Hi, team!
We could do better - esp if V has spent the time in playing instead of lurking! - but it's not that bad for Monarch-level game, it seems. Power and crop is where we are behind, and it seems that some more emphasis on food instead of gold could work better. It would have also slowed down research and settling, of course. As usual, various ways to win the game, and I for myself can't see why one of these should be considered as definitely the better one with so much game still in front.
Before I go to the PPP:
Cam,
where the number of cities of Mao, etc, come from? I don't seem to be able to tell this...
Cam, W,
why do we keep the chariot and the scout close together in the South? I would rather send the Scout North. Also, why do we need the chariot stay in the West, in future Chinese territory? I would be curious as to what cities will be set up there, but, again, better beef up the south defences, if necessary, or move to the north (BTW, don't we get Barbs coming from there?)
PPP:
1. techwise: go Construction. Seems we'll have to drop the research rate soon, and it is some 22 turns away, so I don't need to make any hard decisions here. In the situation we find ourselves in, it seems better to go Alph after Construction as we might be able to trade with everybody, including Mao, before attacking the latter. However, if he is the leader in research, as indicated by Cam, we might hardly trade anything with him - and Liz and Bis as well. This seems close to a coin-flip, as, in case Mao has gone long the path of religions, it might still work. May be some guidance and reasoning kindly provided by the experts will be most helpful here to get a clearer picture of why one or another wya ahead is chosen... At my level of playing, and no additional info, I'd go Alph, of course, or beeline Lib right away... (LH and TGL seem great to strive after, but that's too much on top of REXing, I think.)
2. productionwise: I'd definitely prefer to go granary, WB in the capital, and I would leave the lib to be built by OF (we have some 20 turns till the GrPriest, when we should - by standard convention - get Scientists on so that we move towards a GrSc in the city and it seems that it's around that time that we need to have the Lib built ...AND enough food to have the Scientists, too). I'd also be producing settlers/workers/units there, but I think grannary and fishing are priority in the capital, and getting settlers from the smaller cities looks preferable to me at this moment (yeah, workers never are too many, the saying says, although I can attest to there being such cases, however I would prioritize setllersas we have 4 of the 4.5 workers recommended at three-city size and not that many tiles to work, chopping and roading toward Mao aside.) This implies switch in the Jaws from lib to settler right away, as already suggested by Cam.
3. units movement: if I don't hear any solid reasons for keeping the scout and the char to the West of Shanghai where thay currently are, I'll move them to the North.
4. work: I agree that wheat by the Jaws, chopping, and, if enough workforce left, roading towards Mao is the priority now, and in that order
5. I see myself very much in support of V's "Go South" strategy, and I like also the coastal cityhe has indicated as next city placement, but I would rather go below Shanghai's belly, somewhat to the East first, if you don't mind, and if Mao doesn't get this first (the latter reasoning might be just food for thought, as I don't think I'll get two settlers up in my TS). I think we can postpone a bit the settling of the nice city Cam's so intense about, but would of course listen to some more reasoning about that if it doesn't come post factum, of course.
By the way, do tell me now, if you think getting the settler is urgent - instead of gran and WB in the capital, and let's discuss it why, as I do have a propensity to develop, instead of expand, esp, and esp in the early stage of the game, when development means growth...
6. diplo: I agree on converting to Mao's religion ASAP, especially that I see religion as already creating some friction between Mao and Liz. BTW, where is Britain? Did we get in touch with a Brittish boat, or scout? (the latter case makes exploration of the North even more attractive, I guess...)
This is all that comes to my mind now. I'd like to get my turnset done tomorrow evening, so, please, feed me back ASAP in order to open a window for discussion if opinions differ.
to fight off the irritating Mao city. Obviously, getting CoL means not going original tech path as described above. The team should really decide which path is preferred.
Guess I could squeeze that in after Writing is done...
yield than the Clams up at Prague. I like what the Barb's did for us in your game too! 
into China will improve our commerce (unfortunately simultaneously Mao's also). Note that China now has five cities and Germany has four. England apparently used the Oracle slingshot on Monarchy.
bonus in a few turns).
