Nuzhen

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Grand Duchy of Nuzhen
Official Language Beifanghua (北方話)
Other Languages Manchu
Khalka Mongol
Han'er (漢兒)
Russian
Capital and largest city Harbin, 24.4 million
Duke Duke Hongzheng (b. Lin Dewei)
(Chinese name: 林德偉)
Prime Minister Du Hongyi
(Chinese name: 杜弘毅)
UN Representative Phillip Yang
(Chinese Name: 楊立成)
Population 1.046 million
Establishment 13 August 1521
Government type Republic
Nation type Constitutional Monarchy
Economy Type National-Socialist

The Grand Duchy of Nuzhen (Chinese: 大女真王國, Pinyin: Dà Nǚzhēn Wángguó) is a large developed country in Northeast Asia and the second largest member of the Confederation of Chinese Republics. At the moment, it also holds the seat of UN Delegate for the Confederation. Nuzhen comprises a landmass covering most of the Northern part of the Manchurian plain, as well as some parts of the Gobi desert, bordered by Federal Republic of Yakutia on the north, the Yalu River and Chaoxian Colony to the East, Menggu (Chinese Socialist Republic of Mongolia) in the West, and the rest of the Chinese Republics to the south.

Nomenclature

The formal Beifanghua name for Nuzhen is "Dà Nǚzhēn Wángguó", which directly translated means "The Great Kingdom of Nuzhen", although in an old manuscript dated to 1730, the ruler of Nuzhen was indeed refered to by the Chinese word "gong" (公), roughly corresponding to the English word for Duke. The Chinese title was conferred upon Giocangga I, by the Chinese Emperor after Giocangga set out to unite the various Jurchen tribes. Later on, when Nuzhen became a protectorate of the Chinese Empire, Nuzhen was allowed to keep its name to show that it posessed de jure autonomy. It should be noted that the English-language classification of Nuzhen as a "Grand Duchy" does not appear in its Chinese equivalent in any of Nuzhen's historical manuscripts.

In the modern Era, the designation of "Kingdom" in Chinese is still used, although this is simply a matter of tradition, and holds little political reality. Nuzhen is only a monarchy in name, with the Duke having few powers. Its status as a Constitutional Monarchy, as well as the presence of a strongly Republican-style government allowed it entry into the Confederation of Chinese Republics in 2011. The Chancellery of Nuzhen voted 19-1 on May 12, 2015 against changing the formal name of Nuzhen.

People and Culture

Race and ethnicity

The majority of Nuzhen's population belongs to the Nordsinid cluster of the Mongoloid race. Though originally founded as a homeland for the Jurchen (later the Manchu) people, the long history of interaction of Nuzhen and China has effectively Sinicized the region in both ethnic and cultural regards. The latest National Census showed that over 84.6% of the Nuzhen's citizenry is of Han Chinese ethnicity. Ethnic minorities compose the rest of the population, and are distributed as follows:

Manchu (滿族)9.1%
Mongol (蒙古族) 4.0%
Russian (俄族)1.9%
Chaoxianese (朝鮮族) 0.3%
Other0.1%
.

The census also reported 452,000 permanent residents of foriegn extraction, living in Nuzhen. Since these permanent residents are not citizens of Nuzhen, they are not included in the National Census, but have a seperate census, conducted by the Permanent Resident Affairs Office. The majority of these permanent residents are expatriates from North America or the former Baltic states in Europe.

Language

The official language of the government in Nuzhen is Beifanghua Mandarin, which is essentially identical to Standard Mandarin used throughout the Confederation of Chinese Republics, although a heavy regional accent is evidently in some places. In addition, Manchu, Russian, and Mongol are spoken by the respective minorities in certain areas of Nuzhen. Korean is also spoken by a few thousand people in settlements along the Yalu River. In certain Autonomous Districts, local laws require that signage be written in both Chinese and the local minority language. This is especially true in the northernmost regions where Russians are almost the minority.

Also spoken in Nuzhen is the Han'er language. Han'er is a highly colloquialized form of the Chinese language. Though predominantly Mandarin, it contains many loan words and grammatical features from the Manchu and Mongol languages. Russian has also contributed many words to the vocabulary of Han'er, especially in the field of politics.

Culture

For the most part, the Nuzhenese are proud of their ancient cultural roots. Despite this, it is rather the ability to fuse the technological and traditional realms that that have earned Nuzhen its worldwide reputation as an innovatior in Chinese culture, and a model that the other Chinese states look to. Nuzhen takes pride in its philosophers, musicians, writers, scientists, architects, and artists as its most cherished scholars.

Nuzhen is for the most part culturally Han Chinese, although there are Manchu elements that have been retained from the Qing dynasty of China. The Cultural Reformation Act of 2022 created an increased awareness (albeit through government sponsorship) of Nuzhen's national heritage, as well as a resurgence in "Cultural Conservatism". Arts such as poetry, painting and calligraphy are widely practiced among the conservative gentry of Nuzhen, and classes in these subjects are widely offered (and often required) as part of Nuzhen's secondary school education. Tradtional Beijing Opera and Chinese classical music have recently had a resurgence in their popularity. Chinese martial arts including wushu are considered a popular form of exercize for persons of all ages. Archery, played with a traditional recurve bow, as well as horseback riding are two of Nuzhen's favorite traditional sports. Popular games include weiqi (Chinese: 圍棋, Korean ba-duk 바둑) and European chess, which is especially popular among the Russian ethnic minority.

A nomadic culture still exists to a degree in the backwaters of Nuzhen, practiced by the descendants of the Mongol and Manchu tribesmen of the 18th century. However, this lifestyle has waned in recent years many young people from the countryside have given up the nomadic lifestyle to settle down in small towns or look for work in larger cities. The government is now in the process of trying to preserve this culture.

