New Reality Seeds

[Astromancer]

Periods in Chinese history were China breaks into several large competing states. The Manchu invasion that ended the Ming dynasty was massively violent. It is assumed that 90% of all of China's literature and written knowledge was lost in a few weeks! It took the whole of the Middle Ages to come close to doing the same thing to Greek and Latin literature.

Try this idea. The Manchu conquest of China could have shattered China instead of capturing it. Picture China broken into a dozen large mutually hostile states just as the European powers begin to reach into Asia.

One thing I could see is a long three-sided struggle between Britain, France and Russia to control China in the same way Britain controlled India. An interesting somewhat steampunky campaign could take place in this China at the time when Japan is entering into the conflict as a fourth contender in the colonial sweepstakes.