China

"About the only thing that hasn't gone wrong [in China] is that they haven't been rocked yet by the ESA"

- Pacific Rim

The People's Republic of China is a rising power and ally of the United States in the early 21st century.

Second Civil War
The runaway success of Deng Xiaoping's reforms had resulted in a corrupt government and a corrupt form of robber baron capitalism in China. In response in 1992, an ex-high school teacher (Hua Yuchi) preached a return to hard core Maoism and an agrarian policy. Soon 2 million joined his movement, most of them peasants. The Maoist Loyalist Cabal (MLC) moved against the government, starting the Second Civil War.

By 1995, the MLC had conquered Guangzhou. The People's Liberation Army found themselves fighting a war on three fronts. In the west, they faced a great Tibetan uprising. In the northwest, Muslim extremists whom were funded by the Soviet Union and it's megacorp SovOil. In the south, the Maoist Loyalist Cabal (who were allied with the Khmer Rouge of Cambodia).

Wheat crops were wiped out worldwide in 2002, which resulted in famine in northern China leading to a flood of refugees into southern China. By 2005, the MLC practically controlled all of southern China. In 2008, Taiwan took advantage of a distracted China to declare independence with the support and protection of Japan and its megacorp Arasaka. Meanwhile a corporate war began in the South China Sea between SovOil and Petrochem, and since China was in disarray they were unable to intervene and protect their interests in the South China Sea.

In 2008, China under the leadership of General Jiang Xiaxi signed the China-U.S. Mutual Aid Pact, after which Militech formed a joint-venture with CITIC and the United States supplied China with arms and equipment. Several years later in 2013, a cyber strike team assassinated Hua Yuchi. The PLA in rapid succession liberated city after city, and province after province. By 2014, the PLA had reclaimed all of southern China except for the province of Hunan, the stronghold of the MLC. The uprisings in Tibet and Xinjiang had also been crushed. There are still cells of the MLC hidden, having gone underground.

Government
Heading the government of China is the General Secretary/Premier. Though two different positions it can be held by the same person, which currently is the case. He leads the Committee of Communist Party Politburo (CCPP), which has 25 members. It overseas the Central Committee, the State Council, and several Communist groups.

The Central Committee is in charge of deciding foreign policy, making the laws, and establishing investigative committees. The CCPP will accept or reject whatever the Central Committee recommends. It has 210 members whom are provincial party leaders and/or young cadre members.

The State Council has 4 Vice Premiers, 10 Councilors, and the Ministers of the 45 Ministries. It develops the internal quotas, controls the finances of the state, and runs the daily machinery of governing.

Within the institutions of China (the Army, Universities, Hospitals, and Industry), the CCP has created a parallel hierarchy. It monitors and acts as a check on the regular hierarchy within those institutions.

Military
The People's Liberation Army has 10.5 million men and women under arms. Which is a force more than x5 as large as the combined assets of the Neo-Soviet regular armed forces and corporate forces. Unlike the European Community, the United States, and Japan it continues to practice industrial scale warfare (as do the Neo-Soviets to a lesser degree).

The Army's equipment is 2 generations behind that of Militech and only slightly inferior to the equipment of the U.S. Army. It prefers using long-range artillery to soften up the opposition before sending in the troops. PLA soldiers are effective on various types of terrain and far better than American soldiers at hand-to-hand combat.

The Navy has numerous ships, but most of them are surface ships. It's equipment is on par with that of the U.S. Navy. Due to their rivalry with Japan, the need to deal with Taiwan, and kick SovOil out of the South China Sea, the Chinese are starting to build more submarines.

The Air Force has mostly older aircraft and they don't have many of them. What they do have is a vast arsenal of missiles, including nuclear armed ones. China has cruise missiles with a range of 2,000 km and Intermediate Range Ballistic Missile capable of covering most of the Soviet Union.

When it comes to the Elite Forces of China, it is where the Chinese shine. Their elite troops have Militech equipment and are specially trained. They are selected at a young age, from either elementary or middle school. Chinese elite troops are the equal of the U.S. Special Forces.

CITIC
The China International Trust & Investment Corporation (CITIC) was set up by the PLA in the late 1980s. For all attempts and purposes it is China's megacorporation, a state-owned megacorp and the only one in China. It's divisions make most of the goods for internal use in China.

They have a joint venture with Militech, the American military-industrial megacorp, called CCMMC which arms and equips the PLA. Militech provides the People's Liberation Army with tech support and bulk discounts. China in turn gives Militech plenty of testing space, a low overhead, and cheap labor. Though the equipment that the PLA receives is not as good as that carrying the Militech label, it's far cheaper.

Society
China has a pyramidal society consisting of the cadres, military/corporate, artisan/merchant, peasant, and refugee classes;


 * Cadres: Party members and government workers. They are card-carrying members of the party, who get special privileges, control the bureaucratic ministries, and the political machine. Perks include credsticks, good food, cars, free education, and spacious housing.


 * Military: Receive a free education and military housing. They also get food and good medical treatment.


 * Corporates: They get company vehicles and housing. It is they who deal with the foreigners and run the joint-venture businesses.


