Qinghai Province

The **Qinghai Province**, commonly known as **China**, is a country in western China. This country replaces the **Ma Clique** from vanilla TNO in TNO: Brave New World.

## Etymology

Qinghai Province is named after the Qinghai lake, which itself is a calque of its Mongolian name *Koko Nor*, both meaning Blue Sea. Although it is referred to as Qinghai to distinguish it from the eastern collaborator government, Qinghai refers to itself just as **China**.

## History

After the Republic of China’s final defeat in 1947 and the death of the late Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek, WWII was thought to have finally ended. Despite this development, KMT loyalists and communists rejected the notion of surrendering and proceeded to march further west. Though the governor of Xikang Province initially rejected them out of fear of Japanese invasion, they found refuge in Qinghai, ruled by a Hui warlord named **Ma Bufang**. A well-known sinophile, Ma hosted the exiled government to both keep China alive and to gradually take over the exiled Nationalists, knowing they have to rely on his cavalry to keep the IJA at bay.

However, this changed rapidly after Ma Bufang was killed in a massive Japanese aerial raid over Xining. This greatly shifted the political balance, though the status quo refused to give in just yeah. **Ma Jiyuan**, son of Ma Bufang, an acquaintance of the Generalissimo was elected as the Extraordinary President of the nation, which has undergone a series of political reforms due to pressure from Communists and independent lobbyists. Though still very much a playground of Nationalist and Communist politicians, Qinghai is at least freer than most if not all of Asia, with restrictions on dissent gradually relaxing.

However, the War of Resistance has yet to end. With Japanese forces encroaching, Ma Jiyuan must choose wisely to guide his fiefdom towards the final, inevitable clash with the Co-Prosperity Sphere.

## Geography

The geography of Qinghai saved it from further Japanese aggression. Situated on the Tibetan plateau, Qinghai shares some of the geographical features in Tibet, such as the arid climate. The Qinghai province’s eastern border is almost entirely drawn based on the impressive Qilian Mountains, which stretch for almost 1,000 kilometres, rendering the province unassailable save for a few mountain passes. Unlike the Himalayas, the Qilian mountains are located at a much lower altitude, and thus possesses many unique ecosystems.

Almost all of China’s great rivers, including the Yangtze and the Yellow River originate from Qinghai. Due to the salty nature of many local rivers, steep valleys are common place.

## Demographics

The eastern parts of the province are now almost entirely Chinese, though the city of Xining, which has been a diverse settlement, retained minority communities.

The western parts of Qinghai are almost entirely Tibetan/Mongolian, with the exception of the artificial city of Golmud, which is almost purely Chinese.

## Government and Politics

Technically speaking, the Republic of China-in-Exile is a unitary parliamentary republic, with the Legislative Yuan as its unicameral legislative body. There are many political factions at play, but they can be largely boiled down into three factions, namely the Nationalists, the Communists and the Independents. Communists entered the Yuan after extensive cooperation between the previous General Secretary **Liu Shaoqi** and Premier Chiang Ching-kuo, but since then The Communists have come to resent this ‘rightist’ leaning. As of 1962, they are seeking to take over the republic either through election or force.

However, the presidency itself is not up for election due to special provisions of the constitution.

## Economy

Qinghai’s economy is mixed but mainly focused on agriculture, consumer goods and energy production. Although the exiled Chinese is supposed to be highly hostile towards the collaborators, the harsh reality gave birth to a black market. Qinghai also trades with its ally in Xikang.

Due to the vast reserves of natural gas and oil and cheap labour, Qinghai is able to sell some of its energy surpluses as exports. However, foreign powers may be able to use this to their advantage...

## Infrastructure

Qinghai Province features no extensive networks of railways as the terrain ensured such an endeavour is utterly impossible. As such, aside from war materiel, most if not all movement of people and goods is still done with trucks.

## Culture

Originally Qinghai is a mixture of Han Chinese colonists, Mongolian rulers and Tibetans, with some Huis and Uyghurs co-existing. However, this balance was abruptly destroyed by the arrival of loyalist NRA formations from Sichuan and Gansu. As a result, the province no longer retains the same cultural practices and dialects as its neighbouring province of Gansu does, due to Chinese from all over the nation fleeing to the other side of the Qilian Mountains, merging into one unique identity. However, this cosmopolitanism is still somewhat biased. As did the Nationalist Government back in Nanjing, the higher-ups and the social elite almost exclusively comes from coastal provinces, especially Zhejiang, Jiangsu and Guangdong, who see themselves as ‘superior’.

As for Tibetans who mainly dwell in the western parts of the province, there are few to no changes since medieval times, though Chinese military-colonial towns are gradually replacing their old ways of living.

## Foreign Affairs

Due to geographical isolation, Qinghai has almost next to no foreign allies.