China news 1900

[Walter]

January 1, 1900
The start of the new year according to the calendar set by some weird western religious dude called Gregorius the XIII back in 1582. This will also be the final year of their 19th century...

... but we in China use a different calendar. The new year will actually start in about 30 days and it will herald the coming of the year 4598 with lots of celebrations...


January 31, 1900
The people of China celebrate the new year with lots of festivities all over the nation during the next few weeks.

The Emperor and his wife together with various members of the government joined the many people on Tiananmen Square to watch the beautiful fireworks over the city. The fireworks in combination with burning bamboo sticks and firecrackers are used to chase off the evil spirits.

During the daytime, people honor their elders and families go out to visit the oldest and most senior members of their extended families.

while Buddhists also celebrate the birthday of Maitreya Bodhisattva, the Buddha-to-be.

This will be the "year of the Rat".



February 1, 1900
The Beginning of the Year. Today is the day that married daughters use to visit their birth parents, relatives and close friends.

On this day, beggars and other unemployed people circulate from family to family, carrying a picture of the God of Wealth and shouting, "Cai Shen dao!" (The God of Wealth has come!). Householders respond with "lucky money" to reward the messengers.


February 2, 1900
Chikou ("red mouth")
Villagers burn paper offerings over trash fires. Today is also considered an unlucky day to have guests or go visiting, although people do still visit the temple of the God of Wealth and have their future told.


February 4, 1900
Birthday of the God of Wealth. People also shoot off firecrackers to get Guan Yu's attention, thus ensuring his favor and good fortune for the new year.


February 6, 1900
Renri, the common person's birthday. Today, everyone grows one year older.


February 8, 1900
Today is the birthday of the Jade Emperor. People offer prayers to the Jade Emperor of Heaven in the Daoist Pantheon.


February 14, 1900

Shangyuan Festival/Yuanxiao Festival/Lantern Festival.
Today is the day when people will try to solve puzzles on lanterns, eat glutinous rice balls named after the festival (yuanxiao) and enjoy a family reunion.
This day also marks the end of the new year festivities.



February 28, 1900
The government has drawn up several plans for modernizing China. The plans include the expansion of the railroad system plans that currently exist, the electric illumination of numerous large cities, improved communications around the nation, road improvements and waterway improvements, including the Grand Canal.

The plans also include introducing time zones to China, the layout of which experts will present to the government tomorrow.


March 1, 1900
Today experts from the Central Observatory in Beijing presented their planned layout of the timezones to the government.


note: A lot of info about the new year stuff is taken from wiki. The timezone layout is based on the historical one used by China between 1912 and 1949 and the historical names of all the time zones are used as well except for the "Chungyuan Standard Time" which I Called "Central Standard Time/Beijing Time".

[Walter]

March 13, 1900
"Got a message that was just delivered here," General Jamuk Ha told the Emperor.

Emperor Temujin looked up. "Oh? From who?"

Jamuk Ha opened the letter and looked at it for a few moments. He then looked up at the Emperor. "... I can't read it. It lookes to be in some foreign language."

"Probably not important then... but see if someone is around who can translate it so we know what it is about."

[Walter]

March 15, 1900
"Got the message translated here," General Jamuk Ha told the Emperor.

"Okay... so who sent it?"

"It is from Count Vladimir Nikolayevich Lamsdorf..."

"Ah... Russia's foreign minister..." Emperor Temujin slowly nodded. "So what is it about."

Jamuk Ha cleared his throat before he began. "'His Imperial Majesty The Emperor and Autocrat of All the Russias Nikolai II petitions you to join him in the Hague at the end of the summer to discuss matters of international martial law and the honorable conduct of War. Major topics are to include the pacific settlement of disputes, Laws and Customs of the Wars on Land, Adaptation to Maritime Warfare of the Principles of the Geneva Convention of 22 August 1864, Prohibition of the Discharge of Projectiles and Explosives from Balloons or by Other New Analogous Methods, Prohibition of the Use of Projectiles with the Sole Object to Spread Asphyxiating Poisonous Gases, and Prohibition of the Use of Bullets which can Easily Expand or Change their Form inside the Human Body such as Bullets with a Hard Covering which does not Completely Cover the Core, or containing Indentations. Signed... Count Vladimir Nikolayevich Lamsdorf, Foreign Minister to His Majesty, Emperor Nikolai II'"

"... okay..."

