Time Slip Reiwa Japan

082 - China Upheaval - 1

"Politics is war without bloodshed while war is politics with bloodshed."

- Mao Zedong

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Inside China, a growing backlash against the Chinese government was building up pressure. The 1940 US-China Peace Treaty sparked criticism against the government due to its humiliating terms, but it gradually escalated into a radical movement aimed at overthrowing the Chinese government.

Revolutionary fervor was building.

The government, which had allowed China's territory to be taken by the United States, Britain, and France without putting up resistance, was losing its authority over China's land. Rumors had spread that this government had brought this misery upon China by losing the Mandate of Heaven.

Naturally, it was the Chinese Communist Party that spread these rumors. The CCP believed that in order to take leadership over China, the Chinese government needed to engage in a war and weaken itself against foreign powers. However, reality was cruel to them. The crucial Chinese government had not only failed to fight against foreign powers but had also succumbed to their military might. It could be seen as a pragmatic response, but the CCP realized that this approach would not lead to the overthrow of the Chinese government.

Thus, they turned to the concept of the Mandate of Heaven.

. . .

Chinese Government

The Chinese government had never intended to bow down to foreign powers. They had been diligently building their national strength, cultivating a formidable military, with the intention of someday repelling foreign influences. The problem was that they didn't know when that someday would come.

The Chinese government had a clear understanding of the gap between their own country and the great powers, especially the G4. They had accepted this reality with resignation. However, many Chinese people couldn't accept this. They believed that the great Middle Kingdom, the center of the world, should not be inferior to those living in foreign lands. The existence of such differences was attributed to the government's corruption and loss of the Mandate of Heaven, as propagandized by the Chinese Communist Party, which captivated the hearts of many Chinese with its seductive message.

It was the Chinese government that panicked. While there was corruption within the government, many individuals within it genuinely loved China and were deeply troubled by the situation. The educated elite within the Chinese government could foresee the rise of the Mandate of Heaven theory and the direction of the revolution that had started to spread among the Chinese people. Since the revolution was founded on the idea of Chinese excellence, the future appeared to involve the next government complying with the will of the people and confronting foreign powers without resistance. Foreign powers, in turn, were unlikely to show any hesitation or mercy. The end result could be a situation where millions upon millions of Chinese lives would stain the earth.

Therefore, the Chinese government adopted a resolute stance and embarked on a campaign to control the hearts and minds of the people within the country. This marked the beginning of a massive crackdown.

. . .

Chinese Communist Party

The Chinese government's immediate and thorough suppression of the emotional fervor for revolution among the Chinese people came as a shocking surprise to the CCP. Based on past examples of foreign negotiations, they had predicted that the government would initially be indecisive and take a wait-and-see approach. It was a miscalculation. If they had delved into China's history, they would have realized that ruling powers had rarely hesitated to suppress the masses, but the reality was ruthless.