NATION APPLICATION[/color]
Shortform name: Taikieng (泰岑)
Real life culture influence: Min Chinese (Fujian and such) + Tai peoples of China
Real life culture of former colonizer: None
Population: 72,416,256
GDP (PPP) per capita: $40,877
GDP (nominal) per capita: $32,526
Military manpower (active/reserve): 320,000/180,000
Language(s): Taikiengese (Fuzhounese), Siugoanese (Southern Min), Zhuang, Kam (or Dong)
Nation description: Taikieng first arose from the ashes of Tianqi, where warring states who claimed the Mandate of Heaven eventually unified in the late 900s under the Nuong dynasty (阮), whose Emperor claimed descent from a Tianqian prince, and thus claimed to be the legitimate successor to the late Tianqians. The Nuong undertook various military campaigns against the Mincangan states in the hope of capturing Danyang to rebuild it and eventually restore the Tianqian Empire. Upon the second Emperor’s death, these campaigns ceased due to them being ineffective and costly.
The Mincangan campaigns wasted a large amount of the Nuong’s resources, thus leading to an economic downturn in the late 1000s. Increased unrest led to several peasant revolts, which were crushed brutally by the Nuong. These crackdowns are remembered as the Bloody Killings (血殺) in Taikieng today, and several children’s tales used to intimidate the young include details of these massacres by Nuong imperial forces. This bloodshed only hastened the dynasty’s collapse, with a Nuong noble and general eventually leading a revolt in the west to overthrow the dynasty. This revolt succeeded, and in 1092, the Song (順) dynasty arose.
The Song also claimed to be the legitimate successors of the Tianqi due to them being closely related to the Nuong ruling family, but they pursued a more realistic approach to governance and expansion, only engaging in sporadic conflict with the Mincangan states. One of these wars led to the collapse of the first unified Mincangan state due to economic hardship. The Song dynasty was also the longest-lasting dynasty of Taikieng, ruling until 1703. During this time, the Song warred with the Zhuang and Kam peoples, completely annexing the latter in the 1630s and partially annexing the former's lands throughout its lifetime.
During the Song, Taikieng had a golden age during the 1400s, producing many works of literature and advancing in the sciences. Taikieng also began to explore the world to expand its commercial and political power, colonizing Rashnna, Lu’umijol, Rodasia, and more. In the late 1600s, a series of ineffective Emperors led to the collapse of the dynasty when the regent usurped the throne, creating the Ca (齊) dynasty. Like the Nuong and the Song, the Ca also claimed to be the rightful inheritors of the Tianqian Empire, even taking a character from their name. Due to the Song’s longevity, the Ca struggled to legitimize themselves, with several Song loyalist rebellions occurring in the first twenty years of the Ca. The western part of the country, under a Song successor state, eventually fell out of the Ca’s control. Both the Ca and the Western Song refused to give up, attempting to conquer the other in the 1730s. Due to this instability, Taikiengese global influence fell, but the Ca dynasty managed to retain control of its sphere of influence across the world.
Realizing that neither side could win, the Ca and the Later Song signed the [Insert town name here] Compromise of 1737. The Ca did so to unify the country and save what was now Eastern Taikieng’s global reach from collapsing, and the Later Song signed in order to secure themselves against a Mincangan invasion, as well as salvage whatever was left of their former power and glory. It was here where the Taikiengese diarchy was formed, with the Ca and the Later Song emperors ruling jointly from the planned city of Neging, located in the centre of the country.
Due to the constant power struggles of the diarchy, the bureaucrats and Confucian scholars on both sides gradually took more and more control over the court. They finally managed to politically eviscerate the Co-Emperors in 1801 in the Neging Coup, forcing them to sign over their powers to an Imperial Chancellor and thus becoming ceremonial monarchs.
The post-monarchical era was marked by the Industrial Revolution in Taikieng, political stability and increased prosperity. The Taikiengese colonial empire expanded greatly during this period, being at its zenith after the Eulhae War. Taking inspiration from Jeongmi, Taikieng introduced voting in 1814, and fully enfranchised its populace in 1884, so long as they could pass the voting exam. The exam was simplified more and more over time until 1916, when the whole of the population was granted suffrage. However, the Taikiengese Voting Acquisition Exam was repurposed for elections to the country’s upper legislative chamber, which remained restricted to educated individuals. In 1953, all college graduates were granted automatic voting rights for the upper chamber, with those who had not finished some form of higher education still requiring the test to vote for this upper house. In 1972, those students who had scored high on their Goko (i.e. Taikiengese Gaokao) were also granted automatic suffrage.
Taikieng seized some colonies from the Contingent Powers after the Eulhae War, Bakusai included. Taikieng’s main involvement in the war was in the Mincangan front, where, with Allied support, it eventually managed to push into Mincangan lands, capturing the ancient ruins of Danyang at the end of the war as the Nuong, Song and Ca had dreamed of. Both emperors conducted ancestral worship rituals in the ruins of Danyang, symbolizing that they had finally achieved the long-held desire (and, over time, delusion) of the various Taikiengese dynasties to succeed Tianqi, even if it was only in spirit. To this day, both royal families formally claim to be the legitimate successors of the ancient Tianqian Empire, but this is not taken seriously by most today, and the modern Taikiengese state has made no claims to any territories outside of its sovereign jurisdiction. Indeed, the Song co-emperor commented on this in the 1990s, saying that this claim was made to honour their ancestors and that they were not binding in any legal sense.
Eventually, the Taikiengese colonial empire collapsed slowly during the first half of the 20th century. Some countries left peacefully, whilst others were let go due to rebellions. Today, Taikieng is a prosperous Sinju nation with a global impact on the world’s history.
Are you willing to drastically alter your nation in order to fit with Tiandi canon?: I suppose
Main nation on NS: Ryccia
Main/puppet/NPC: Tosanchi
Link to map claim (optional): Where Lionggong is
How did you find out about Tiandi?: Ryccism Take 2