"... that is it..."

"... so what's a Geneva Convention?"

Jamuk Ha shrugged. "No idea... I wll have to take a look at the archives of Zijin Cheng to see if there is something about it there among all the Qing paperwork."

"... so Nikolai himself will be there at The Hague..."

"Yes. That is what the message says."

Temujin thought about it for a while. "I don't mind to go for a nice, long, refreshing ride... what about you?"

Jamuk Ha laughed. "That is a stupid question. Of course I will... Just like old times."

Temujin smiled. "Yes... Just like old times."

"... I will need to make some arrangements and send a few messages to ask for permission for our troops to ride across Russian and German soil. Should not be a problem I think... unless they do not want us there... Maybe they will join us on our ride to The Hague..."

"You do that. I need to do a few things as well. Baron Jie Ziqi is not going to like it, but he is our foreign minister so we will probably have to drag him along... Translator... We need one... but who?"

"I guess you could ask Ambassador He Lan for his translator. I believe that Tan Hua speaks both Dutch and English."

"Yes. That way we can at least communicate with the Dutch host as well as the English and the United Staters should they decide to come. Hopefully others will think the same way or at least sends a representative who speaks English. I doubt any would speak Mandarin, Cantonese or Mongolian."

"Unlikely."

"Still, we'll probably need a translator who speaks Russian and one who speaks German if we are going to cross those two nations."

"How about following the old trade route?"

"That would be a nice idea."

"One moment." Jamuk Ha quickly left and a few minutes later he returned with a map which he rolled out on the ground before Temujin.


http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bf/SeidenstrasseGMT.JPG (western one; it's in German, but gives you a better idea where the cities are than the Chinese map)

"Okay..." Jamuk Ha looked at the map for a few moments. "... now we'll need to go south to Chang'an first... from there we'll go west to Anxi..."

"Maybe I should send a message to the Dalai Lama... to see if he is interested to come along and watch the proceedings or perhaps bless the event. Maybe he's not, but it never hurts to ask."

"So I assume you want to take the southern branch then, right? To Jutian."

"Yes. That would make a meeting with him a lot easier."

"What do we do at Yarkant?"

Temujin thought about it for a few moments as he looked on the map. "I think we should head north and then on to Samarkand. From there further north and west to Sarkel... Moskow... Berlin... The Hague..."

The last three cities weren't on his map, but Jamuk Ha knew what the Emperor wanted. "Sounds good to me."

"Maybe we could meet with Nikolai in Moskow, but we'll see about that. We could head back via Constantinople, Baghdad, and Teheran..."

"Let us hope that there are not too many troublemakers along the southern route... I do not really want to make a big fuzz and send an army along as escort."

"We'll see. If we get trouble, we'll just race away and declare war afterwards... The message said 'end of the summer', right?"

"Yes. We'll need to know a more exact date in order to be able to plan the trip. Might take us a few months to get there so we'd better get to work right away."

[Kaiser Kirk]

February 28, 1900
The government has drawn up several plans for modernizing China.

Nothing about new limited edition patterns?  The wedding magazines will be crushed.

[Walter]

New limited edition patterns? That sounds expensive and more likely something which requires all the regions of China to have more ICs than population in order to be introduced. :)

[Walter]

I lack ideas for news so to quickly get to 1904, I just threw in the "Random Hx/19ab stuff" which is a bit of what is in the Chinese reports. That way at least it will appear that something is happening in China. :)


June 22, 1900
In the city of Dunhang, a Taoist monk named Wang Yuanlu discovered an entire library of manuscripts believed to be centuries old.

The manuscripts were located in the Mogao Caves, also known as the Caves of the Thousand Buddhas. The caves initially served only as a place of meditation for hermit monks, but developed to serve the monasteries that sprang up nearby in the early periods, and by the Sui and Tang dynasties, Mogao Caves had become a place of worship and pilgrimage for the public.

