[hider=Empire of the Great Qing] [b]Nation Name:[/b] Empire of the Great Qing

[b]Leader name:[/b] His Imperial Majesty the Xuantong Emperor

[b]Population:[/b] 65,700,900

[b]Current military size:[/b] 377,900 professional soldiers, 2,824 artillery brigades, 36 Light Armoured tanks, and 4,000,000 reservists; the largest army within China.

[b]Wartime military size (full mobilization):[/b] ~20,000,000

[b]Navy size:[/b]
[u]The Imperial Fleet of the Great Qing[/u] 
3 Battleships (Long Wei, Wu Wei, and Nan 'Shin)
2 Heavy Cruisers (Ping'hai, Ning'hai)
2 Light Cruisers (Hai-Chen, Chao-Hao)
100 Destroyers
[u]The Imperial Submarine Fleet[/u]
10 Submarines

[b]Respectable air force:[/b] Within East Asia, yes; compared to Europe and America, no.

[b]Military capabilities:[/b] Decent enough on paper, but horrendous in practice. The majority of the military budget is not used in order to modernise the military, but rather to merely keep generals faithful to the Emperor. Loyalties to the Imperial government are reported to be extremely low amongst the officer class, let alone the common soldier.

The Imperial Fleet is composed of Weltkrieg era battleships, cruisers and destroyers. The battleships and cruisers were formerly German ships that were sold to the Great Qing instead of being withdrawn. 

The Imperial Chinese Air Service is rather unsignificant compared to European standards, but is still among the best and biggest of Eastern Asia. As a more recent development within the Chinese military, its planes are not as archaic as the rest of the military's weaponry. As of now, it possesses 200 fighters and 100 bombers

[b]History:[/b] After almost a century of humiliation at the hands of European powers, the Qing Empire was toppled in the Wuchang Uprising of 1911. A newly established Republic of China was formed, and the most prominent of Republicans, Dr. Sun Yat-Sen, was invited to China with the title of Provisional President. Despite his far-sighted ideals and visions for the new China, the commander of China's most powerful army, Yuan Shikai, was determined to grab power for himself. Unwilling to risk the fracturing of China into a civil war and wary of foreign intervention, Dr. Sun agreed and allowed Yuan to become President in a compromise.

Yuan Shikai was not interested in the Republican cabinet's ideals for a democratic future, however, and instead resorted to bribing and assassinating the entirey of the legislative and replaced them with military commanders of his own. Sun Yat-Sen fled abroad to Japan with the remainder of the surviving Kuomintang members, from where they began to plot a second revolution. With Yuan's power base intact at home, he declared himself the Emperor of China. Almost immediately the majority of his military commanders revolted in the National Protection War, hurling China into the warlord era. Yuan himself would die only a few months later, leaving China in absolute anarchy between the competing warlords.

In light of an attempted Manchu restoration which failed almost immediately, Duan Qirui would politically manuever himself into becoming the most powerful man in China. Disregarding the constitution much like his predecessor Yuan, Duan would face a challenge as Sun Yat-Sen and the Kuomintang would return to Guangzhou in southern China proclaiming their own government. With Duan's regime divided over how to handle the Kuomintang, China remained split over a north-south line.

When news was announced to the Chinese people that Duan's regime had signed a deal over Shandong's ownership to the Japanese Empire, the populace were furious once more. Leading the May Fourth demonstrations, the Republican revolution was sparked once again. Internal warring between the cliques of the Beiyang government saw widespread devastation, and the Kuomintang made a call for international recognition. Germany soon answered, sending over Wilhelm Canaris to reorganise the Kuomintang in preperation for the unification of China. Sun Yat-Sen himself however would die of stomach cancer very soon afterwards. Immediately, the German Empire began to infiltrate the Kuomintang's ranks, manuevering their closest ally - the monarchist Xu Shichang - into the party's leadership. 

Xu Shichang immediately purged the Kuomintang of any Republican elements, and with his power consolidated he issued "A Call to the Mighty German Empire." Praising Kaiser Wilhelm II and pleading for help in an anarchy-ridden country, he managed to convince von Tirpit's government to militarily intervene with the reunification of China. German soldiers began to pour in to assist Xu's call, and the collapse of the northern Beiyang government was all but inevitable.

With China re-united under his helm, Xu Shichang immediately proclaimed the restoration of the former Emperor Pu-Yi. Xu would then sign the 1926 Treaty of Nanjing which delinated Southern China into de jure Qing territory under the economic exploitation of German firms, and Northern China into the restored Empire's absolute control. 

The new era officially began on February 2nd, 1927. Despite this successful restoration, Qing power has been frail. With the Water Rat Year dawning upon China, the future of the Qing Empire is as uncertain as ever. [/hider]