WI: The Qin dynasty failed to unify china.

What if, the Qin were unable to unify china at the end of the warring states period? What would be the political and cultural ramifications in china and throughout East Asia? What would be the effect on the rest of Eurasia by means of the silk road etc.? What would be the effect on European colonization in Asia?
 
As I recall from previous discussions, the general consensus answer on this is that China would still be unified, but under a different kingdom (probably the Chu). IMHO, this would have some pretty big implications in its own right, especially if the first Chu "Emperor" doesn't rule as a Legalist in the mold of OTL's Shih Huang Ti (e.g.).
 
You could plausibly argue that if the Qin didn't do it, some other state eventually would. That's pretty much the prevailing view in elementary Chinese history, anyway - advances in state power, economic development and philosophical legitimation helped draw the various states closer towards each other (coupled up with the typical 'the people desired a union of China' and all that BS).

I think Chu's a capable contender for alternate unification - certainly it was the most powerful state after the Qin during the late Warring States period. A Chu union would be quite different from a Qin union, however, considering difference in language, culture, and the fact that the Chu political system was much more 'elite-consensus' than the autocratic Qin.

But let's say that China never gets united. I don't see Han or Wei surviving long-term... but the others have a decent shot at maintaining a stable-ish state system. You'd definitely see increasing divergence between the individual states, which had their own writing and language by the late Warring States. Inter-state competition would fuel advances in the military, naval, philosophical and political realms, while at the same time retarding a lot of the economic and social development that only a massive unified empire can really engender. At some point, the cultural differences between the states grows so large that a pre-industrial unification of China becomes impossible.

You'd probably still see the expansion of 'Chinese' borders, as individual states expand outwards in order to find more resources to compete. We'd probably see a late emergence of the Silk Road, as the pressures of war mean that luxury production is suppressed.

As time goes on, we'd probably see non-Han nations get drawn into/integrated within the East Asian political system (much like the German/Norse states were eventually integrated into the European system), Sinicization remaining a plausible possibility. It's not easy to say what Europeans will find in such a scenario (it's entirely possible that a fragmented China will collapse more easily to various horde invasions), but we can assume that Europeans will find a region that is more militarily advanced, more 'innovative' (in a political and philosophical sense), but less prosperous or socially developed than OTL.

IMHO, this would have some pretty big implications in its own right, especially if the first Chu "Emperor" doesn't rule as a Legalist in the mold of OTL's Shih Huang Ti (e.g.).

Legalism was pretty entrenched by the times of the late Warring States - imho the Legalists had, pretty successfully, linked their platform to 'national strength', especially after the practical successes of Xin Buhai and especially Shang Yang's reforms. Chu's political system is of course not the Qin's (being much less autocratic), but I suspect the Legalist ethos will remain.
 
Legalism was pretty entrenched by the times of the late Warring States - imho the Legalists had, pretty successfully, linked their platform to 'national strength', especially after the practical successes of Xin Buhai and especially Shang Yang's reforms. Chu's political system is of course not the Qin's (being much less autocratic), but I suspect the Legalist ethos will remain.

Wouldn't a Chu unification, at the very least, be "less" Legalist? A unified state influenced by Legalism is still quite different than one dominated by the philosophy in the same way Qin was -- likely, the former would have far fewer grand public works, a(n at least somewhat) less ambitious centralized bureaucracy, and less challenging to local aristocracies. (Plus, as mentioned via link, less likely to clamp down on opposing schools of thought by burning books, burying scholars, etc.)
 
Wouldn't a Chu unification, at the very least, be "less" Legalist? A unified state influenced by Legalism is still quite different than one dominated by the philosophy in the same way Qin was -- likely, the former would have far fewer grand public works, a(n at least somewhat) less ambitious centralized bureaucracy, and less challenging to local aristocracies.

Chu's government was less legalist, but I'd argue not because their legalism was 'soft' or anything, but that the constraints to full-blown Legalist dominance (aristocracy, bureaucracy size) were still very strong in Chu.

Chu will likely have to undertake further reforms before it possesses the strength to start the Chinese unification project, which will likely mean that these constraints on full-blown Legalism will be destroyed. I don't mean to say that a Chu empire will be the exact same copy of a Qin Empire, but it's not likely to deviate much (and is highly likely to make the same mistake, e.g. totally disenfranchising the old aristocrats deemed responsible for the Warring Kingdoms in the first place).
 
Chu will likely have to undertake further reforms before it possesses the strength to start the Chinese unification project, which will likely mean that these constraints on full-blown Legalism will be destroyed. I don't mean to say that a Chu empire will be the exact same copy of a Qin Empire, but it's not likely to deviate much (and is highly likely to make the same mistake, e.g. totally disenfranchising the old aristocrats deemed responsible for the Warring Kingdoms in the first place).

See, I don't think I buy this -- AIUI, the biggest obstacles to unification OTL weren't the aristocrats but the classic case of fearing your neighbors too much to go all in. I recall a scene from Emperor and the Assassin where Lu Puwei warns the king that annexing the kingdom they're talking about would unite the other kingdoms against them; to the extent that this was the factor holding other states back, a Qin that runs into problems partway through unification could be more tempting for even less centralized but powerful states like the Chu to step in. It may be they don't have to "modernize" as much, or nearly as much as the Qin did, meaning their later unification still sees a significantly stronger aristocracy and smaller bureaucracy, working more with local power structures than OTL's Qin. (Also less construction, censorship, etc.)
 
If it was a Chu empire would it be easier for the inhabitants as IIRC Shi Huang Ti was a paranoid tyrant.

They also might last longer. Since Shi Huangdi was such a tyrant the people quickly grew tired of Qin rule and when he died his son proved to be too weak to control the populace. We might never see the Han Dynasty emerge.
 
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