Most of the Mogao caves were abandoned as trade along the Silk Road declined and Dunhuang slowly became depopulated and largely forgotten by the outside world but the site was still a place of pilgrimage and was used as a place of worship by local people.

Some of the caves are blocked by sand, and Wang, a self-appointed guardian of this and several other temples in the area, was clearing away the sand and made an attempt at repairing the site when he stumbled across the cave with manuscripts which few now call the 'Library Cave'.

The manuscripts appear to be in a variety of languages and some believe that some of the scripts could be over 1000 years old.


Location of the discovery.


Wang Yuanlu who discovered the manuscripts




A team of experts will be formed who will travel west to Dunhang and start the process of examining and studying the manuscripts.


Random H1/1900 stuff
- Electrification of the city of Guangzhou (= Guangzhou IC 1).
- Completion of the University of Guangzhou (= Guangzhou IC 2).
- Completion of Line 1 of the Guangzhou Subway (= Guangzhou IC 3).
- Completion of the University of Beijing (= Beijing IC 2).


October 17, 1900
An explosion at the Tangshan coal mine results in a massive cave-in. 58 miners were killed.


Random H2/1900 stuff
- 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th Wei Infantry Divisions retrained.
- 1st and 2nd Manchurian Infantry Divisions retrained.
- 1st and 2nd Tibet Infantry Divisions retrained.
- 1st, 2nd and 3rd Wu Infantry Divisions retrained.
- 1st and 2nd Shu Infantry Divisions retrained.
- Completion of Line 1 of the Beijing Subway (= Beijing IC 3).
- Completion of the Guangzhou Institute of Technology (= Guangzhou IC 4).
- Electrification of the city of Tianjin (= Tianjin IC 1).
- Completion of Line 1 of the Tianjin Subway (= Tianjin IC 2).

[Walter]

Random H1/1901 stuff
- 3rd Shu Infantry Division retrained.
- 3rd Manchurian Infantry Division retrained.
- 5th and 6th Wei Infantry Divisions retrained.
- 1st and 2nd Wei Cavalry Divisions retrained.
- 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th Mongol Steppe Cavalry Divisions retrained.
- 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th Tibet Mountain Divisions retrained.
- Completion of the University of Hong Kong (= Hong Kong IC 2).
- General electrification projects in various cities of the region of Wei (= Wei IC 3).
- Completion of the University of Shanghai (= Shanghai IC 2).
- Completion of the Shanghai Suspension Railway (= Shanghai IC 3).


Random H2/1901 stuff
- Completion of Line 1 of the Shanghai Subway (= Shanghai IC 4).
- General electrification projects in various cities of the region of Manchuria (= Manchuria IC 1).
- Road improvement projects throughout the region of Wei (= Wei IC 4).
- General electrification projects in various cities of the region of Mongolia (= Mongolia IC 1).

[Walter]

Random H1/1902 stuff
- 4th Wu Infantry Division retrained.
- 1st, 2nd and 3rd Manchu Cavalry Divisions retrained.
- 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th and 10th Mongol Steppe Cavalry Divisions retrained.
- 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th, 11th and 12th Uyghur Steppe Cavalry Divisions retrained.
- 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th Mongol Steppe Infantry Divisions retrained.
- General electrification projects in various cities of the region of Uyghur (= Uyghur IC 1).
- General electrification projects in various cities of the region of Tibet (= Tibet IC 1).
- Completion of the extension of Line 1 of the Guangzhou Subway (= Guangzhou IC 5).
- Road improvement projects throughout the region of Wu (= Wu IC 2).
- Road improvement projects throughout the region of Shu (= Wu IC 2).
- General electrification projects in various cities of the region of Wu (= Wu IC 3).


