Tom Colton
domesticated humans?!
- Location
- Singapore
- Pronouns
- he/him/his
I guess I should make this a separate thread of its own for simplicity.
After going through The Campaign Trail game a few times out of nostalgia and looking at a map of China with all of its provinces, a most terrible thought arose in my mind of how China was also going through its own issues incorporating conquered peoples in their annexed areas and civil war in the 19th century, and so I began expositing what that could look like with 'party' politics (with Chinese characteristics.)
My first scenario was Lin Zexu as a failed James K. Polk, but more on that later...
Overview
The Deliberative Council of Princes and Ministers was a real part of the state administration in Qing China, and it's been revived in this ATL scenario for the sole purpose of electing a regent once every three years, whose official job is to translate the Will of Heaven as expressed by the Emperor into national policy. An elected regent was imposed upon the imperial order by a renegade prince, Fuk'anggan who in ATL lives long enough to oversee the end of the White Lotus Rebellion and sympathise with enough of its principles to threaten the succession of the Qianlong Emperor, only agreeing to drop his claim to the imperial throne in return for an assurance that the Jiaqing Emperor accept an elected regent and take a relative back seat in politics, with the effect of reducing his authority to almost that of the Japanese Emperor.
A regent instead of a chancellor or prime minister* was chosen as a compromise between the imperial clan and the Han population, with at least the semblance of democracy whilst ensuring that power remained amongst the Manchu nobles, whose Bordered Yellow Banner and Plain Yellow Banner factions dominated the regency for the first few cycles of this exercise. However, dissatisfaction with this as evidenced by further uprisings like the Eight Trigrams Uprising which besieged the capital eventually led to the relaxation of the requirements to accept anyone, regardless of racial background, who had passed the imperial examinations and served in government, and then eventually to any subject who had passed the imperial examinations (which was still a tiny minority amongst the population.)
As a deliberate parallel to the US system, the number of ballots per province is calculated by totalling the counties therein and adding two Grand Administrators (think Magistrates as Representatives and Grand Administrators, theoretically splitting each province into two commanderies but always acting in unison), with Zhili (modern Hebei, the state that Beijing is in) getting an extra one to act as a tie-breaker.
*How about a democractically elected President? The official response depicted here
=
Mechanism
As mentioned above, each term was limited to three years, and no individual could serve more than four continuous terms as regent (there were theoretically no limits on non-consecutive terms, but a four-term limit was eventually codified.) Elections are held in the Years of the Rat, Rabbit, Horse and Rooster, with the change in power occurring in the next year, i.e. Ox, Dragon, Goat and Dog - while the Gregorian calendar counts the years in which the election dates open, the Chinese dates in the infoboxes record the year in which the regent takes power. The term limit's four as that represents an entire zodiac cycle, and it was agreed as a compromise (and to avoid shogunate shenanigans) that no regent ought to rule for longer than that.
The inexistence of modern transport and communication leads to the election period being as long as the American ones for the same reasons, with a very specific sequence of events:
After going through The Campaign Trail game a few times out of nostalgia and looking at a map of China with all of its provinces, a most terrible thought arose in my mind of how China was also going through its own issues incorporating conquered peoples in their annexed areas and civil war in the 19th century, and so I began expositing what that could look like with 'party' politics (with Chinese characteristics.)
My first scenario was Lin Zexu as a failed James K. Polk, but more on that later...
===
How the Electoral College Deliberative Council works
Light grey = provinces, Dark grey = unincorporated territories, White = Not China
Light grey = provinces, Dark grey = unincorporated territories, White = Not China
Overview
The Deliberative Council of Princes and Ministers was a real part of the state administration in Qing China, and it's been revived in this ATL scenario for the sole purpose of electing a regent once every three years, whose official job is to translate the Will of Heaven as expressed by the Emperor into national policy. An elected regent was imposed upon the imperial order by a renegade prince, Fuk'anggan who in ATL lives long enough to oversee the end of the White Lotus Rebellion and sympathise with enough of its principles to threaten the succession of the Qianlong Emperor, only agreeing to drop his claim to the imperial throne in return for an assurance that the Jiaqing Emperor accept an elected regent and take a relative back seat in politics, with the effect of reducing his authority to almost that of the Japanese Emperor.
A regent instead of a chancellor or prime minister* was chosen as a compromise between the imperial clan and the Han population, with at least the semblance of democracy whilst ensuring that power remained amongst the Manchu nobles, whose Bordered Yellow Banner and Plain Yellow Banner factions dominated the regency for the first few cycles of this exercise. However, dissatisfaction with this as evidenced by further uprisings like the Eight Trigrams Uprising which besieged the capital eventually led to the relaxation of the requirements to accept anyone, regardless of racial background, who had passed the imperial examinations and served in government, and then eventually to any subject who had passed the imperial examinations (which was still a tiny minority amongst the population.)
As a deliberate parallel to the US system, the number of ballots per province is calculated by totalling the counties therein and adding two Grand Administrators (think Magistrates as Representatives and Grand Administrators, theoretically splitting each province into two commanderies but always acting in unison), with Zhili (modern Hebei, the state that Beijing is in) getting an extra one to act as a tie-breaker.
*How about a democractically elected President? The official response depicted here
=
Mechanism
As mentioned above, each term was limited to three years, and no individual could serve more than four continuous terms as regent (there were theoretically no limits on non-consecutive terms, but a four-term limit was eventually codified.) Elections are held in the Years of the Rat, Rabbit, Horse and Rooster, with the change in power occurring in the next year, i.e. Ox, Dragon, Goat and Dog - while the Gregorian calendar counts the years in which the election dates open, the Chinese dates in the infoboxes record the year in which the regent takes power. The term limit's four as that represents an entire zodiac cycle, and it was agreed as a compromise (and to avoid shogunate shenanigans) that no regent ought to rule for longer than that.
The inexistence of modern transport and communication leads to the election period being as long as the American ones for the same reasons, with a very specific sequence of events:
- The day after the Dongzhi Festival in an election year (to ensure everyone's back in their hometown), which always tracks to the winter solstice, the magistrate for each county collects votes for the regent, with the candidates being responsible for issuing ballots to the counties (which in turn requires the candidates to be roughly aware of census numbers) delivered in sealed boxes and with witnesses counting before and after.
- The total ballots are brought to the two Grand Administrators who total them up and issue an official count, delivered to Beijing by a delegation equal to the number of ballots assigned to each province.
- The delegations all meet in Beijing and count their votes via caucus, in the presence of the Emperor, and are held for the duration of the New Year to prevent news spreading during those reunions, and to prevent the election result being perceived as an auspicious or inauspicious sign.
- The delegates are released, at the very latest, by the fifteenth day of the New Year to go and communicate the election of the regent, who takes office the day after Longtaitou Festival with its themes of renewal denoting the beginning of his term.
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