alternatehistory.com

I thought I'd recreate this as it was recently necro'd and locked (and I find the subject interesting, sue me).



That little red dot is the slightly larger (and more central to China/Japan) Zhoushan.

What would be the effects of Zhoushan ceded in perpetuity to the British?Note that Zhoushan/Chusan and it's island groups seems to be much bigger than Hong Kong island. Would there be a significant impact on relations between Britain, China and Japan - and what changes would there be?

---

For my two cents I like the idea that the British would want to secure Taiwan as a result - but since that is Chinese currently, that is a no go, perhaps the result of a follow up war (I don't see why there wouldn't be a second Opium war). Zhoushan sits as a fantastic location for a trade post with both China and Japan. Being closer to the North China Plain would make it a better trade location for the British as they are closer to their markets - and as a result an alt-Hong Konger culture (Zhoushan culture) may be more prominent in OTL Shanghai and China as a whole, as well as on Zhoushan and Taiwan.

Whilst I don't expect Britain to force open Japan, they'd probably be supportive of the efforts to open Japan to trade, as well as leading to major British efforts in Nagasaki. Having Japan as a market, as well as China is good for business - enough to bankroll the Militarisation and Colonisation of Taiwan by British, Chinese and Japanese Settlers (and the same in Zhoushan).

I am curious as to whether Korea was much of a market (anyone know much about Korea?) - as Zhoushan is well placed for N.China, Japan and Korea - and amusingly, E.Russia. (I wonder if it would be quicker to transport goods from Russia via Zhoushan and the Black Sea than by land. I'd say yes, which would make things interesting with Russia).
Top