Random H2/1902 stuff
- Expansion of Dock 1 in Shanghai to 170 meters.
- Overhaul of cruisers Fuding, Takao, Wuchang and Taiyuan.
- Overhaul of torpedo boats T1-18.
- General electrification projects in various cities of the region of Shu (= Shu IC 3).
- Town and city improvement projects throughout the region of Wei (= Wei IC 5).
- General electrification projects in various cities of the region of Wei (= Wei IC 6).
- Improved electrification of the city of Guangzhou (= Guangzhou IC 6).
- Completion of Line 2 of the Guangzhou Subway (= Guangzhou IC 7).
- Expansion of the University of Guangzhou (= Guangzhou IC 8 ).
- Road improvement projects throughout the region of Wu (= Wu IC 4).
- Town and city improvement projects throughout the region of Wu (= Wu IC 5).
- Road improvement projects throughout the region of Shu (= Shu IC 4).
- Town and city improvement projects throughout the region of Shu (= Shu IC 5).

[Walter]

Random H1/1903 stuff
- Overhaul of cruisers Jiuhua, Kaifeng and Hankou.
- Overhaul of torpedo boats T19-30.
- 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th Wu Cavalry Divisions retrained.
- 1st and 2nd Wu Marine Divisions retrained.
- Road improvement projects throughout the region of Wei (= Wei IC 7).
- General electrification projects in various cities of the region of Wu (= Wu IC 6).
- Town and city improvement projects throughout the region of Wei (= Wei IC 8 ).
- General electrification projects in various cities of the region of Shu (= Shu IC 6).
- Road improvement projects throughout the region of Wu (= Wu IC 7).


November 5, 1903
Minister of Foreign Affairs, Lin Guo Wei, has had a successful meeting with emissaries of Mahārājdhirāja of Nepal, Prithvi Bir Bikram Shah. Both sides have made an agreement that China will construct a railroad line that will connect with the British-built Darjeeling Himalayan Railway.

Dubbed the Iron Tea Horse Road, the railroad will Run from Lhasa across the Nathu La Pass to Darjeeling. There will also be a connection between Lhasa and Xi'an where it will connect with the planned Iron Silk Road. Construction of both railroad projects is expected to start next year.


Random H2/1903 stuff
- 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th and 8th Shu Cavalry Divisions retrained.
- General electrification projects in various cities of the region of Wei (= Wei IC 9).
- Road improvement projects throughout the region of Wei (= Wei IC 10).
- Road improvement projects throughout the region of Shu (= Shu IC 7).
- Completion of the extension of the Shanghai Suspension Railway (= Shanghai IC 5).

[Walter]

March 20, 1904
Following the Robyn C. Quincy Incident, Britan filed formal charges while the US responded with countercharges. For some strange reason it was decided that Germany would be the arbitrator instead of the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague.

To China, this is an extremely questionable move. The Permanent Court of Arbitration was made for events like this and no matter what, it should be held there and not in Germany. This move clearly indicates that it has all been a waste of time, effort and money. Why did people even bother establishing that court when it is not even used? Only Buddha with his infinite wisdom knows.

While Chinese officials were present in The Hague during the talks for the Hague Convention, China has yet to ratify it and this extremely questionable move and will most likely have a serious negative effect on the chance of the .


June 3, 1904
Final design plans of the exploration vessel Zheng He were approved. Construction of the vessel will start next month.


June 20, 1904
"So it all something we need to worry about?" Emperor Temujin asked.

"Not diplomatically, " Jamuk Ha, General of the Armies of China, replied. "The mess between the US and Great Britain is far away from our shores... for now. Still, we shall keep an eye on it, just in case things get out of hand. Militarily it may be slightly different though..."

"Yes, our armies may be large, but our navy, depite the numerous vessels, is weak."

"Not only that, but it is aging as well. I already informed Admiral Ding Ruchang to have his team of designers look into new and better vessels which China should be laying down in the coming years."

"Good."

"Of course that is going to put some extra pressure on our finances. The first group of new divisions is being trained as we speak, we are to start on the New Wall, we are working on other fortifications and coast defense positions. There is a big railway project that will be started next month. We'll be supporting the OGRES. Now adding more ships..."

"The Ministry of the Treasury will be able to handle it. We can always shift things around as well, prioritize certain projects while delaying a few others. Do not worry. China is growing. We will be able to manage it and deal with it."