 * Merchants / Artisans: Run the stores and food shops. They make the rugs, baskets, statues, and so on. Some of the farmers, the successful ones, are in this class. Members are allowed to keep some profits and live somewhat independently. If they make enough money, they are able to pay for their kids' education.


 * Peasants: Make up the great majority of the population and work in the state-owned factories. They are organized into work units and live packed in rooms in the factory complexes. Peasants receive minimal state health care, minimal schooling for their children, and low quality food. Minorities in tribal lands are included in this group.


 * Refugees: Belong both to this class and to any of the aforementioned classes. Their privileges and opportunities are based on what other class they are part of.

Domestic Environment
Though the countryside looks like something out of ancient China or a Third World nation, the cities are modern with the Net, cars, and public transportation. Like the cities in the West or Japan, you find skylines made up of skyscrapers. There is a privileged class, rich people, a middle class, and the poor. Technologically, the government and corporations have access to technology roughly comparable to what most of the developed world uses.

In China, only the cadres (and some of the corporates) are allowed to wear minimal body armor and to own a pistol (up to 10 rounds). Licenses are needed for cyberware, and only the military and the rich have cyberware. Most foreigners do their business in China via joint-ventures. The partner of choice for most of them is China's megacorp, CITIC. While in the cities there are a good number of foreigners, they are extremely rare in the countryside and are therefore fascinating to peasants.

China has a huge thriving black market where you can get guns, satellite dishes, sex, imported food, cyberware, and Japanese braindance. The centuries-old Triads are active throughout China, running criminal enterprises that are involved in the black market, smuggling, and vice. Within China there are also gangs, some of which evolve into Triads. Fortunately due to the restrictions on cyberware, these gangs are nowhere near as dangerous as the gangs in the United States or Europe due to them being far less lethal and less psychotic.

Due to the continuing existence of MLC cells, the nation is under semi-martial law. Capital punishment can be the penalty for crimes as minor as theft, except for the cadres who have much more leeway. If one is not executed, you are sent to work camps, prison factories, or a regular prison. Democracy activists and political dissidents are sent to either psych wards or work camps.

China, the Technological and Economic Superpower
Historically, China had one of the world's leading civilizations and the home of one multiple great dynasties with large empires. From the times of the ancient Greeks to the beginning of the Renaissance, it was one of the world's leading technological power, rivaled only by the Romans and the Hellenistic kingdoms of the eastern Mediterranean, a nearly two thousand year period. China likewise was one of the leading economies of the world, usually number one or two, from the time of the Romans till the American War of Independence. During that time it was usually India that rivaled China in the size of its economy.

Chinese Civilization
The region known as China is the home of one of the world's oldest continuous civilizations, whose written history is 3,500 years long. Which is considered to have the world's oldest extant culture. Over 2,200 years ago, Chinese invented the modern bureaucratic state, making the Chinese polity both the world's oldest bureaucratic state and the first modern state. China also has the oldest formal education system in the world, which was established during the Han dynasty. It's people have had religious beliefs, customs, and traditions that were formed or influenced by the ancient Chinese Folk Religion (aka, Traditional Religion) which continues to be the largest "religion" in modern China (strongest among the rural population), Buddhism which is currently the second largest faith in China (which is the earliest foreign religious influence and the most successful, that's strongest among the educated), and Daoism which is the third largest religion in China (the first mystical religion in China, which was influenced by Chinese Folk Religion and in turn influenced Chinese Buddhism), and the Confucian philosophy which for thousands of years was the "official" state religion.

Before the birth of imperial China, the Chinese people (known as the Xia) were ruled by kings, first under a unified kingdom (Shang and Zhou dynasties) and then in a fragmented realm of many competing kings. China was unified in 221 BC under the Qin dynasty, establishing Imperial China (aka, the Chinese Empire) which has existed in numerous forms and dynasties. Some strong and some weak, some of which ruled over all China proper (east of Tibet, south of the Great Wall), some of whose rule extended thousands of miles beyond China proper, and some of who only ruled over southern China. There were periods of imperial expansion and when they received tribute, periods of stagnation, periods during which they experienced invasions, and periods of fragmentation. Most of the time it was under the rule of Han Chinese dynasties (except for the Mongol Yuan and Manchu Qing).. China was conquered by the Mongols with Kublai Khan who established the Yuan Dynasty, which lasted from 1271–1368 AD. Several centuries later, China was conquered again, this time by the Manchu who established the Qing dynasty. Which ruled China from 1644-1912 AD, the last dynasty of Imperial China. During its decline the Europeans defeated China and established spheres of influence, and the Japan replaced China as the preeminent Asian power. Which led to warlordism, the establishment of the Republic of China, another invasion by Japan that resulted in the conquest and occupation of Manchuria and the eastern part of China by the Japanese, a civil war between the Nationalists and Communist which was won by the Communists, and the establishment of the People's Republic of China in 1949.

