Qingcheng

Qingcheng (青城/Qīngchéng) officially the "Federal Republic of Qingcheng" (青城联邦共和国/Qīng chéng liánbāng gònghéguó), which mean in Sichuanese "City of Azure", is a sovereign state in Kesh. The country is located at the south of Kodeshia and at the north of Nanling. The main coast of Qingcheng is along the Tethys Ocean. The main language of the country is the Sichuanese, while there is a minority in the north speaking the Kodeshian Guoyu.

After many civil conflicts, the country is now a federal authoritarist democracy, divided into 7 states. The capital city of Qingcheng is Chenghua, which is a coastal city and also own a state. The moto of Qingcheng is "Wèile zǔguó, wèile mínzú", which mean "For the motherland, for the nation."

The country is having a good stability as the people agree most of the time with the government. There is a bit of corruption in the government, but this one is sometimes regulated by the justice when there is abuse. Political opposition is possible only for the legal politicals party, as most of the left-wing party are illegal. There is freedom of expression (until what people says could not be considered as communist propaganda). Demonstration are legal if they are approved by the governor of the concerned state. Politics are mainly controlled by right-wing party, as the only allowed socialist party is more of a left-centrist party than a real left-wing party.

History
Qingcheng was by the past, part of the Kodeshian empire. The country succeeds, sometimes to break free during short times, before being integrated again.

The apparition of the "Qingcheng" title
It's during the Zu dynasty (256 BCE - 420 CE) that was found in writing the first uses of the name "Qingcheng" as it mean "city of azures". The term was used for the cities of the actual Qingcheng shore. This name appeared because of the warmer climate there, but also because of the blue color used my merchants on the coast. The title Qingcheng was then used by the merchants as a way to designate the area.

The Six Kingdoms (CE 712 - 786)
During the period of Six Kingdoms, an equivalent of the actual state of Qingcheng was free under the dynasty Yan (燕). But was then integrated in the powerful Xie dynasty and remained in the Kodeshian empire until his independence war.

Independence from Kodeshia (CE 1528 - 1531)
The state of Qingcheng was part of the Kodeshian empire at his north, as there was local Qingchenese nobles in the Kodeshian court. During the Zhou dynasty (CE 1237 - 1531), the nobles of the south coast, with merchants and some independentist groups, sicks of the Kodeshian supremacy, staged an uprising and succeed to counter the imperial army in the actual state of Zhonghe (中和), and then succeed to push towards the north. While the independentist army was going further in the north, more local noble rallied the army with their troops, growing more and more stronger. A last battle happened on the river Minjiang (岷江), both sides suffered many losses, but the battle ended as a Qingchenese victory. The main imperial army was beaten a second time, and so the Kodeshian emperor agreed to set free the Qingchenese kingdom, but refused to give all the claimed territories. This defeat made the Zhou dynasty weaker against his opponents inside Kodeshia.

When the Liang Dynasty came against the Zhou dynasty, Qingchenese nobles supported the Liang dynasty as they saw this as an opportunity to make peacful bond with Kodeshia. The new Emperor Liang succeeds to take the throne of Kodeshia, and because of his help, agreed to give Qingcheng total independence with all their claimed territories.

The throne of Qingcheng was given to the most powerful noble and general of the Qingchenese army during the independence war, Xu Haiyan. The Xu (徐) dynasty then reigned over Qingcheng. But in exchange of being choosed for the throne, Xu Haiyan add to accept to give autonomy to local nobles who helped him during the war. The monarchy was back then far from being absolute, as the king mainly ruled over the land he directly owned which were Chenghua and some towns around.

Through the time, some nobles succeeds to reinforce their power, and made deals with the differents kings, which resulted of 6 main powerful nobles working in common with the king

The Qingchenese revolution (CE 1853 - 1857)
Through the time, the Xu dynasty became less and less appreciated by the population, as they put heavy taxes and regulations of the market. But they were also trying of reinforcing the main government, by increasing their absolutism and centralising the power on the capital. They succeed during one century (XVII century) to centralise more the power on Chenghua (成华). But the trouble started when the king tryed to remove the rights for the marchant cities to elect their own leaders, and instead, give those cities to local nobles from the leading dynasty. Many cities started to try opposing the Xu dynasty, by declaring cecession from the main government. Wuwei, Dazhou and Bazhong, with the smallest around cities, started to form a front opposing the main government. They called their group the 'Republicain people of Qingcheng', and made an army. The army of those cities was weaker than the royal army, but many royal generals defected into the republicain ranks with their loyal troops, as many of them had economical interest into those cities. Which mean that the cities fastly became stronger than the Xu dynasty, with more talented army leaders. The republican army reached Huaihua, and on the way for Wenzhou, they encountered the royal army near the Yangjia (杨家) river.