Random H1/1904 stuff
- Four 12" coast defense gun positions built at Lei Yue Mun Fort.
- Completion of the extension of Line 1 of the Tianjin Subway (= Tianjin IC 3).
- Town and city improvement projects throughout the region of Wu (= Wu IC 8 ).
- Town and city improvement projects throughout the region of Shu (= Shu IC 8 ).
- Completion of the extension of Line 1 of the Beijing Subway (= Beijing IC 4).

[Walter]

Random H2/1904 stuff
- Completion of the Jiangoucun Observatory (= Wei IC 11; NW of Beijing).
- Completion of the Headquarters of the Oriental Guild of Researchers, Explorers and Scientists in Tianjin (= Tianjin IC 4).
- Completion of the Hong Kong Suspension Railway (= Hong Kong IC 3).
- Start of the construction of the Iron Silk Road.
- Start of the construction of the Iron Tea Horse Road.
- Government funding of several OGRES projects.
- 2,250,000 Yuan (= N$0.5) in 'gifts' to Habibullah Khan, Emir of Afghanistan, and several Afghan government officials.
- 1,350,000 Yuan (= N$0.3) in 'gifts' to King Prithvi Bir Bikram Shah and several Nepalese government officials.
- 900,000 Yuan (= N$0.2) in 'gifts' to Gongsa Ugyen Wangchuck and several Bhutanese government officials.
- 900,000 Yuan (= N$0.2) in 'gifts' to Maharaja Chogyal Thutob Namgyal and several Sikkimese government officials.
- 2,250,000 Yuan (= N$0.5) in 'gifts' to King Rama V and several Siamese government officials.
- 450,000 Yuan (= N$0.1) worth of laxative 'accidentally' leaked in the Meigong River/Mekong River near China/Cochinchina/Burma border (= Project Xieyao).
- Research of Propulsion technology completed.
- Research of Army Reserves completed.
- 11th, 12th, 13th and 14th  Mongol Steppe Cavalry Divisions formed.

[Walter]

Random H1/1905 stuff
- Government funding of several OGRES projects.
- 2,250,000 Yuan (= N$0.5) in 'gifts' to Habibullah Khan, Emir of Afghanistan, and several Afghan government officials.
- 1,350,000 Yuan (= N$0.3) in 'gifts' to King Prithvi Bir Bikram Shah and several Nepalese government officials.
- 900,000 Yuan (= N$0.2) in 'gifts'Gifts to Gongsa Ugyen Wangchuck and several Bhutanese government officials.
- 900,000 Yuan (= N$0.2) in 'gifts' to Maharaja Chogyal Thutob Namgyal and several Sikkimese government officials.
- 2,250,000 Yuan (= N$0.5) in 'gifts' to King Rama V and several Siamese government officials.
- 450,000 Yuan (= N$0.1) worth of laxative 'accidentally' leaked in the Meigong River/Mekong River near China/Cochinchina/Burma border (= Project Xieyao).
- Project Xibanya: 135,000,000 Yuan (= N$30) to Spain for infrastructural projects.
- Research of Light Cruiser technology completed.
- Research of the Army Reserves technology completed.
- Exploration ship Zheng He completed.
- Ferries Duchuan-1, Duchuan-2, Duchuan-3 and Duchuan-4 completed.
- Fort Nathu La, Fort Ganquan Dao, Fort Shanhu Dao, Fort Dong Dao, Fort Jinyin Dao, Fort Jinqing Dao, Fort Chenhang Dao and Fort Zhongjian Dao completed.
- 72 6" guns built and 8 guns each placed on Qi'aocun, Daongwancun, Ganquan Dao, Shanhu Dao, Dong Dao, Jinyin Dao, Jinqing Dao, Chenhang Dao and Zhongjian Dao.
- Completion of the Hong Kong Tramways (= Hong Kong IC 4).
- Completion of Iron Silk Road section #1 (= Manchuria IC 2).

[Kaiser Kirk]

- Project Xibanya: 135,000,000 Yuan (= N$30) to Spain for infrastructural projects.

