Xuyang: Q&A

[Xuyang]

Xuyang is a city-state located in East Asia with a long history. Our population is growing at an unprecedented rate, however, and we're unsure whether we will realistically be able to survive without expanding in some way or another; preferably either through diplomatic means or by launching into space!

We're generally progressive, although a bit heavy handed with some unpopular policies at times. We like to consider ourselves a very open-minded country however, and will respect basic human rights above all else.

Questions may be asked about anything! OOC questions are welcomed too; although please keep them relevant, e.g. "what's the inspiration behind X"!

Also; this nation is a 'puppet' of Gaozu to anyone who's been wondering! I've had a couple or nations notice it; I've probably managed to slip under the radar when it comes to most others. Nevertheless, questions about Gaozu or any of the puppets listed in its factbooks are welcome here too.

(Please do let me know if I'm not supposed to answer questions about other 'puppet' nations in a Q&A thread; if that's the case, I'll render the above bit null.)

I may be slow to respond at times; although I'll do my best to keep up with any traffic... (and that's assuming I'll get questions! )

I reserve the right to omit an answer whenever this may be relevant. This ain't the Spanish Inquisition here, folks.

Also; if you're not happy with my answer, please tell me and I'll try to put it right!

So... ask away!

[Kuronami]

Greetings honorable nation, what is your nation's economy like?

[Xuyang]

Greetings honorable nation, what is your nation's economy like?

Greetings!

Our economy is a mixed economy, with heavy government intervention. Private industry is allowed, although the government buys shares aggressively; it's able to afford them because of its harsh economic policies with regards to the wealthy. Currently we've gone so far as to impose travel restrictions on those with what we class as 'gratuitous amounts of wealth'; i.e. the equivalent of millionaires plus.

We're also planning on automating the economy much more in the future; workers will hopefully be working a three-day compulsory week only as standard by the end of the 2020s.

As far as economic sectors are concerned, we have a relatively healthy manufacturing sector and a relatively healthy service sector (they're around the same size); although agriculture is classed as a subsector of the manufacturing industry due to the hydroponics techniques we use to grow our food.

We tend to export electronics to other east Asian nations and to north America and Europe; although we're importing oil at the moment to make up for the shortfall we're probably going to experience during out transition to a 100% renewable economy - something we hope to achieve by the 2030s.

[Oprain]

Greetings Xuyang. Who's the leader of your Nation?

[Xuyang]

Greetings Xuyang. Who's the leader of your Nation?

Our leader is currently Tao Wuxing, incumbent since early November 2017.

He's the leader of the Social Democratic Party, which can be classed as somewhere between centre and far-left (probably just 'left-wing"!); his party currently occupies 161 of the 300 seats in the Xuyangese Assembly, giving them an absolute majority.

[Tinhampton]

Past Presidents

• We know the identities of Xuyang's first, second and fourth presidents (q.v factbook)... but who was the third, or is that an error?
• What is known about the actions of Xian Huang in the days leading up to his disappearance on November 22 1989?
• Who was the president as 1989 creeped stealthily into 1990? Huang's reign is understandably listed as ending 1989, but Yi Delan was only officially appointed in 1990?
• In spite of opposition from the right-wing in general and the more extreme ends of the political spectrum, how did Yi Delan hold onto the Presidency for 25 years?

Other Politics

• In your factbook: "Deng Xinya's resignation [as MoFA was] on December 26." This is the same date as the OOC creation of Xuyang, at least as listed for me over in the UK. Is this supposed to be somehow symbolic, or was December 26 just a date you chose?
• From the factbook, I can determine that the Social Democrats recieved 161 seats, and the Conservatives 91, out of 300. What's the closest you have to full overall election results as of now? And who exactly was in power before November (or September, if you trust the factbook on President Wuxing)?
• Do the former Chinese and British Xuyangs have any definite political leanings (perceived or otherwise) in the current united Xuyang, or is it all just mixed up?
• The Overview and History sections of the factbook say nothing of the "Velvet Revolution" in 1985, two years before the two Xuyangs united; however, the section on Xian Huang does reference it. Why the disreptancy, or was it not exactly significant in the whole scheme of things?
• How was the 2017 snap election called, and how long are terms in Xuyang usually? At this rate, when should the next election be?

President Wuxing

• Wuxing "plans to participate at the next international Olympics in 2018." I believe that Xuyang is in an alternative universe where the Olympics are held in 2018, 2022, 2026... instead of 2020, 2024, 2028...?
• How does a single man get away with being a straight-A student, three-time author, national president, registered amateur athlete (and wannabe Olympian), occasional swimmer and part-time soldier in the space of about seven or eight years (given the fact that there are only 24 hours in a day)?

Another point of clarification: How many Xuyangese are there?

And finally, you are still halfway through your factbook (which, I must admit, is pretty damn impressive so far), judging from the contents page and noticing that the section on Xian Huang ends abruptly with the words "Xian was sworn in as trans." There is a note in your contents that reads: "OOC: I'm so sorry - I accidentally deleted everything below this " When do you plan to recreate the final half of this section - do you expect to knock down that obstacle some time next week, or can we just say that the records are unrecoverable due to waterlogging at the National Archives?

[Xuyang]

Whoa that's a big post!

I'll try and answer each of your points; please poke me again if you'd like to know anything else!

1. Oops, I must've made a mistake! The second president is the one without any information at the moment, I might've got the order a bit wrong. The reason I've focused on the others and not them is that unlike the others, they only served as an interim president and were never elected.

