People's Republic of China
Government: Single Party "socialist" state
Ruling Party: Communist Party of China (CPC)
Premier: Jun Hou
Official Language: Chinese
Religion: State Atheism
Capital: Beijing
Currency: Yuan
Anthem: March of the Volunteers
History: The origins of the People's Republic of China date back to the Xinhai Revolution of 1911. With the overthrow of the dynastic cycle that ruled China for thousands of years, China entered the modern, civilized society with a rapid march towards industrialization and interconnectiveness towards the world. An alliance of nationalists, communists, and other forward thinkers defeated the reactionary Beiyang Army and kept China's ascension secure.
However, when famed revolutionary Sun Yat-Sen, his replacement, Chiang Kai-shek, turned on his communist allies and attempted to purge them. With the KMT's grasp of control of the country slipping every minute towards warlords, the Chinese Civil War threatened to tear the nation into two. Then, the Japanese attacked.
By abandoning the industrialized coast line and hiding in the interior, a temporary reunited alliance of Nationalists and Communists were able to hold out and weather the Imperial storm. Stories of a superhuman designed by the Canadians that turned the tide of the European war led many to believe he would eventually help the Pacific Front. However, where the Nazis in Europe got leniency after helping said superhero overthrow a mad scientist that killed Hitler, Hirohito's Japan got the gift of two atomic bombs wiping off Hiroshima and Nagasaki off the map.
While Mao, the ex-librarian turned into rising leader of the communist forces, never had any love of the Japanese imperialists, he saw the WAllies, and the Soviet Union by their non-protest of the action, were OK with killing thousands of Asian civilians as collateral to end the war, but not the same with killing fellow Europeans. While Mao was glad Japan was finally defeated and he could focus back on China, he knew if that dehumanization happened to the imperialists, it could very well happen to China.
At the end of the war, the alliance between the KMT and the communists once again broke down, and fighting between the two started. The communists, thanks to their success in the war, were much more popular and therefore larger than the dead horse Nationalists, who were being ignored by the western allies in favor of helping the war torn nations of Europe. With considerable financial aid by the Soviets, the Communists pushed through, and was on the verge of delivering the killing blow. However, Major Howitzer made a surprise visit to China, halting the communist forces and allowing the nationalist leadership to flee to Tawain. As he was a British citizen, this almost led to Mao invading Hong Kong as retribution. However, the onset of the Korean War and the influx of American forces into the region caused Mao to abandon the idea of retaking the last capitalist holdouts in the Middle Kingdom for the time being.
Those plans would resume in 1955, as the PRC took a more aggressive stance in taking outlying islands still controlled by the Nationalists. When the Americans threatened nuclear war, the Chinese requested the help of the Soviets by using their nuclear arsenal and their recently developed superhero, Neytronov, to get the Yankees to back off. When they refused, Mao got more suspicious that the PRC and the USSR fundamentally were just as opposed to each other as they are to the West. He drafted what was known as Contiguity Plan 07, a formal outline of the rise of China as a diplomatic counterweight to both America and the Soviet Union. By acquiring a nuclear arsenal and his own fleet of superheroes loyal and devoted to the state, he would have a rapid response force able to deter both of the superpowers and allow China to create its own sphere.
While the nuclear arsenal was completed within Mao's lifetime, ironically due to the help of Soviet scientists before the Sino-Soviet Split became official, Mao never was able to get his superheroes. Plans to create artificial superheroes were never fruitful, and no one in China was ever proven to develop them naturally. While China became a respectful rising power, this inability to develop superheroes, in Mao's eyes, lesser in importance on the global scale than the USA, USSR, or the rising European bloc. He even feared the newfound nuclear weaponry would soon be outdated, although this was later proved unfounded.
Post-Maoist China led into a significant shift of Chinese foreign policy. Where Mao wanted military strength to make China into the forefront of diplomatic affairs, the chain of leaders after him focused more on economic reforms to make China more competitive in the global market. If they could win there, it was reasoned, China would have far more power than it would by simply flexing its muscles around. Contiguity Plan 07 was slowly faded out, and with it the government focus on superheroes. However, China's rapid economic boom reported was evidence that it was for the best, and that the new reforms were worth it.
In 2016, the PRC faced the greatest threat it has ever faced since the Civil War. UFOs from the sky decended across Earth, obliterating everything in their path. Entire cities were ablaze, and communications went haywire as party leaders and generals were all killed in the alien blitz. The lack of any organized resistance almost spelt the doom of China, but inexplicably a minor official in the party known as Jun Hou emerged as a de facto head of the Chinese forces. While she was not the brightest tactician, nor had many connections, her uncanny ability to get anyone to like and agree with her on all issues meant she started to have complete authority of whatever was left.
Alien technology deployed in China was precise and extremely destructive. Thanks to their lock-on technology to utilize orbital bombardment of vehicles from space, tanks became lumbering metal death traps; destroyed before they ever reached the enemy. Tanks and IFVs were quickly phased out for much quicker close air support from fighter bombers, which stood a chance to avoid bombardment by being too fast to lock on. China's history of cyber warfare also helped it temporary disable the orbital bombardments during assaults.
Perhaps the most controversial decision made by Jun, however, was a reversal of the strategy employed by the KMT in WWII. The vast, underdeveloped interior was abandoned so that the PLA could focus on protecting the much more industrialized and populated coastline. This lead to the "Two Rivers" campaign, where the alien invaders would slowly advance towards the more protected coastlines via the Yellow and Yangtze Rivers, pillaging all the cities along the way as a psychological tactic.
A major turning point of the war was in 2019. The previous year, in desperation over the lack of progress, Jun looked into old government records she could get her hands on, and found documents regarding to Contiguity Plan 07. Specifically, while the artificial creation did actually fail, attempts to find metahumans had positive results. However, the information was falsified to read no by someone within the Party before being handed to Mao. No one is sure exactly why, and most of the positives were dead or missing thanks to old age or the invasion anyways, but one report indicated there was "a mysteriously preserved man" in a catacomb near the Vietnamese border.
An investigative team was secretly sent into the catacomb, avoiding detection by the aliens. In the heart, was as advertised, a perfectly preserved human, as old as the building that surronded him. When he was carefully removed from the coffin, the man quickly jumped out. After a brief standoff, the man introduced him as Tiger Claw, the favored body guard of Qin Shi Huangdi. While the away team met this claim with skepticism, they requested his help to fight the aliens off. After being paid his weight in gold as payment, he accepted. Other metahumans were found scouting across the nation, bolstering China's strength
The other major development was the development of the Type 19 Personal Minigun. About the size of a megaphone, this gun had the raw firepower of a machinegun, with the accuracy of a high-end assault rifle, and the portability of a SMG. Reportingly using extremely force-resistant alien materials to prevent recoil, this handheld gatling gun allowed every soldier in a squad to have the same firepower as a SAW, but without the cumbersomeness it brings. There are even rumors that extremely skilled minigunners can shoot alien planes out of the sky, with one or two confirmed cases of that happening. The Type 19 was first deployed along with Tiger Claw in the Battle of Qingdao, where the alien hordes were stooped.
By 2021, China was alien free. For her ability to effectively lead resistance members, Jun Hou became Premier of China. In her plan to permanently conscript metahumans into the PLA, Tiger Claw went into hiding, although the other heroes mostly remain loyal to the state. China is now looking towards a bright future, one in which China will once again become the center of Earth, and a model for everyone else.