Interesting.
Nice to see the more developed/together "East" of N6 reaching back to Europe, nice reverse on history.
And Spain needs a boost to be more enjoyable as a PC.  Italy's rough and I've got more.

[Walter]

Yes, maybe the Great Bank of the Glorious Mongolian Chinese Empire should invest a bit into Italy as well since the mods did not want me to invest into Brazil. :)

[Walter]

July 1, 1905
Hundreds of workers had gathered at the Nathu La Pass to start the work on a large-scale defensive project in and around the pass. The men were split into two groups by the Pass Supervisor. One group would start its work at the 'Left Ear' Citadel standing on the southside of the Nathu La border post and work on the line running eastward along the China-Sikkim border while the other group would start its work at the 'Right Ear' Citadel standing on the northside of the Nathu La border post and work on the line running westward along the China-Sikkim border. At the same time another group of workers had made their way onto the ridge about 2 kilometers north of Nathu La and began their work on preparing the ridge for more defensive positions.

Nathu La was an important border crossing between Sikkim and China and it would only become more important once the tracks of the Iron Tea Horse Road arrived at the pass and trains would start to transport people and goods between Sikkim and China.


July 8, 1905
Results were in from nation-wide elections for the House of Representatives back in May with a turnout of about 81%.
Tongmenghui (United League) ----------------------------- 17.30% --- 35
Tongyidang (Unionist Party) ----------------------------- 13.55% --- 27
Tudi Shehui Zhuyi Lianmeng (Agrarian Socialist League) -- 12.47% --- 25 (*)
Minzhudang (Democratic Party) --------------------------- 11.66% --- 23
Baoshoudang (Conservative Party) ------------------------- 9.28% --- 19
Ziyoudang (Liberal Party) -------------------------------- 7.63% --- 15
Renmin Gongdang (People's Labour Party) ------------------ 6.38% --- 13 (*)
Shehuidang (Socialist Party) ----------------------------- 6.11% --- 12
Shehui Minzhudang (Social-Democratic Party) -------------- 4.95% --- 10
Jinbudang (Progressive Party) ---------------------------- 3.80% ---- 8
Xizang Fojiaodang (Tibetan Buddhist Party) --------------- 3.20% ---- 6 (*)
Musilin Lianmeng (Muslim League) ------------------------- 1.55% ---- 3
Wushudang (Martial Arts‎ Party) --------------------------- 1.08% ---- 2 (*)
Macheshoudang (Horse Riders Party) ----------------------- 1.04% ---- 2 (*)

The current coalition of the Tongmenghui, the Tongyidang, the Minshudang, the Renmin Gongdang and the Xizang Fojiaodang still holds a slight majority but lost 3 seats during these elections.

The results from the elections within each region also determined the representatives for each region within the National Congress of the Seven Regions.

(*) These are names I threw into google translate, the others I got by looking at the Chinese pages for various parties except the historical Tongmenghui.

July 28, 1905
The first meeting of the new National Congress of the Seven Regions had a slightly messy start and was delayed when the five new Mongolian representatives rode their horses into the Great Hall. The Mongolians were kindly asked to leave the horses at the gate while the cleaning staff quickly had to clean up the mess several of the horses left behind.


August 2, 1905
Prime Minister Sun Yat-Sen met with Emperor Temujin today and after a short ceremony received approval for his proposed government for the next 7 years.


August 10, 1905
Today construction started on the new Yellow Crane Tower. During its almost 1700 year history, the tower has been destroyed and rebuilt many times and repaired many more times. The last tower, built in 1868 to replace the previous one that was destroyed, was completely burned down by a fire back in 1884, but officials never bothered to do anything about it during the final days of the Qing dynasty and financial issues in the years after the fall of the Qing meant it was not until this year that plans were prepared to rebuild the tower. Part of the rebuilding cost comes from donations of various people, including the Emperor.


Photo of the previous Yellow Crane Tower, taken in 1871.
(OTL, it wasn't rebuilt until 1981-85)

August 20, 1905
Prime Minister Sun Yat-Sen met with the Dalai Lama today and after a short ceremony received blessings for his proposed government for the next 7 years.