Religion

While Nuzhen has no official state religion, the three traditional philosophies of China, Confucianism, Daoism, and Buddhism dominate the religious scene. Most Han Buddhists are of the Pure Land Sect, while the Mongolian Buddhists are Lamaists, followers of the 15th Dalai Lama, Gyaltsen Rinpoche.

There are also small numbers of Muslims, Christians, and Russian Jews dispersed throughout Nuzhen

Cuisine

See: Cuisine of Nuzhen

Holidays

There are two classifications of Holidays celebrated in Nuzhen: traditional holidays, and civil holidays. All traditional holidays derive from traditional Chinese festivals, and are celebrated based the Chinese Lunisolar Calendar. Civil holidays, with the exception of "Victory Day" are celebrated based upon the Gregorian calendar. The following is a list of holidays.

Traditional Holidays

Lunisolar Date English Name Chinese Name Remarks
Last day of 12th lunar month New Year's Eve 除夕 Cleaning the house, puting up new posters of "door gods" on front doors, fireworks before the family union dinner, which should be at least 10 course meal with a whole fish entree symbolizing the abundance of the coming year
1/1 Spring Festival (New Year's Day) 新年, 農曆新年, 春節 More fireworks after midnight, visiting in-laws
1/15 Lantern Festival 元宵節 Lantern parade and lion dance celebrating the first full moon
At the jie qi known as qing ming, solar longitude 15 degrees Qing Ming Jie (Tomb Sweeping Day) 清明節 Cleaning and offering at family tombs, spring outing
4/8 Buddha's Birthday 佛誕 Celebrated by Buddhists by temple visits
5/5 Dragon Festival 端午節 Dragon boat racing, eat Zongzi, commemorating the ancient poet Qu Yuan; drink yellow rice wine, related to the White Snake Lady legend
7/7 Double Seventh Festival 七夕 According to legend, the goddess "Zhi Nü" fell in love with the farmer boy "Niu Lang", but was disapproved by her mother goddess. As punishment, they were separated by the the Milky Way and could only meet once a year on this night.
7/15 Spirit Festival, Ullambana (for Buddhists) 盂蘭節 Preparation of ritualistic offering food in remembrance of the dead, burying and releasing miniature paper boats and lanterns on water, which signifies "giving directions to the lost ghosts".
8/15 Mid-Autumn Festival (Moon Festival) 中秋節 Eat mooncake, family union meal, related to the legend of Chang'E
9/9 Double Ninth Festival 重陽節 Autumn outing and mountain climbing
11/9 Resumption Day also called "Victory" Day . Celebrates the triumph of the Confederation of Chinese Republics in the Eleven-Year War, and the establishment of renewed Chinese rule in Nuzhen. Observed by public parades in most large cities.
Day of the Winter Solstice (solar longitude 270 degrees) Winter Solctice Festival 冬至節 Feast day, family gatherings, also named "Chinese Thanksgiving"

Civil Holidays

Gregorian Date English Name Chinese Name Comments
March 12th Arbor Day 植樹節 Comemmorates the passing of Dr. Sun Yat-Sen in 1925
March 29th Youth Day 青年節 ..
April 5th Chiang Kai Shek Day 蔣介石節 Comemmorates the passing of the Hon. Chiang Kai-Shek
May 1st Labour Day 勞動節 ...
June 30th Anti-Drug Day 禁煙節 Comemmorates the burning of the Jewish merchant, David Sasoon's, stock of opium.
September 1st Veteran's Day .. ...
September 18th Armed Forces Day .. Coincides with the anniversary of the Mukden Incident
1st Sunday in October Grandparent's Day .. ...

Territory

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The Grand Duchy of Nuzhen is the northernmost of all of the Chinese Republics, with its heartland centered on the Manchurian Plain. Its territory includes all of Jehol, the entire part of Manchuria which lies within the former People's Republic of China, the far eastern part of what used to be Outer Mongolia, as well as the some of the former Russian Far East. The latter of these territories was acquired through a purchase agreement between Nuzhen and the Russians. The Amur River demarcates the furtherst northern extent of Nuzhenese control on the Asian mainland, while Sakhalin island is its easternmost posession. The 38th parallel on the Chaoxian Peninsula seperates it from Korea, and Nuzhen has more or less arbitrary borders in the south and west with the rest of the Chinese republics. The landscape varies from rolling plains in the south, to a more mountainous terrain in the north comprised of several mountain ranges, including the Shikhota, Yam-Alin, Miao-Shan, Ilkhuri, and Xing'an.

Nuzhen is divided into 11 administrative divisions at the provincial level, which includes the Harbin Federal District. While some of the names of the provinces have been changed, most of the borders for the Provincial departments, such as those of Eastern Mongolia (the amyags) had already been drawn up as early as the Qing dynasty, and had been continued to be used during the People's Republic of China. Below is a list of the provinces and their capitals.

Beijiang Province (北疆), Vladivostok (海參崴 PY: Hǎishēnwǎi)
Chaoxian Province (朝鮮), Pingrang (平壤)
Dornod Province (陀逽), Choybalsan
Harbin Federal District (哈爾濱)
Heilongjiang Province (黑龍江), Daqing (大慶)
Jilin Province (吉林), Changchun (長春)
Kuye Province (庫頁), Fengyuan City (豐原市)
Liaoning Province (遼寧), Shenyang (瀋陽)
Suhbataar Province (肅巴托), Barün-Urt
Suiyuan Province (綏遠), Hohhot (呼和浩特)
West Amur Province (西阿穆尔), Hailanpao (海蘭泡)