2. Before his disappearance, Xian had been quite stressed out by his job. He'd been prescribed anti-anxiety tablets by his doctor a few weeks prior, and it's estimated the pressures of living up to his high levels of popularity while he was still an activist after becoming president was getting too much for him. He was finding the mental strain much too high, but refused to seek help other than medication; which he may have been overdosing himself in the weeks before his disappearance. Interestingly enough (and I haven't got round to mentioning it in the factbooks), his car was found, it was just sitting by the edge of a country road leading up into the mountains. Searches were fruitless, however, and he was pronounced missing in late 1989.

3. The 1989-1990 president is the interim one! , I'm doing my factbooks slowly and adding stuff all the time, so they're something I need to add at some point. They just haven't been a priority so far.

4. I haven't quite worked out the details on Yi's popularity, but I've based all my characters on real politicians; she's Lee Kuan Yew (with a few other influences in there too). She's also got his impressive ability to hold onto power in a democratic country for a long time. There are a few other democratic leaders like this in history, but he's the first that comes to mind.

Other politics

1. I chose it because it was the day Xuyang was created! It's not particularly symbolic, just lazy date choosing.

2. Yeah sorry, there are some inconsistencies. I'm not always good at keeping track at everything I write; I just try to give a general gist and perhaps get round to correcting things later. So far as I've considered it, the rest of the seats are dominated by unionist parties; or those who'd prefer to unify with either Taiwan or China. I haven't thought of the details yet. Before our current leader came into power, the Conservatives actually had the most seats; this was only for two years though.

3. Leanings are generally mixed up, although interestingly enough more people in the British section prefer unification with China or Taiwan than in the previously Chinese section.

4. It's not been significant enough to current events for me to mention in any great detail while I've been working on other sections. It's more just a name for the events directly preceding unification; basically a plot device.

5. Elections and terms are based on British ones - so the president can call an election at any time (e.g. by 'snapping' their fingers so to speak, hence 'snap election') within a five year term limit.

Pres. Wuxing

1. Yup! Events aren't 100% synced with rl ones - I thought it'd be more interesting to add something like that for next year rather than in a few years' time.

2. Ah - now you've got me! I think I'm making them overly perfect to give them a bigger presence. While in office, the president represents the entire nation. He's real, but at the same time I'm really tempted (or so I think!) to make him a bit better than the real thing. Plus, I'm not sure if I'll add something about biological differences e.g. meaning he has to sleep less or he's extra-intelligent or something; maybe genetic engineering became widespread in the 80s or something. Xuyang's a mixed bag of ideas and influences; it's not 100% real in terms of technology and other stuff, but I want to keep it at least in appearance grounded in reality; it helps me relate to what I'm doing with it a lot more.

Other stuff

States are currently used for pop. I'm thinking of making Xuyang larger when the population gets much higher; it probably won't last as a city state forever.

I plan to recreate them bit-by-bit! I add paragraphs and chop stuff around here and there, doing the most important stuff first. Everything's basically a constant WIP, so I can't give you a concrete answer I'm afraid!

[Oresland]

"Are there term limits to the president? Is your nation under threat of Chinese invasion? And what are your thoughts on Oresland?

[Xuyang]

1. Nope! No term limits, we find it more democratic if the people can choose to keep on someone they like for more than say two terms.

2. Not at present, so far as we can tell. We've co-existed with the Chinese for over 25 years, and even though we've had rough patches our defence network and friendliness with global powers ensures we're more or less safe from harm.

3. For starters I can always approve of a W.A. member! I might transfer W.A. membership over to Xuyang at some point. We've noted your government has authoritarian tendencies, although we're willing to overlook these due to your nation's exemplary political freedoms. We approve of your progressive agenda too! We believe our economic systems are different, although we'd be willing to overlook that. Based on what we know, our opinion on you is positive. You come across as a respectable and established nation of significant size.

[Zhouran]

What school of economic thought does your nation's economy follow (Austrian, Keynesian, Chicago, Marxian, Mercantilism, etc.)? Here in the People's Republic, we follow our unique form called the Laixinjue School of Economics.

Does your nation have universal healthcare, and if so/not, how does it function? Here in the People's Republic, we utilize a publicly-funded decentralized universal healthcare system.

[Oresland]

3. For starters I can always approve of a W.A. member! I might transfer W.A. membership over to Xuyang at some point. We've noted your government has authoritarian tendencies, although we're willing to overlook these due to your nation's exemplary political freedoms. We approve of your progressive agenda too! We believe our economic systems are different, although we'd be willing to overlook that. Based on what we know, our opinion on you is positive. You come across as a respectable and established nation of significant size.

"Thanks for your critique. Our nation is recovering from a dictatorship, so yeah. But Andropov is working to help make our nation better. Another question, what are your nation's thoughts on foreigners?"

[Xuyang]

What school of economic thought does your nation's economy follow (Austrian, Keynesian, Chicago, Marxian, Mercantilism, etc.)? Here in the People's Republic, we follow our unique form called the Laixinjue School of Economics.

We don't really follow a set school, although if we were to put a label on our specific form of economics it'd be somewhere between Keynesian and Marxian. Private industry is allowed, but it's regulated to within an inch of its life. The primary aim of our current economic structure is to ensure the most social equality possible; we don't really care specifically how we do this.

Does your nation have universal healthcare, and if so/not, how does it function? Here in the People's Republic, we utilize a publicly-funded decentralized universal healthcare system.

[Bengal and Assam]

What do you think about the King doing a part time job at burger king to honor his father's wish that he lives both as a Royalty and a Commoner

OOC:In Bengal and Assam,it's quite common for 15yr olds to take part time jobs