Imperial China and the Tributary System
The greatest of the Han Chinese dynasties were the Han, Tang, and Ming dynasties. During the Han Dynasty, at the height of their power their rule extended as far west as into Central Asia reaching the Aral Sea and going into Afghanistan. It will overthrow it's rival the steppe empire of the Xiongu, conquered the Southern Xiongnu of Inner Mongolia, and shattered the Northern Xiongnu of Mongolia forcing them to flee northwest. They also conquered southern Manchuria, northern Korea, northern Vietnam, the Dian of Yunnan, the oasis cities of Turkestan, the Iranians of Sogdiana, and the Greeks of Bactria (Afghanistan). In addition they established their suzerainty over the majority of Central Asia and the Kushan Empire of Pakistan and northern India. Their control of the former territories of the Xiongnu would last over a century, after which internal divisions in the empire led to its eventual loss. Likewise these internal problems led to the loss of Korea (within decades) and Central Asia (within two centuries). Vietnam was temporarily lost due to the rebellion of the Trung Sisters but was soon reconquered and remained in Chinese hands till a successful rebellion ended their rule 938 AD.

Centuries later under the Tang Dynasty, the Chinese empire would reach as far north as Lake Baikal in the southern region of Siberia and extended across most of Central Asia, territory which it had conquered upon the overthrow of the steppe empire of the Turkish Gokturk Khanate. This time their rule over the steppe would last only several decades, the An Lushan rebellion of the mid 8th century put a permanent end to Chinese dominion over the steppe. They would also conquer southern Manchuria and northern and southeastern Korea, and establish their suzerainty over Tibet. Within a few decades they lost Korea and their suzerainty over Tibet, due to the empire overextending itself. Yamato Japan, the Kingdom of Nanzhao in Yunnan, and the Khitan Mongols of southern Manchuria and eastern Inner Mongolia were vassals or tributaries of the Tang. By the 9th century, a weakened China had lost the aforementioned vassals and tributaries. For centuries after losing Korea, there were times when the kingdoms of Korea were hostile to China and periods when they were tributaries or protectorates of China until Korea's conquest by Japan in 1895 AD.

Centuries later after nearly a century of Mongol rule, the Ming overthrew the Mongol Yuan dynasty, expelled the Mongols from China, and would destroyed for a time the power of the successor Northern Yuan Mongols. For a few decades the Ming ruled Vietnam after reconquering it but Vietnamese resistance forced their withdrawal. Which would remain a tributary of China until its conquest by the French in 1858 AD. During the 15th century, the Ming dynasty's naval power surpassed that of the Song dynasty (the first Chinese blue water maritime power, which had dominated the South China Sea and East China Sea during the 12th to mid 13th centuries). The naval power of the Ming was such that for decades in the 15th century, nearly every coastal state in Southeast Asia, the Indian subcontinent, the Persian Gulf, the Arabian peninsula, and East Africa paid China tribute. Chinese fleets also checked the expansion of Portuguese and Dutch naval power by defeating their fleets in nearby seas. The only Far Eastern state to do so during the 16th and 17th centuries. Korea continued to be a tributary of China, and the Ming would successfully come to their aid when the Japanese attempted to conquer it in the late 16th century. Tibet was nominally a suzerain of the Ming, though at times there was conflict between the two and by the late 16th century it was under the protection of the Mongols. Starting in 1549, Japan was a tributary of the Ming due to the shogun Ashikaga Yoshimitsu.

Foreign Influences over Imperial China
Just as Chinese civilization would have major influence over some of its neighbors when it came to government, art, warfare, philosophy, religion, and literature (especially Korea, Vietnam, and to a lesser degree Japan), at different periods in the history of Imperial China, it's civilization too had been influenced by other civilizations and peoples and parts of China (and in two cases all of China), foreigners conquered or occupied its territory. India is the foreign civilization which made the greatest contribution to Chinese civilization, in the form of Buddhism which quickly spread across China and became one of it's three main religions. The Chinese adapted it to their culture, forming the Chan (aka, Zen) and Pure Land schools. Within the imperial government it had equal status alongside Confucianism and Daoism, and among the masses it's influence was comparable to Chinese Folk Religion (aka, Chinese Traditional Religion) and Daoism. By the 20th century it had become the 2nd largest religion in China, after Chinese Folk Religion. India also made contributions to Chinese cuisine (especially spices and sauces) and art (statuary, murals, etc).

Tibet for a time was an imperial power and for several decades received tribute from the Tang dynasty, during its period of decline. Japan would from the late 19th century till mid 20th century not only replace China as the premier state in the Far East but it would invade China during the long decline of Imperial China. They faced the corrupt Manchu regime with a backward military and disunited government, weakened by European incursions and several devastating rebellions (e.g. Taiping rebellion resulted in the deaths of tens of millions). To the north were the steppe nomads who at times collected tribute from China when it was weak (due to civil wars or rebellions, or incompetent and corrupt governments), during two different periods of division within China they conquered the northern part of China (Toba Wei and Khitan Mongols), and once conquered all of China (Yuan Mongols). To the northeast where the Manchu peoples (who were influenced by China, Korea, and the steppe nomads) who at times were under Chinese domination and at other times were strong enough to collect tribute from them, conquer the northern part (Jurchen Jin) and later conquer all of China (Manchu Qing).