Free State. Good for Ireland to see benefits of Commonwealth.
 
I see that Shannon River dam was OTL built only in 20s by the Irish Free State. Good for Ireland to see benefits of Commonwealth.

The Shannon hydroelectric scheme was proposed several times before the Free State, but always rejected due to cost. ITTL, they've bit the bullet and decided to go ahead. Its important to understand ITTL the Liberals have adopted two approaches to deal Irish nationalism. The first is the 'kill it with kindness 'approach of the OTL, the second is through limited devolution. This is part of the 'kill it with kindness' approach.
 
Makes sense or is at least self-consistent.

If you're planning to have China transition away from an empire or to a figurehead emperor, like in Japan, change the name in the same manner and use 中華國 Zhōnghuá Guó (State of China).
On that note, I'm curious as the planned status of the emperor (and general structure of government) in Japan. If I recall, you've mentioned that Japan becomes a relatively functional liberal democracy ITTL that is allied with the US and rivals to the Imperial Federation. Since Japan obviously isn't going to be invaded by America ITTL, any general comments on the changes that help stabilize the representative government?
 
On that note, I'm curious as the planned status of the emperor (and general structure of government) in Japan. If I recall, you've mentioned that Japan becomes a relatively functional liberal democracy ITTL that is allied with the US and rivals to the Imperial Federation. Since Japan obviously isn't going to be invaded by America ITTL, any general comments on the changes that help stabilize the representative government?

The changes here are subtle. First off the Meiji Constitution itself is more heavily influenced by the British Westminster system with a much larger franchise than the OTL. This is due to an odd period in Britain in the late 1880s where Queen Victoria intervened in a number of political crisis to negotiate a compromise. This led the Japanese to believe the Westminster system didn't limit the power of the Emperor as much as the did in they OTL.

Next change is the alliance between the US and Japan. It actually goes back to well before the Great War. ITTL US fears about French, German and Russian expansion into China lead to active cooperation between the US, Japan and Britain to limit the others. This means the Japanese get more out of the Treaty of Portsmouth and at the end of the Great War they don't have their equality clause struck out of the Treaty of Versailles. Thus less humiliation to dive ultra nationalism in Japan.

Plus Yuan Shikai turned to Japan to back his coup against Cixi and was willing to give them much much more of what they wanted through indirect means. Thus again less conflict with the US, less support for ultra nationalism in Japan and less resources diverted to the military. All these combine to allow the democraticisation of Japan during the Tasho period to continue.

That close cooperation with the US military during and after the Great War also breeds a much higher respect for maintaining democracy in the upper levels of the Japanese military. So when junior officers start assassinating politicians, they get stomped on very hard by the Generals and Admirals. All these mean the liberal democratic tendencies which were always there in Japan in the OTL get strengthened and win out over authoritarianism.
 
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As some may know, my RW situation is 'unconventional.' MY RW job is useful in many ways. With each year of the TL now taking over 60 hours work to produce, that I only have to work a few hours a week to maintain my modest but comfortable lifestyle comes in handy lol.

However my job can take a toll on your mental balance. Sadly it has and I'm kind of burnt out. So my partner has insisted I take some quality time off with her and our GFs to recharge. So updates will probably be a little slow for a few weeks. Sorry about that.

On the plus side, I have managed to recruit one of said GFs as an opponent in my naval wargames. So we are planning on refighting the naval battles of the Spanish-American War and I'll be incorporating these revised battles in the timeline replacing the solo battles I had previously fought out.
 
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Pangur

Donor
As some may know, my RW situation is 'unconventional.' MY RW job is useful in many ways. With each year of the TL now taking over 60 hours work to produce, that I only have to work a few hours a week to maintain my modest but comfortable lifestyle comes in handy lol.

However my job can take a toll on your mental balance. Sadly it has and I'm kind of burnt out. So my partner has insisted I take some quality time off with her and our GFs to recharge. So updates will probably be a little slow for a few weeks. Sorry about that.

On the plus side, I have managed to recruit one of said GFs as an opponent in my naval wargames. So we are planning on refighting the naval battles of the Spanish-American War and I'll be incorporating these revised battles in the timeline replacing the solo battles I had previously fought out.
Take good care of yourself, both you and your partner must come first
 
We insist that you take the time you need to relax, as well as nerd out by Wargaming out Naval battles.

See you when you're rested!

Well my gf and I have been able to convince my partner and her partner that crawling round the living room floor moving little bits of balsa and cardboard does in fact count as 'quality time.' Plus gives the two of them a few hours to go do stuff together lol.
 
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