The battle was difficult for the republican army, as the cities militia was easily defeated, and the new troops from the royal army were traped near the river. They succeed to hold a long time while suffering many losses. But, on 10 July 1856, the city of Wenzhou decided to join the republican front, and send his army into the battle. Their action was essential as they attacked the royal army from behind and inflicted them many losses. The battle became a victory for the republican army, and an total defeat for the royal army which lost his biggest and best army.

The Republican army then walked with ease on Chenghua, with cities joigning their side on the way. The king was defeated, sent to justice and condamned to jail for 20 years, as he was accused of "trying to remove his people rights, and sent his army crushed his fellow citizens". A constitution was made, based on a federal republic system, but the centralisation ideas were kept as the country needed to be stabilised. On 10 March 1857, the First republic of Qingcheng was proclaimed.

The First Civil War (CE 1912-1914)
During the first republic, there was only 2 main political parties, the monarchist and the democrats. As almost all form of authoritarsm were united behind monarchism, and all form of democratism were united behind the democrat party. But instability started to grow when in 1910, the Communist party did seccession from the democrat party. Communism started to grow, and during the 1912 elections, the monarchist and the democrats united in order to stop a communist candidate. Anger started to grow and tension rised up.

The September 8 1912, 3 democrats were assasinated in front of the parliament by a group of armed communist. This pushed the government to make the communist party illegal, and send major communist member to jail. On September 21 1912, an armed group rised up in the north of the state of Xinxing (新兴). They stayed hide in the mountains during 3 months and started to grow by recruiting farmers. It's in december 1912 that the communist get out of the mountains and pushed into the democrats lines. The assault was a success at first, as the democrat underestimated the communist uprising. Thank's to this victory, the communists succeeds to secure all the west side of the Minjiang (岷江) river. The two sides stayed on a stalemate during 2 months.

The monarchist saw this as an opportunity to betray the republic, as on February 8 1913, a monarchist army started to rally in the state of Zhimin (致民), and crushed the locals garrison.

So, as the republic was in a crisis, the parliament decided that a strong power was needed in emergency, as the democracy in Qingcheng was in danger. The marshall of the Qingchenese army, Zhou Jianhong was called to the presidency, and was given full power after negociations.

And so, in March 1913, he succeed to coordonate an efficient total mobilization of the population, fired some incompetent or suspected deloyal generals and sent his army against the monarchist one. On April 20 1913, the monarchist army was defeated by the army of president Zhou. The communist army saw this as an opportunity to begin a large scale assault, which succeeded until July 1913. This weakened their armies, and the army of Zhou coming back from the monarchist territories succeed to push them back. On November 1913, the communist army entrenched themselves in the north, and in January 1914, Zhou managed to deal with the last communist pockets. In January 16 1914, Zhou Jianhong declared that the civil war was over.

As the result of this civil war, the second republic was proclaimed, as people were thinking that the first one was not adapted anymore. The communist and royalist party were declared illegal, and considered as a threat for the republic. Zhou Jianhong, by his success during the civil war, convinced the people that a democratic strong leader was the solution, and created the actual authoritarian republic, Zhou being the first tutor of the nation, leading the country allmost his entirelife, as he leaved the government before his death, judging by himself that he was too old.

Government
The Qingcheng government working on a federal system with a strong central power. The states own a part of autonomy in executive actions, in order to manage and follow the president goals for the country. But the laws and decisions of the central government remains the most important. The main counter power of the central government is the justice, which have the order to keep an eye on the government and make sure there is no abuse of power, or anticonstitutionnal action. 100 judges of the country are randomly choosed in order to elect a council of judges. This council can vote the amendment, or begin an impeachment again the president. A parliament of 30 members is choosed by half the President, and the other half by the electoral college of governors. The parlimentary are choosed in order to keep control of the army, and so that neither the governors or the president tried to take control by the army. But the parlimentary also assist the council of judges in the votes of amendment and impeachment.

