Chinese Oceania

Master Xion

Master Xion

What would have been the time at any point before the First Opium War where the Chinese could have colonized Australia and New Zealand?

Also how would this Chinese Oceania look like today?
 

Faeelin

Banned
Probably has hover cars. A China innovative and mercantile enough to colonize Oceania is considerably more advanced than OTL, so there's a wholesome synergy between them and the Europeans that leads to fruitful cultural blossoming.
 
Zachariah

Zachariah

Banned
Well, it's markedly more likely and workable than having them colonize America, I'll say that much. For a POD which might eventually lead to this happening, how about having Zheng He turn East instead of West after visiting Majapahit on one of his voyages, push south-eastwards in an effort to find the source of origin for the Spice Trade, and wind up discovering Northern Australia in the process? Follow that up with Chinese merchants, traders and settlers establishing themselves there as they had in the Philippines, or possibly to an even greater extent given the lower indigenous population of the region (and the more abundant natural resources, when/if they try their hands at mining- the gold and diamonds in North-West Australia, all of that silver in Queensland, and all of that jade in New Zealand, could all be incredibly lucrative for the Chinese), and you could well wind up with 'Chinese Oceania' (in the same way that OTL's Oceania could be described as 'British Oceania').
 

Richard V

Master Xion said:
What would have been the time at any point before the First Opium War where the Chinese could have colonized Australia and New Zealand?

Also how would this Chinese Oceania look like today?
Click to expand...

Well it's a hell lot more likely than Chinese America. What Zachariah outlined is the most plausible means to have a Chinese ruled Australia. Of course you could also have a much later POD.

By the 1730s there were so many Chinese migrants in Batavia (Jakarta) that the Dutch felt it had become a Chinese colony with the Dutch in nominal control, leading to the 1740 Batavia Fury where the Dutch had 10,000 Chinese massacred. Tens of thousands fled to other parts of Indonesia seeking safe haven.

So let's say in the early 1700s a bunch of Chinese merchants in Batavia hears about the Northern Territories from Makassan trepangers and finance a colony either there or in Queensland complete with rice farms. Then in 1740 refugees stream in, over the years they discover precious metals, silver if NT, gold if QL and the real boom begins.

In this scenario a Chinese state could emerge in the north. It may remain independent or it may be conquered by the British ala the Lanfang Republic. In which case it would be a question of whether this Australia is majority Chinese or British.
 

Escape Zeppelin

Faeelin said:
Probably has hover cars. A China innovative and mercantile enough to colonize Oceania is considerably more advanced than OTL, so there's a wholesome synergy between them and the Europeans that leads to fruitful cultural blossoming.
Click to expand...

Or the wars are bloodier and longer and fought with more advanced weapons.
 

CaliGuy

Banned
Zachariah said:
Well, it's markedly more likely and workable than having them colonize America, I'll say that much. For a POD which might eventually lead to this happening, how about having Zheng He turn East instead of West after visiting Majapahit on one of his voyages, push south-eastwards in an effort to find the source of origin for the Spice Trade, and wind up discovering Northern Australia in the process? Follow that up with Chinese merchants, traders and settlers establishing themselves there as they had in the Philippines, or possibly to an even greater extent given the lower indigenous population of the region (and the more abundant natural resources, when/if they try their hands at mining- the gold and diamonds in North-West Australia, all of that silver in Queensland, and all of that jade in New Zealand, could all be incredibly lucrative for the Chinese), and you could well wind up with 'Chinese Oceania' (in the same way that OTL's Oceania could be described as 'British Oceania').
Click to expand...

Richard V said:
Well it's a hell lot more likely than Chinese America. What Zachariah outlined is the most plausible means to have a Chinese ruled Australia. Of course you could also have a much later POD.

By the 1730s there were so many Chinese migrants in Batavia (Jakarta) that the Dutch felt it had become a Chinese colony with the Dutch in nominal control, leading to the 1740 Batavia Fury where the Dutch had 10,000 Chinese massacred. Tens of thousands fled to other parts of Indonesia seeking safe haven.

So let's say in the early 1700s a bunch of Chinese merchants in Batavia hears about the Northern Territories from Makassan trepangers and finance a colony either there or in Queensland complete with rice farms. Then in 1740 refugees stream in, over the years they discover precious metals, silver if NT, gold if QL and the real boom begins.

In this scenario a Chinese state could emerge in the north. It may remain independent or it may be conquered by the British ala the Lanfang Republic. In which case it would be a question of whether this Australia is majority Chinese or British.
Click to expand...

What is interesting is that, in this TL, you could try having a continuous chain of Chinese-majority islands stretching from Taiwan all of the way to Australia and New Zealand. I mean, if Australia and New Zealand are fair game for Chinese colonization, why not parts of the Philippines and Indonesia as well?

Also, in terms of cooking, kangaroo meat with soy sauce and Chinese noodles might be a delicacy among Chinese immigrants to Australia in this TL. :)
 

Richard V

CaliGuy said:
What is interesting is that, in this TL, you could try having a continuous chain of Chinese-majority islands stretching from Taiwan all of the way to Australia and New Zealand. I mean, if Australia and New Zealand are fair game for Chinese colonization, why not parts of the Philippines and Indonesia as well?

Also, in terms of cooking, kangaroo meat with soy sauce and Chinese noodles might be a delicacy among Chinese immigrants to Australia in this TL. :)
Click to expand...

Philippines and Indonesia were too heavily populated for that. As for Chinese food with kangaroo, I'm sure you can get that in Australia now.
 
XFE

XFE

Indicus said:
But China won't be moving anywhere near a tenth of its population to Indonesia, because that's pretty damn difficult.
Click to expand...
I mean it really isn't if China has a couple centuries to colonize Oceania with very little viable opposition.
 
Remitonov

Remitonov

The biggest issue with Chinese colonization is that there is almost no incentive from the leadership to do so. Chinese migrations were very much done by individuals, not by the government. The fact is that China simply has more than enough resources at home not to rely on colonies. There's plenty of empty land within its borders that aren't contested anyway.

That said, an exodus due to chaos and famine could do the trick. Maybe the Song or Ming remnants find refuge further and further away from their conquerors and end up on tiny islands in the middle of nowhere.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top
Top