What if the Chinese empire survived beyond the 20th century

Karlmarx900

in this scenario the Chinese empire survived beyond the 20th century. I think that if this happened China would have to modernize and industrialize, prevent Japan from attacking it, prevent communism from gaining ascendancy in China and eventually have to liberalize and democratize. The result might be a government in which the Chinese emperor is a figurehead while the Chinese prime minister is the head of government with limited powers.
What do you think would happen?
 
Born in the USSA

Born in the USSA

Karlmarx900 said:
in this scenario the Chinese empire survived beyond the 20th century. I think that if this happened China would have to modernize and industrialize, prevent Japan from attacking it, prevent communism from gaining ascendancy in China and eventually have to liberalize and democratize. The result might be a government in which the Chinese emperor is a figurehead while the Chinese prime minister is the head of government with limited powers.
What do you think would happen?
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Does it have to be the Qing or would some successor dynasty fit the bill? The Qing were in a very sorry state by the time the 20th century came around, so having it last another century is a tall order.
 

Thon Taddeo

Karlmarx900 said:
in this scenario the Chinese empire survived beyond the 20th century. I think that if this happened China would have to modernize and industrialize, prevent Japan from attacking it, prevent communism from gaining ascendancy in China and eventually have to liberalize and democratize. The result might be a government in which the Chinese emperor is a figurehead while the Chinese prime minister is the head of government with limited powers.
What do you think would happen?
Click to expand...
You might be interested in the Superpower Empire timeline.

tvtropes.org

Superpower Empire: China 1912

Superpower Empire: China 1912 is a counterfactual history of China posted at AlternateHistory.com, where it has earned two Turtledove Awards. The point of divergence is February 24, 1912. On that day, provisional President Yuan Shikai dies of …
tvtropes.org tvtropes.org
 

steamboy

Isn't this a case of having to change HUGE amounts of the Chinese Empire and you'd probably have to go back to the 1800's or earlier to start fixing things with the way it was run, how they viewed themselves (the Chinese Empire IIRC basically viewed itself as the top dog, the best of the best and thus basically didn't need to change and stood still technologically), the issues with their immensely corrupt govermnent etc?
 

Arkenfolm

I don't think a Chinese monarchy necessarily has to liberalise and democratise. The People's Republic of China is plenty successful as it is. I could see a successful Chinese Empire functioning superficially like the KMT or CCP. The Emperor would be mainly ceremonial and the head of the Grand Council would be the prime minister. Democracy in China could be similar to democracy in the People's Republic of China, where the people vote to confirm the centrally appointed politicians and elect a largely powerless legislature. If economic conditions are good and the Chinese government remains popular, they would have no need to cede any power to the people or opposition politicians.

Problem is that by the 20th century it would be very difficult to keep a monarchy in power in China AND have China be successful. There was too much republicanism in China at the time. The Taiping Rebellion and its aftermath might've been the last time for a successful Chinese monarchy, just have one of the victorious generals revolt, depose the Qing, and get proclaimed Emperor like rumour suggested might happen. They'd still have a huge challenge ahead of them in terms of reforming the government and playing Western powers off each other.
 
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