Central Government
The president is elected for life by the electoral college of governors. He got a strong executive power and take many decisions as he want, as long as they are not against the constitution. If the president want to make a new law in or against the actual constitution, he must make a amendment which need the approbation of the judges council and the parliament. Because the president is elected for life, the only way he can cease his presidency is by leaving his post or being impeached. In order to be impeached, the parliament and the judges council need to vote with both 60% of the majority the impeachment. If the vote succeed, a referendum will begin and the people would finaly decide if the president must be destituted. The president give to the governors goals that they must reach, and must help them to reach those goals. The central government also have a strong influence on the state of the capital city, Chenghua.

Federal Government
Qingcheng government is divided into seven states. In each state is elected a governor by the people. Those 7 governors will take part to the electoral college which is electing the president. But only the president can choose the availables candidates for the governors elections. Those states have a huge economic autonomy, and can make laws for their states, but those new laws must be approved by the president. The national laws are always superior to the states laws, which mean a state can't make a law opposed to national law. The governors received objectives by the president for their states that they must try to reach, but they can also take actions for different goals, as they can justify it to the president. The borders of each states are drawn on the river and natural topography in the idea to distribute the natural ressources between states. The only particularity is the capital city of Chenghua which got his own state because the city was too rich, and so need his own management of ressources and goals. As every states leader is elected only for this role, the state of Chenghua is an exception, as the leader of this state is also the mayor of the capital city. Thus because it is considered that it is needed for the good of the capital city, that his mayor is having enough power to take bigger decisions for the city.

Political Parties
Majority of the political parties are right wing party, as since the civil war, the communists parties are illegals. But it is also very hard for a politician to endorse the role of a socialist politician. Because, even if socialism is allowed, it can be seen by peoples and others politics as a type of "light communism". So they will hardly get support from the peoples, but they will also be rejected by other politicians. The most left wing party is the centrist party, which is more of a conservatist party than a centrist party. As most of the parties are right wing party, they only differ about the question of federalism, economic laws, and interior questions. far right wing politics are present, but are not very popular as they are sometimes seen by the people as new form of monarchism or absolutism

Geography
The country is mostly made of hills in the south, and of small mountains in the north. The country is mainly divided into 3 different climate, with a equatorial climate on the coast, a temparate oceanic climate in the middle of the country, and a arid climate in the north.

Demographics
With Chenghua being the capital city and the bigest city of the country, Qingcheng got a stable demography with a fertility rate of 1.7 kids per women. Immigration represent a very small part of the population as the country does not attract many migrants. There is an unequal population repartition on the country, as the density is more important on the coast than in the deep north of the country. This can be explained by the presence of mountains in the north, and the coast being richer.

Language
Sichuanese is the most important language of the country, and the only official language in the main goverment. The second present language is Kodeshian Guoyu, as there is a kodeshian minority in the country. Guoyu is accepted only in the state of Zhimin (致民) in some parts of the admnistration, as the Kodeshian minority mostly live there. The last national census done in 2019 revealed that 96.3% of the population were speaking Sichuanese, while 2.8% were speaking Kodeshian Guoyu and 0.9% were speaking diversed languages.

Religion
Daoïsm is the main religion in Qingcheng, the second majority being atheism, then followed by minor religions, the biggest one being the Ordonist. The last census in 2018 revealed that 61% of the population were Daoïst, while 27% are atheist and 12% are part of minor religions. The state is officialy secular, as there is no state religion. But the majority of politicans are Daoïst. The state of Qingcheng officialy give subsides to Daoïst temples as is it part of a "Culture protection" program. The minorities are mainly in the cities, but must pay for their religious building by themselves.

Economy
What Qingcheng produce can be very different from a place to an other. The main source of income is the exportation of manufactured goods and natural ressources. This focus on exporation came from the past of the country, which was a commercial trade center for the kingdom. The industry was increased thanks to the recent politics made by the president, helping people to invest in cities industries. This lead to an industry being mainly concentrated on the coast and big cities of the country, which create a huge gap of income between citizens from the hinterland and people on the coast. While the north mainly produce food, oil, rubber, textile and tropical wood, the rest of the country is producing vehicles parts, electronics, pharmaceutics, toys and chemicals. More valuable jobs in economy are mainly present in the capital city (Chenghua).